New 135!!

[billansor]

Hi Jenny

Congratulations on your new addition... Hmmmm Where is your daughter sleeping now??? he he he...

Check this link out... its Carsten.. but look at the rockscape he has.. I have seen a few others that are like this and the fry are thick in that setup.

You can use an egg crate for the bottom with no substrate....

Just a thought... and consider it an experiment / or try it in your 75 gallon with some tropheus and see what happens??

Bill

[geoff_tropheus]

I read a thread in Cichlid Forum where an engineer from Oceanic loaded the aquarium with bags of cement to the very top of the tank and took pictures of it. Then removed the bags, after like a week or something, and filled it with water. No leaks whatsoever.

If I can ever find that link again I will post it.

Tanks can handle lots of weight on them.

My 180 is loaded with Petrified Wood and after 7 years, no leaks.

Petrified wood is solid stuff and weighs a lot more than like Holey Rock of the same dimensions.

What brand is your tank?

On 6ft tanks, I really like reef scape, or atleast 3 piles or more.

Works for me...

Is the Nangu/Chilambo what your calling all the fish, or you actually keeping the two together?

[Glass Onion]

Geoff,
I was under the impression that nangu, chilambo and kabeyeye were one and the same. Just sold under different trade names.
The guy who gave them to me called them Chilambo. Someone on the "other" troph site said that those names I just listed were all interchangable. He said that Chilambo was the less used name for them. In aqualog, there is a fish who looks just like these (to my 1/2 trained eyes) and it's called a nangu/kabeyeye. Thai had mentioned when I first posted that I might be gettting them that they weren't in the Aqualog at all.
Thanks for any elucidation!!!~
Jenney.

[myjohnson]

I got my tank with 300 pounds on rock in it.

Still didn't give out yet.

[Glass Onion]

I forgot: it's an Oceanic tank. It weighs as much as a bus.

[myjohnson]

Use egg crate and you are find.

I normally go a rock yard and dig around.

[Glass Onion]

Use egg crate and you are find.

I normally go a rock yard and dig around.

Does the egg crate distribute/even out the weight load of the rock?
So, I need to dig my substrate out of the way and put it flush on the bottom?

I did around at my landscaping place, too. But it's limited to square blocks of sandstone, thick slabs of sandstone and river rock: small medium and large. They also have mexican pebbles which are actually quite beautiful.

[Zulaab]

I have near 150lbs in my Custom 180 and I have seen almost 450 lbs in a 7ft 210 before -- never busted out either.

[Zulaab]

I promise as soon as the christmas tree is done.. its picture time of my new tank reset I did at Thanksgiving -- I like it a lot more than before.. but I wish I started with bigger rocks. Going to be doing another reset this summer/fall... who knows actually..

[myjohnson]

Does the egg crate distribute/even out the weight load of the rock?

Yeah and no. It distributes the weight over a few square inches per pin point contact with the glass. Without the egg crates the total rock weight is really only supported by the pin point contacts with the bottom glass. Even still, some people don't use egg crate and are fine. I prefer to be safer than sorry.

So, I need to dig my substrate out of the way and put it flush on the bottom?

Just remove the rocks. Leave the sand. You can push the egg crate trough the sand and reach bottom glass. The idea is to have all rocks that are bigger than the holes in the egg crate out the tank.

I did around at my landscaping place, too. But it's limited to square blocks of sandstone, thick slabs of sandstone and river rock: small medium and large. They also have mexican pebbles which are actually quite beautiful.

Got to fine the right places. Maybe contact a fish pond company and ask them where they buy their rocks. Not all rock hards are created equal.

[Complexity]

Does the egg crate distribute/even out the weight load of the rock?
So, I need to dig my substrate out of the way and put it flush on the bottom?.

It distributes the weight and also protects it from falling rocks. I accidentally dropped a very large rock in my 90g when I was setting it up. It was hard enough to break the egg crate, but the tank itself was safe. I can't say that it would have broken the tank if the egg crate wasn't there, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way either.

It's best to put it all together in this order:

1. Put egg crate on the bottom of the empty tank.
2. Add enough sand to fill in the holes between the egg crate so the sand and egg crate are flush.
3. Add your rocks ensuring that they are stable and will not fall.
4. Add sand. Push it in and around the rocks using the force of the water while filling the tank.

The reason for doing it this way is to ensure that the rocks are stable no matter what happens to the sand so when the sand is shifted by the fish or by your cleaning, the pile of rocks won't suddenly come falling down.

This is more important as you stack more and more rocks up. A few small rocks stacked up won't need this. A large stack of rocks will have a greater need.

Personally, I'd suggest pulling the sand out and getting the egg crate in there. Do it before the tank is too far along and full of fish. It's best to just get it right in the beginning and not worry about it later. The design you have now won't need an egg crate, but your design will change as you go along. Having the egg crate in place will allow you to do whatever you want without ever having to worry about it.

[Glass Onion]

You guys rock! Thanks a lot.

[Glass Onion]

Also will someone PLEASE tell me.....is a Chilambo the same as the nangu/kabeyeye? I changed my signature to Chilambo since that's what my friend told me they were.
Happy New Year!
Jenney.

[myjohnson]

not the same. what you got looks chilambo to me.