Has Anyone Broken Tank From Falling Live Rock?

[PatMayo]

I recently set up a 90 AGA. I have about 120 lbs of live rock in the tank. I have not glued any together or used any kind of support. I have just stacked it keeping as many nooks and crannies, holes etc. as I can by basically interlocking pieces of rock that somewhat fit together and support one another.

All of the rock seems pretty stable. I have pushed and prodded the rock in an attempt to get it to move and shift. I have a sand bed but not one that you could classify as a DSB. I have some high spots and low spots in the sand from the Seio's pushing it where it wants to go.

If a rock should fall what are the chances of the rock breaking the glass? Needless to say this would be a disaster. Not only for the critters and tank but my wife would kill me. (No matter what you say or think it is still the wife's house. She loaned my some space in the family room.)

Has this happened to anyone before?

Regards,

Pat

 

[Blown 346]

Yes the wife also loaned me my space in part of our basement.
Im sure it has happened, since it is talked about, but the rock would have to be a big good sized rock with some weight to it, and have to fall from the top into the glass.
It would also havto fall toward the center of the glass since that would be the weakest part.

It all depends on the rock and how it hits the glass in order to break or crack it.
As long as your rock is stabile you should be fine.

 

[scrmbld33]

if its stable you should be fine, the only worries are

if you have big enough fish to knock it over
if you have burrowing livestock
if you have a power head fall and blow the sandout from under it

dont worry about it worry about the What did that cost questions

 

[Ti]

Always make sure the rocks are in place real good, don't stack any rocks loosely.

 

[dugg]

I have dropped some pretty big base rocks from high up, that have hit so hard it made you jump back just waiting on the splash, and never broken one before. I'm sure it can happen, but it would just be a freak accident, not the norm.

 

[aquawolf]

I have rearranged my 90 AGA a few times and have some large rocks in there that have struck the glass as well. If you can push on the rocks from front to back, and side to side, and not get much play you should be okay.

One other thing to keep in mind is your future livestock purchases. I bought a brown and white hairy sea urchin that was about 2 1/2 inches across. (My wife thought it was cute and just had to have it in my tank) Well, those little hairs were like velcro and it would constantly get corals stuck to itself, like my frogspawn, and carry them around the tank. This wasn't too bad, but it ended up also being strong enough to push some of the live rock around as it was foraging thus messing up my aquascaping. I nicknamed it Destructo and after having to rebuild the rock structure for the 4th time I took it back to the LFS.

Long story short, just because it is stable now doesn't mean it will always be that way. Oh yeah and don't buy a brown and white sea urchin. ;-)

 

[Highlander]

In almost thirty years, on and off in the hobby, I have never heard of one incident of this happening.

IMHO, the broken glass story, is an urban legend encouraged by all those reefers duped into spending $100s on sandwich board for the bottom of their BB tanks, by some guy who turned out to be "of questionable authority".

 

[jun_celis]

I'm sure it could happen! But these glass tanks are designed to take such abuse. It doesn't really break that easily! At one time, there was a 85lbs kid that held out on my front glass and use it as a monkey bar? I saw her right away and stopped her. Although, she was about 5 seconds hanging on my fron glass tank, I'm happy to say that it held up. I never invited her family in my house anymore. Not my tank, please!

 

[dtaranath]

the bottom of tanks are usually very strong because the glass is tempered.

 

[Ti]

If anyone is concerned about the bottom, they can lay some acrylic sheets down

 

[Larry Waughon]

You should be fine, but to be sure add some more sand and enjoy a dsb.:lmao:

 

[jdhanover]

I don't even have a tank yet but have been reading a LOT about this. Your bigger risk if the rock falls is probably scratching. I did that in my 55g freshwater - scratch wasn't too big nor was it in the center, but it was deep and noticeable.

Not impossible for glass to break (it has happened but is VERY rare - if you ever see the video clip of the scrawny guy weightlifting you'll know that dumbell bars and aquariums don't mix ), but not a real big risk from everything I have read. I keep debating glass vs acryllic (leaking versus scratching being the biggest issues IMO) but now that I want a non standard size I will probably go acryllic.

Check the rock's stability every now and then and you should be fine. Make sure the base rock is on the bottom of the tank, not the sand bed - that has caused others problems.

 

[Lpabsolute]

Had a axident with mine the other night, hit the rock and all of mine fell to the sand. Luckely didn't break anything. i'm not worried about the rocks hitting the sand, just worried about them hitting the front glass....

 

[PatMayo]

Thanks everyone for the reassurance. That is my worry, a rock hitting the front glass. The bottoms of the tank are very strong. it's that plate of glass in front.

But my mind rests easier.

I'm pretty pumped. For those of you that have seen my posts I have a 46 FOWLR for about 5 months. Lots of coralline and things were going very well. That was my test tank. This 90 is the real McCoy.

It's been up since January 24th. I used the live rock from the 46 and fully cured from the local Reef Store. I still have no algae yet but I know it's on the way. I also seeded with some substrate from the 46.

As soon as I get out of my lazy period, (I am painting the master bedroom, you know how it is you scratch mine and I will scratch yours.) I will post a few pictures. Not much to look at yet but in 4 or 5 months I should be ready to get some corals in this bad boy.

Thanks again everyone I appreciate the info on the glass deal.

Regards,

Pat

 

[ACBlinky]

I've hit the sides of my tank with pieces of rock, held my breath, but been lucky so far. I've never actually seen/heard of glass breaking as a result of a mishap with LR, only seen people caution against it, but I did see a post here a while back where someone accidentally hit the front of their nano with a drinking glass and caused a crack. Someone called him and he got distracted, swung his arm around and probably hit it pretty hard.

 

[WantaBeReefer]

I have dropped some monster rocks in my BB 125. I have not had and issues at all. I was steadily re-arraning it for the first several months, so it happened often. I am sure it may be possible, but not likely IMO with what I have seen.