# Regarding Heavy Rocks



## nagukush (Oct 16, 2008)

Hi Friends,

Hope all is great !

Friends, just wanted to know how much weight of Rocks can the base glass of a tank hold. My tank is made of 12mm glass and the base is also the normal 12mm Glass (not tempered glass) - Can I keep heavy rocks on the base (placed on a styrofoam sheet) ?

I collected these Huge rocks today and I think they must be 50 Kgs each !!! I want to use them to hide the PVC pipe behind, but I'm really worried if the heavy rocks can crack the base.

Kindly guide me if I may keep them or is it risky and dangerous ?
Kindly advice...
Thanks and Regards
Kush


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## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Hey,

Just a few more details.. what is the tank footprint? how many rocks? how heavy is the largest?

Having asked those questions, I will say though, that glass can hold a lot of weight. If you use something on the botttom to help distribute the weight (i.e eggcrete/light diffuser) it will help even more..


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

My 38 gallon is jammed with big, heavy rocks. (relative to its size) I used egg crate, which I suppose helped the bottom from chipping as I lowered them in:








And check this out:




kevin


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Your tank can hold more rocks weight-wise than you can fit into it. No worries.


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## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

> Your tank can hold more rocks weight-wise than you can fit into it. No worries.


 :thumb:


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## bigdaddy67 (Sep 5, 2009)

+1 on steeler's post.

Also, I always use egg crate. Its a readily available cheap insurance. It really helps distribute the weight (which foam does not do).

--Davew


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## kelen (Aug 24, 2009)

I was at home depot this week buying some eggcrate for my 29g tank. The guy helping me suggested trying a sheet of plexiglass instead of egg crate. Sounded like a good idea, but I went with eggcrate anyways. I just thought I would toss that one out at you guys to see what you think.


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

i was told that the egg crate doesnt do much more then help protect the glass while placing, and helps it from slipping when fish dig, but provide very little strutural support for distributing weight


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/eggcrate.php
I wish I could find some threads for you, but asking if egg crate actually disperses weight is like asking if a Mac is better than a PC; you will get passionate arguments on either side.
The pro-egg crate lobby will say that for the low cost, it's a nice piece of insurance when lowering rocks into the aquarium or for lessening the chances of rock movement due to digging.
The anti-egg crate lobby will mention that your cichlids may expose it, and it's ugly.

kevin


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd do egg crate before plexiglass or styrofoam...no chance of dead pockets for noxious gasses and dirt to accumulate. Can hurt, right?


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