# 400 lbs of rock in a 180- need advise please.



## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Ok guys, I know these posts come along all the time, now that's it's me, I can't find the old posts and need some reassurance. I working on putting my 180 together and last weekend I went to the landscaping yard and purchsed about 430 lbs of rock. This rock is very heavy on a per pc basis. A few of them are 60 lbs each- pretty large. You see where I'm heading on this. I'm not so much worried about the weight total, I'm more worried about distribution.

Should I worry about using all 430 lbs? Should I worry about even distribution as far as the large ones are concerned?

What I'm going for here is a tank covered with rock all the way across the back and up past halfway at least. I'm not happy with my other aqua scaping jobs and want a tank filled with rocks. The 60 lb'ers are so heavy that I'm a little worried about using them at all because it will be a task setting them in, and a real PIA taking them out to net fish or perfom a full tank cleaning. The plan was to use the big ones as a base for stacking. Just for reference I'm using Colorquartz and egg crate. The rock is called "silver jasper" but it looks like slate with silver streaks running through it.

Am I'm worring too much about all of this, should I just stack to high heaven and forget about it? Or are some of my concerns valid?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Here's the thread that you're probably looking for.

Here are pics in that thread (last page) of a tank maker testing tanks by filling with bags of lead shot.


















Draw your own conclusions, but that should put your mind to rest. As for weight distribution, I'd suggest 
reading the thread, and in particular his comments regarding it.


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

I have 470lb of rock in my 180g
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=177164&highlight=

though personally I like to put something between the rock and the glass, in this case it was egcrate. however I've also used thin poly with slate over the top.

[edit]the heaviest piece in there was around 60lb


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Thanks guys! Exactly what I needed. I now feel confident to use all the rock I have if needed. I'm almost ready to fill this tank so maybe I'll put up a post about it.

Psychotic nice find on that tank. I feel for all the work it takes. I have yet to start rinsning my colorquartz, not looking forward to it from what I've heard it's very dirty.

Prov356 you may not remember but I think it was you that gave me the name of that landscaping place south of Strongsville. Anyway I finally made it out to pick up my rock last week. I was dissapointed they didn't have large black lava rock, but I think I may end up being happier with what I found. Thanks again.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> I was dissapointed they didn't have large black lava rock, but I think I may end up being happier with what I found. Thanks again.


You're welcome. I had asked him one time about the black lava because it's one of my favorite rocks, but he said it wasn't available. Not sure why, but I've not seen it anywhere around here.

What did you end up getting? I'm like a kid in a candy store at that place.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

I'm a little unclear exactly what it is :roll: The bin wasn't labeled with a name and the girl that rang me up said "it must be silver jasper beacause it most closely matched the name". But she didn't seemed to concerened since they were all on sale for .13 cents a pound. Nice girl, but I couldn't convince her I would only buy the rock if she loaded it back into my truck cause I was too tired of hauling it around :lol: It has the look of black slate type rock with white veins running through it. I question what it is exactly because some pieces look more like granite with white veins. I'll post some pics soon, I'm going to start a new thread on this tank set up.

What caught me off guard when I went there was the fact that I found more of this rock that I already had but had never found a source for more. I forgot what they call it though. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... ht=#981906
While digging through the pile I found some of the same rock but instead of being predominantly brown, this was predominately black/grey colored. I almost bought this instead , I spent a half an hour rumaging through the bin picking out these oddball colored ones only to figure out there was not enough and I didn't really like it all that much! I did buy some more of the brown stuff to suppliment what I already have in my 55 growout tank though.


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

Personally, I'd avoid the largest rocks in there. I don't like the bigger rocks simply because they're hard to handle. Wait till they get covered with algae and all the other good stuff that will grow, and 60 lbs is hard to handle. They're easy while they're underwater, but as soon as they break the water level, it's all I can do not to drop them!

Maybe you're stronger than me :dancing: :thumb:


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

mithesaint said:


> Personally, I'd avoid the largest rocks in there. I don't like the bigger rocks simply because they're hard to handle. Wait till they get covered with algae and all the other good stuff that will grow, and 60 lbs is hard to handle. They're easy while they're underwater, but as soon as they break the water level, it's all I can do not to drop them!
> 
> Maybe you're stronger than me :dancing: :thumb:


agree there, though 60lb underwater aint to bad, its once you get it out of the tank that its hard to lift.

I ended up standing in the tank to shift the rocks into mine, supposed I should at some point remove them to clean underneath....


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## Hoosier Tank (May 8, 2007)

I used some pretty good sized rocks in my 180 but didn't weigh them before I put them in. the largest were about 12"x7" Here is about 1/2 of them on a 6' table for size reference.



I just did my first major cleaning where I move all the rocks to gravel vac under them last weekend and I simply pulled out the smaller ones and moved the larger base pieces, stacked to one side, vacuumed 1/2 the tank then moved the rocks to the clean side and vacuumed the remaining half. Not only did I not have to lift big wet slippery rock out of the water, but it gave my fish a place to hide while I tore their world apart.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> I just did my first major cleaning where I move all the rocks to gravel vac under them last weekend and I simply pulled out the smaller ones and moved the larger base pieces, stacked to one side, vacuumed 1/2 the tank then moved the rocks to the clean side and vacuumed the remaining half. Not only did I not have to lift big wet slippery rock out of the water, but it gave my fish a place to hide while I tore their world apart.


That's a good way to go. I ended up arranging mine so I only have to move a few small ones off the big 
ones and I can then vacuum around everything. I slide the big ones aside a little bit if I need to. I don't 
remove anything from the tank.


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## zazz (Apr 5, 2008)

i have a lot of rock in my 150g ...the thing that i realised while setting it up was the fact that rocks are pretty light in water.

that is to say that rock density and water density are pretty close so if a tank can hold that ammount of water then it can hold the rocks as well.

the other thing i noticed was that aquascaping in a full tank was a lot less dangerous than an empty one.


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

I had well over 300 pounds in my 135 on the 3rd story of an apartment building  What I did was use egg crate on the bottom of the tank (can be bought at home depot/lowes) and then used sand - both of which disperse weight evenly. You should be fine


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## joker4466 (Oct 10, 2008)

Hoosier Tank said:


> I used some pretty good sized rocks in my 180 but didn't weigh them before I put them in. the largest were about 12"x7" Here is about 1/2 of them on a 6' table for size reference.
> 
> what kind of rock is that?


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## Hoosier Tank (May 8, 2007)

joker4466 said:


> Hoosier Tank said:
> 
> 
> > I used some pretty good sized rocks in my 180 but didn't weigh them before I put them in. the largest were about 12"x7" Here is about 1/2 of them on a 6' table for size reference.
> ...


Local landscape supply called it "Holey Bolder". 
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=170369


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