Sandstone too heavy for tank base ?

[jojo]

heya!
im in the middle of a complete tank make over.
I have a huge piece of sandstone that weighs quite abit... im just not sure whether the base of the tank can hande that much weight.
??

The last thing that i need to be dealing with is a cracked tank..

I know a few here have sandstone in their tanks...
What are everyones views? Its quite a big slab.. weighing (just roughly)30-35 kilos.
The tank and stand are quite solid but im taking no chances.


ta in advance

 

[cheryl]

Im not sure if that is too heavy, but i think it would look great.

 

[denise]

i have a 3ft tank and i have used sandstone for my deco, i bought 3 slabs and broke them into various shapes. i have 3 large flat pieces against the back of the tank for decoration and my tank had no trouble holding the weight, i also have sand as a substrate so its a lot of weight but the tank and stand are coping with the weight, maybe if your worried you could put a little in at a time and see how it goes, how big is your tank

 

[rob]

i thought i remembered reading here that sandstone alters ur pH ? not sure how much or which way, but i would check it out first.

i also just read in another post that Denise had a problem with a low pH of 6.0 so be carefull Jojo...
i used woomera rock and had no changes in my pH if ur interested.

(Message edited by kharmakazi on March 19, 2006)

(Message edited by kharmakazi on March 19, 2006)

 

[joan]

Sandstone does not alter pH (it is Limestone that alters pH). However, it will eventually break down in the water.

If you're worried about support, cut a piece of foam insulation (the hard stuff, not the soft, squishy insulation) the exact size to fit under your tank INSIDE the rim around the bottom (that's important!). But the tank must sit level with all sides even on the tank stand, or you'll crack it BECAUSE of the foam. So use a thin piece of foam to support underneath the glass on the tank. Does that make sense?

 

[jojo]

Ummm.. kinda understand Joan..


Im pretty sure that i know what your talking about... that means im going to have to empty the tank huh

??

Denise.. i too have a 3 foot

 

[sharn]

ive read of people putting small bits of ploystyrene coated in epoxy under the rock and putting whatever substrate around it, only problem there would be when the gunk works its way under the poly.

 

[jojo]

Yeh thats the only problem, the junk forming around the polystyrene..... Not sure how im going to work around it.
I will go with the firm installation foam ofcourse, as suggested by Joan.. but in order to put it UNDER the tank base, near the stand.. im going to have to empty the tank again

I wish that i had the sandstone before i moved, coz ive only recently put the axies back i their tank (due to moving and the mini cycle, which wasnt an issue at all mind you.. tests were PERFECT after just one day

)

 

[jennifer]

What is the size of the tank? For comparison, the WATER alone in a 55-gallon tank weighs about 500 pounds (over 200 kilos). You don't need to worry about the weight itself, although a rock that size might create an uneven distribution of weight. That might be a concern. The link below gives full weights of tanks (including the tank itself):
http://www.all-glass.com/services/techinfo.shtml

When you say the tank had a mini-cycle, but the tests were perfect after just one day... one day after what?


(Message edited by jennewt on March 20, 2006)

 

[jojo]

quote:
When you say the tank had a mini-cycle, but the tests were perfect after just one day... one day after what?

I was worried, before moving, that i would have to cycle my whole tank again, and that it would take ages. When i said "after one day" i meant after one day of cycling, of the tank being filled and up & running, the test results of all were fine. Because i had some of the water from already cycled tank, plus all the contents of the tank kept wet (filter, sand, rocks, plants, drift wood etc) which helped. Actually... no, it wasnt a day.. it was more like 3 days.. LOL


I have a 3 foot tank.. its about 45 gallon tank, give or take...
Depending on how i go about arranging the rocks.. they will be scattered through the tank (some big chucks, some small). That still wont help me re the uneven distribution of weight.

 

[alex]

how do u know that the tank wasnt cycled and it was just beginnig cycling?. you should of tested the water everyday for like a week or so.

 

[charlie]

I'm no expert, but provided you had some substrate under it to disperse a bit of the weight, I would think it would be fine. The key thing, as joan said is to make sure the base under the tank is evenly supported, as pressure in one particular spot, or a weakness in a particular spot would lead to cracking.

I don't understand quite what joan meant about cutting the foam to sit inside the edge though, if you could explain it a bit further joan, it'd be appreciated

 

[jojo]

Alex -
I did take that into account (that is maybe was "just begining cycling") before putting my axies in there AND yes, therefore i continued to test the water everyday for 7 days just to make sure everything was fine.
My axies are fine, as is their water quality.


(Message edited by jojo_is_here on March 21, 2006)

 

[jojo]

OOOhhhh and Denise... i might see how i go with adding bit by bit and see how the tank goes

 

[denise]

sorry jojo i havent been on but i just survived a cyclone. i have blue insulation foam under my tank cut exactly to the size of the tank but thats to keep the temp down with the chiller on, i have had my sandstone in the tank long before i had the ph problems and i think that was because of my second axie. try the piece by piece and see how it goes

 

[jojo]

Thanks Denise..

you dont need to apologise hun.. ive seen everything on the news

Very sad!! Its horrible!!
Hope everything is ok

And thanks again for the sandstone help!
Im going to empty out the tank to place the foam underneath like Joan suggested, save all the water and then ad bit by bit of the sandstone.. When i have time that is .. heehe