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Could these rocks break my glass?

Arturosito

Member
Joined
11 Sep 2020
Messages
33
Location
Mexico
Hello, I want to use these river rocks in my aquascape. Each is about 3.3 - 4.4 pounds. The tank is a 60p. I wanna make sure the weight will not break the glass. I will put a sand cushion under each rock.
 

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If you are worried you can put egg crate or even styrofome underneath. Is the tank placed on a mat and on an even surface? I've seen much bigger rocks placed in tanks that size :)
 
I agree with Wolf, the rocks should be fine unless they drop onto the glass. If you support them underneath and stop fish burying under them, I don't think you'd have anything to worry about.
 
What strategy would people have for rocks that are 80kg+? Glass underneath is 20mm. (@mort ?)
 
What strategy would people have for rocks that are 80kg+? Glass underneath is 20mm. (@mort ?)

You are kinda going into marine type territory there with the weight and it's been done with live rock for years. Tbh most people just put the rocks on the base of the tank without any support and that's fine if the rockwork doesn't have pressure points and is stable. If you want an extra safety factor like I do then egg crate does work well, so does a scrap of acrylic or anything inert that protects the glass (starboard is popular in the US but some use tiles or slate).
For most of my live rock scapes I made little feet from milliput which had the extra benefit of improving water flow around the base and stopping dead spots where detritus could accumulate.

In a freshwater tank then a good support of substrate or even alfagrog would work provided you don't have any fish that undermine it. The weight is more of an issue if you have it all on one point, like a tiny edge to the rock, or if the rocks shift and fall. You'd be surprised how hard it can be to break really thick glass that's well supported underneath though. Someone had to have their tank dismantled and to get it in the skip it had to be broken up. The tank was 10 ft long and had 20mm glass (think two 10mm laminated panes from memory) but the bricks we dropped from the second floor window onto it just bounced off no matter how much umph we gave them. In the end we had to brave whacking the edge, which will break it easily, with a hammer and clenched buttocks.
 
Thanks Mort, pressure points are my fear. I’ve got access to some nice boulders, and well, I’d like to use them 😅
 
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