Too Much Weight?

skjl47

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
May 16, 2011
4,457
3,852
179
Tennessee
Hello; The OP went for a look and took a chance. That is a lot of heavy rock in a glass tank.
Part of the concern, to me, is the point source of that weight. Too much weight concentrated in a spot or few. Uneven stresses are different than the more uniform distribution of water weight.

While my personal opinion counts little, I would not use so many rocks. Nor would i stack them so high. But the opinion of the manufacturer counts most and i can understand the decision. On a Mustang forum members post of warranty denials because they have tuned and modified the car. Part of the game.

I do admit the photos of the tank setup is impressive with all that rock. In addition to too much weight I suspect other posts have the right idea with the egg crate and such needed to spread the weight. I lost a 125 to an unforeseen condition years ago. Never occurred to me to blame the tank maker.
 

ReefKeeper1995!

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2024
8
0
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Hello; The OP went for a look and took a chance. That is a lot of heavy rock in a glass tank.
Part of the concern, to me, is the point source of that weight. Too much weight concentrated in a spot or few. Uneven stresses are different than the more uniform distribution of water weight.

While my personal opinion counts little, I would not use so many rocks. Nor would i stack them so high. But the opinion of the manufacturer counts most and i can understand the decision. On a Mustang forum members post of warranty denials because they have tuned and modified the car. Part of the game.

I do admit the photos of the tank setup is impressive with all that rock. In addition to too much weight I suspect other posts have the right idea with the egg crate and such needed to spread the weight. I lost a 125 to an unforeseen condition years ago. Never occurred to me to blame the tank maker.
Okay that makes more sense. The stand is about 1/2” plywood sheet then braced in the middle and then a foam pad that is attached to the tank on the bottom. I kind of just figured that would be able to distribute the weight enough and I’ve done this amount of rock on countless Marineland tanks and never had an issue so I was just surprised when a higher end tank couldn’t hold up to a lower end tank.
Yeah I get that per modifications, like most companies say if you don’t use their stands and tanks together any warranty claims are void. This I wouldn’t think is modification though. Maybe people’s idea of modification is different, I would think if I was say cutting holes in the stand to modify that would impact the integrity of it. I may absolutely be wrong in my understanding of that.
The company told me you can’t use anything heavy in the tank and I guess my question is then what is the max weight I should strive for
If it’s my fault then I am absolutely willing to accept that, I’m just trying to understand fully because like I said I’ve done countless other tanks and never had a problem. I have pictures to back them up. So I want to know if this is impending doom and I should just stay far away from using those types of rocks. The original guy I spoke with at the company said they had an S curved tank that they had issues with cracking and discontinued it because of that but I haven’t heard from that guy since that phone call.


oh man I’m sorry to hear that! It’s always a sucky day when anything like that happens. I hope you where able to save the fish!
 

skjl47

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
May 16, 2011
4,457
3,852
179
Tennessee
Okay that makes more sense. The stand is about 1/2” plywood sheet then braced in the middle and then a foam pad that is attached to the tank on the bottom. I kind of just figured that would be able to distribute the weight enough and I’ve done this amount of rock on countless Marineland tanks and never had an issue so I was just surprised when a higher end tank couldn’t hold up to a lower end tank.
Yeah I get that per modifications, like most companies say if you don’t use their stands and tanks together any warranty claims are void. This I wouldn’t think is modification though. Maybe people’s idea of modification is different, I would think if I was say cutting holes in the stand to modify that would impact the integrity of it. I may absolutely be wrong in my understanding of that.
The company told me you can’t use anything heavy in the tank and I guess my question is then what is the max weight I should strive for
If it’s my fault then I am absolutely willing to accept that, I’m just trying to understand fully because like I said I’ve done countless other tanks and never had a problem. I have pictures to back them up. So I want to know if this is impending doom and I should just stay far away from using those types of rocks. The original guy I spoke with at the company said they had an S curved tank that they had issues with cracking and discontinued it because of that but I haven’t heard from that guy since that phone call.


oh man I’m sorry to hear that! It’s always a sucky day when anything like that happens. I hope you where able to save the fish!
Hello; Saved most, nearly all, of the fish. Still had a few inches of water in it. Was a mess and i was lucky it was a basement setup with a floor drain.
 

ReefKeeper1995!

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2024
8
0
1
29
Hello; Saved most, nearly all, of the fish. Still had a few inches of water in it. Was a mess and i was lucky it was a basement setup with a floor drain.
That’s good per saving most of the fish! It suck’s a lot but sounds like if it had to happen anywhere it happened in the more ideal spot! Floor drains are awesome in general
 

ReefKeeper1995!

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2024
8
0
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29
MAN!! that looks scary as hell how could you be taking pictures i would be freaking out getting my python out setting up a spare tank
Dude, it was terrifying. I had the python and sump pump ready to go. I just took that for homeowners insurance. Dude it was like a waterfall out the front glass. I have a video, I did get it drained and to be honest definitely could’ve been a lot worse, still was a long night.
 
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