- Erik On Mon, 28 Feb 2005, matt kaufman wrote:
my $.02Lots of big heavy rocks in tanks with cichlids really really really is a bad idea. They dig, and what's worse, when they reproduce and begin flooding the tank with offspring, it becomes impossible to get the offspring out of the tank without a lot of work moving rocks around. Just not worth it. Sand under rocks is a *bad* idea. Dig dig dig crash crackle splash!I used lava rock, which I had in big, 'softball' sized chunks. It hardly weighs anything, weighs even less when submerged, gets a nice coating of algae on it and is full of good nooks and crannies for bacteria, plus hoisting it out when removing a few hundred julidochromis offspring is much easier than big lake stones or whatever. I got the rocks at a landscape supply house, much cheaper than a pet shop.No substrate except in front of the rocks, where I kept some sand.I also did 'breeding' tanks with PVC for caves, works great though not that attractive. The best breeding setup I saw in a 90 was a 'honeycomb' of clay ceramic hexagonal tubing. My buddy bred malawi cichlids like yours by the handful - males claimed one or two tubes and egg-carrying females would hide out in the tubes. It was cool to watch, you could see the territorial disputes. I think the shape of the honeycomb spread the weight around nicely, too.MattFrom: Trish <snips36@yahoo.com>Reply-To: Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat<gsas-member@thekrib.com>To: Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat <gsas-member@thekrib.com> Subject: RE: [GSAS-Member] rocks in a 90 gallon Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 10:06:52 -0800 (PST) Bob- I have sand as substrate. And their are Africans in this tank as well. Iced Blue Zebra{Red tops}7 of them and also 4 Yellow Labs. I do know about the styrafoam, but found this way after this tank was set up...for it was orginally just a tropical tnak with Goramies, and one time Angels.....but the last say 3 or 4 years it has been just Africans, so now adding the foam is not possible. Well it possible just not wanting to. LoL.... The rocks I am using larger rocks on the bottom, and then stack up to smaller ones. And also siliconed together rocks with using a pastic crate as frame, and made caves, and also a wall so the filter tubes can not be seen. And your right the Africans love to dig! Trish --- Bob and Judy Holmes <jbholmes@nwlink.com> wrote: > Trish, what kind of fish will be in the tank? Some > fish like to move the > gravel around which can undermine the rocks, causing > them to shift. Could > be disastrous. I used a piece of 1/2" styrofoam > under the substrate & rocks > in my Tanganyikan cichlid tank to prevent the point > loading Clay mentioned. > You'd have to tear the tank down to install it. > Bob > > > At 11:25 PM 2/27/2005 -0800, you wrote: > >Sooooooooo, without doing all the math and research > to see what glass > >can handle and having put some crazy huge rocks in > tanks of glass with > >no visible side effects.....I will give my best > guess if you like. If > >you do not "point load" the glass you will be fine > with whatever rock > >you place in the tank. Soooooo, what does "point > load" mean? It means > >do not place all the weight on one tiny spot on the > tank floor. If your > >rock has sand underneath it to help dissipate the > load across the glass > >tank floor you will be fine. If you let the rock > sink through the sand > >such that all the weight could potentially rest on > one point on the > >glass floor you could be in for some issues. > >I can give you an example of what happens with > point loads in airplanes. > >If you get on an airplane in tennis shoes the > aircraft floor will > >support the load easily, as it is spread out over > the entire shoe base, > >and you will make it to your seat. If you get on > an airplane in stileto > >heels and try to accomplish the same thing, you > will find the heels > >punching holes in the floor and it will be very > difficult to make it to > >your seat. > >Sooooo, it is all about the number of pounds per > square inch you are > >placing on your floor, be it glass or foam core > aluminum panels. I am > >sure if you wish to do a little surfing online you > can find the pounds > >per square inch your glass is designed to handle. > Doing some quick > >estimates of your tank size....and I could be off a > bit. If I assume > >your tank dimensions to be about 2'x4' on the base > and assuming the > >weight of water and rock to be about 10 lbs/gallon > of tank space. You > >come to 900 lbs/1152 square inches or .781 > lbs/square inch. Doing a > >little surfing myself, here are some average glass > strength values > >Annealed Glass 6,000 psi, Tempered Glass 24,000 > psi. These values are > >based on a Typical Breaking Stress (large light 60 > sec. load). This is > >all fine and good, but, your load from rocks will > not be a typical 60 > >sec. load. Even so, you can see glass can take a > heck of a load > >compared to what you are currently putting on your > tank. > >Soooo, all that said, be careful. If you are truly > working with > >tempered glass you need to make sure you do not > scratch it near where > >your higher loads are placed on the bottom. Simple > scratches in > >tempered glass can be a invitation to disaster as > the glass will shatter > >easily once the surface has been damaged. This is > why you cannot cut > >tempered glass by etching it and snapping it. > >Wanna learn more about glass than you could ever > imagine.....check this > >out.....http://www.glassonweb.com/glassmanual/topics/index/tempered.htm > > > >Now, your house floors.....there is another load > issue.....but, that is > >another discussion. One quick suggestion here > though....do not build > >your aquarium stands on stiletto heels. > > > >Clay > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Susan Welenofsky > [mailto:welenofsky@comcast.net] > >Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 5:21 PM > >To: 'Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat' > >Subject: RE: [GSAS-Member] rocks in a 90 gallon > > > > > >The bottom is probably tempered glass, so it will > be extra strong. I > >would contact All Glass and ask them to be sure. I > would like to see a > >picture of your wall and tank! > > > >Susan > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: gsas-member-bounces@thekrib.com > >[mailto:gsas-member-bounces@thekrib.com] On Behalf > Of Trish > >Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 5:15 PM > >To: Fish List > >Subject: [GSAS-Member] rocks in a 90 gallon > > > >I need a question answered. And hoping someone here > >can help me. > > > >I need to know how much rock can a 90 gallon hold. > It > >is an All Glass Aquarium, is on a wood stand, with > >only the plastic bar which comes across the middle > on > >the bottom. I have no plywood underneath. Tank is > >filled and has been running now for 5 years, so > >putting one underneath is not an option. > > > >Thanks in advance! > > > >Trish > > > >BY the way my rock wall is finished and is going in > >this tank, but have exsiting rock in here > >already.....so need to know how much wieght it can > >support. I let it cure now for 4 days. > Outside....so > >no oder left. > > > > > > > >__________________________________ > >Do you Yahoo!? > >Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced > search. Learn more. > >http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 > >_______________________________________________ > >GSAS-Member mailing list > >GSAS-Member@thekrib.com > >http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member > > > >_______________________________________________ > >GSAS-Member mailing list > >GSAS-Member@thekrib.com > >http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member > > > >_______________________________________________ > >GSAS-Member mailing list > >GSAS-Member@thekrib.com > >http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member > > > _______________________________________________ > GSAS-Member mailing list > GSAS-Member@thekrib.com > http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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