There was a picture posted here that showed someone piling a very large amount of rocks directly on top of the glass with no problem.
trying to find it.
trying to find it.
Hardscape additions: REALLY HEAVY rocks
- Thread starter fishguy1978
- Start date
Yes, creating a solution to be able to move a rock that I don’t want to drop is perfectly reasonable.
That's not a fair comparison at all.
First of all, live rock for reef tanks is significantly less dense than a solid stone like this, all those holes in it take the weight way down. Second, the average reefer doesn't build a crane in their basement because they can't lift the rock.
Anyhow, I never said it was impossible. Any good engineer would tell you anything is possible. I merely said the cost / benefit analysis doesn't weight out in my opinion.
You could place them on 3/4 inch pvc board from hd it’s fairly cheap and would get rid of the point loads, however, it does have some flex to it. Then surround them with sand so you don’t see the board.
My plan is to use only one rock. The others will stay in the yard. I have egg rate or 3/8 acrylic for a landing pad.
I looked at fake rocks and those are outside the budget.
I looked at fake rocks and those are outside the budget.
To be perfectly honest, if something is outside my budget, I will either simply abandon the idea of using it or come up with a DIY solution to the problem...which is, of course, what you are planning. But, as suggested by
Yoimbrian
, the benefits must outweigh the costs, or in this case risks, of doing so. DIY artificial rocks carry little risk; your plan carries significantly more.
I'd also suggest that...if you do manage to get that boulder into the tank...a pad to spread out the point loads it produces on the bottom glass should be a wide, solid piece like the acrylic you mentioned. Egg-crate (and I am assuming you mean the stuff used as lighting diffusers) is ridiculously flimsy and won't do much good; in fact, it seems likely that it will crush under the weight of the rock. Bad enough if it does so right away...much worse if it happens at a later time, at which point it will essentially be dropping the rock onto the glass and increasing the risk.
"Free aquarium"? Okay...but what's the cost to replace it?
Yoimbrian
, the benefits must outweigh the costs, or in this case risks, of doing so. DIY artificial rocks carry little risk; your plan carries significantly more.I'd also suggest that...if you do manage to get that boulder into the tank...a pad to spread out the point loads it produces on the bottom glass should be a wide, solid piece like the acrylic you mentioned. Egg-crate (and I am assuming you mean the stuff used as lighting diffusers) is ridiculously flimsy and won't do much good; in fact, it seems likely that it will crush under the weight of the rock. Bad enough if it does so right away...much worse if it happens at a later time, at which point it will essentially be dropping the rock onto the glass and increasing the risk.
"Free aquarium"? Okay...but what's the cost to replace it?
Hey there, I too am planning to use really heavy rocks. I have almost bought all the items I needed including even the sand substrate. I just need the fishes (which are some really good sized Thailand Blue Mahseer, Neolissochilus Stracheyi). Which never arrived, and probably will be very delayed due to current pandemic. I admire your innovative thinking on how to get the rocks in, and I'm sure this is very important as same for me, I can't afford any mistakes cuz we're talking heavy rocks and my tank is a glass tank sitting on concrete base. I still do think your planning is quite a lot of work to move the rocks. I'm just waiting for my government to relax the social distancing regulations, and I'm planning to get 2 mates over to help.
Anyway, if I may, my plan is still this, I'm going to empty the whole tank, make ready a resting platform (or two levels if need be) for the rocks. My mates will help me do the lifting to the platform, while I'll be inside the tank to get it inside. I'm planning to use my own body as landing pad if need be
. Then I'll move the rocks to position as in the picture attached which is basically a layout of the tank perimeter, and on the wall, you'll see the 1/3 sections of both depth and length of my tank, so I can better visualise how it will look like in the tank as I don't think I have much room to change once these stuff are in the tank.
By the way, to spread the weight, in the picture, you'll see a combo of materials, but I think I'll only need 2. It's difficult for me to find eggcrate light diffuser here, so I used what they call kennel board which looks more sturdy to me. And I used chopping board as another further step taken to ensure weight distribution is really effected. My choice of these materials are simply it's easier to find then what the professionals recommend, and chopping boards should be food grade, which means it should be extremely safe for aquarium use. I might add a bit of high density styrofoam which I have purchased, but the function is more for preventing sand from dropping into the empty kennel board space then for anything else. And of course, I'll cover them with thick sand substrate. There's also a piece of hardwood you'll notice on the right which I hope can also help soften water and it's my personal opinion that it looks like a sunken tree....lol.
Btw, I have to use heavy rocks because 3D artificial rocks here are made from cement which needs very long curing period to be safe and the mahseer fishes are very powerful swimmers. And so one of the conditions of any rocks to be inside has to be that there's no way the fish can accidentally flick the rocks to any glass panels even when the fish is using full force.
Hope that helps, my friend.
Anyway, if I may, my plan is still this, I'm going to empty the whole tank, make ready a resting platform (or two levels if need be) for the rocks. My mates will help me do the lifting to the platform, while I'll be inside the tank to get it inside. I'm planning to use my own body as landing pad if need be
. Then I'll move the rocks to position as in the picture attached which is basically a layout of the tank perimeter, and on the wall, you'll see the 1/3 sections of both depth and length of my tank, so I can better visualise how it will look like in the tank as I don't think I have much room to change once these stuff are in the tank.By the way, to spread the weight, in the picture, you'll see a combo of materials, but I think I'll only need 2. It's difficult for me to find eggcrate light diffuser here, so I used what they call kennel board which looks more sturdy to me. And I used chopping board as another further step taken to ensure weight distribution is really effected. My choice of these materials are simply it's easier to find then what the professionals recommend, and chopping boards should be food grade, which means it should be extremely safe for aquarium use. I might add a bit of high density styrofoam which I have purchased, but the function is more for preventing sand from dropping into the empty kennel board space then for anything else. And of course, I'll cover them with thick sand substrate. There's also a piece of hardwood you'll notice on the right which I hope can also help soften water and it's my personal opinion that it looks like a sunken tree....lol.
Btw, I have to use heavy rocks because 3D artificial rocks here are made from cement which needs very long curing period to be safe and the mahseer fishes are very powerful swimmers. And so one of the conditions of any rocks to be inside has to be that there's no way the fish can accidentally flick the rocks to any glass panels even when the fish is using full force.
Hope that helps, my friend.
If it breaks the dreams gets postponed. Disappointing, but I will survive.
I do agree about the egg crate possibly failing.
