Rift Lake Rock Weight

[BottomDweller]

Hi Everyone;

I am thinking about setting up a Rift Lake Cichlid aquarium and add a ton (well not quite a ton, but close) of rocks. I am concerned about the weight breaking the bottom of the aquarium.

Does anyone have any experience, ideas, or opinions regarding reinforcing the bottom of an aquarium to deal with significantly more weight than just water?

Thanks!!

[A340]

How big of a tank are we looking at? What I do on my tanks is I will cut out a piece of plywood that will fit underneath the bottom of the tank, that way the bottom of the tank has full support as it's resting on your stand.

[Levi]

i remember a youtube video of a guy stacking a large amount of flagstone in a ten gallon

[Adrian]

Just a thought....You might be able to get a piece of styrofoam and place it inside the tank to protect the glass. Add your substrate to it to help hold it down, then add your rock. The weight of the rock should hold the "sealed" styrofoam down and help protect the glass too.

Just an idea.

[Fishguy2727]

Place eggcrate on the bottom glass before you add anything else. You need to cut it to fit flat against the glass, not sitting on the silicone sealant. Eggcrate is the plastic square light diffusers in the lighting department of hardware stores. They are made to fit recessed fluorescent fixtures for drop ceilings. This will help spread the weight of rock across the entire bottom. This is exactly what I did in my 150 when I originally set it up for my peacocks.

[Tooch]

Place eggcrate on the bottom glass before you add anything else. You need to cut it to fit flat against the glass, not sitting on the silicone sealant. Eggcrate is the plastic square light diffusers in the lighting department of hardware stores. They are made to fit recessed fluorescent fixtures for drop ceilings. This will help spread the weight of rock across the entire bottom. This is exactly what I did in my 150 when I originally set it up for my peacocks.


Won't this make big holes for crap to get in and sit?

[Fishguy2727]

The eggcrate sits directly on the glass. The squares fill up with substrate (hopefully sand).

[Incredulous_Ed]

Some guy put 200pounds on the empty glass bottom of a 10gallon and last time i heard, he was using it as a breeding tank. I dont hink you would need eggcrate, just make sure to use sand as the substrate, because with large grade gravel, supposedly there is a chance of all the weight compacting onto one pebble. At least thats what they say. Also make sure the stand the aquarium is on is extra strong so it ca support the weight of teh rocks.

[Fishguy2727]

How do you even fit 200 pounds of rock in a 10?

I would still use the egg crate. Even with sand, the rocks should be on the bottom, not just the sand. Otherwise if they dig under it (which they will do) the rocks will get to the bottom anyways or even worse, fall. And the egg crate helps hold the rocks in place and keep them from sliding. Should they fall, the egg crate will help spread the force.

For the cost and time needed to do the egg crate compared to the potentially thousands in damages should things go wrong without it, defintiely use egg crate.

[Algenco]

Fishguy is right, eggcrate is the way to go, rock should sit on the eggcate

[RichBowyer]

Where would one look for eggcrate?

[Fishguy2727]

Lighting department of hardware store.

[snipers_den]

I've got my rocks set up onto eggcrate...the sand just fills in the tiny squares and you can arrange you rocks and decor any way you like on top of it.....its also a good little piece of insurance so you dont crack your glass bottom if you fumble a rock like i found out......