Rocks on back glass. Bad?

[kevin95695]

Hi,

I had to rockscape in a hurry. Ran into LR that needed rescuing in a hurry so I got about 160lb split between 75g and 20g sump. Tank is only 18" front-back and I crammed about 130lb in it... I had to stack the rocks touching the back glass. Partly because I don't have enough front-back room to structurally stack it off the glass and partly because there's just so dang much of the stuff.

I know that it might leave scratches if I ever rearrange things, but other than that is there any real problem? My tank is braced and I made sure most of the weight was pushing down, not back. The touching is more like a prop-up than crutch.

Thanks.

 

[Steverino]

I made a PVC brace for stacking rocks up high. I drilled a hole in the rocks and stacked them up tall. That particular tank is 30" tall, and only 18" front to back. My rocks don't touch the glass, so I can get my hand or the magnet scraper in there for cleaning.

 

[Chrsnwk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9483065#post9483065 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Steverino
I made a PVC brace for stacking rocks up high. I drilled a hole in the rocks and stacked them up tall. That particular tank is 30" tall, and only 18" front to back. My rocks don't touch the glass, so I can get my hand or the magnet scraper in there for cleaning.

got a picture of the end result? I've heard of people doing the framwok thing with mixed opinions on how appealing it is to the eye in the tank.

 

[drummereef]

It's just kind of difficult to clean behind them is all.

 

[lat0403]

As far as how appealing it is, I think it just depends on the design.

(from http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=686757 )

It also helps that his tank is huge, though.

 

[Lion_Babe]

It shouldn't cause a problem as long as it isn't putting too much pressure on it. You can use little acrylic pegs to keep it off the glass if you don't want it scratching your glass. What are you going to do with all that extra LR?

 

[savethereef]

just be careful because if you stack rock in a glass tank and something falls back or something with all the presure the water puts on the tank if a rock hits a wall it can shatter. I saw it first hand with my friends 50g tank. droped a rock from the top to the bottom front. it hit it then like 2.5 seconds later the font shattered and out came all really sucked thats when i said wow never a glass tank for me again only acrylic.

 

[Steverino]

Chrsnwk; I'll get a 'current' photo to post tonight....you can't see the framework if you do it right, it just looks like a pile of rocks. If stacking tall, and having some kinds of starfish, urchins, larger snails, anemones, I would never consider Not bracing my rock.

 

[kevin95695]

Lion_Babe: What extra rock? Between "showroom" and "sump" there's 160lbs in there baby.

savethereef: I was pretty careful to interlock and cantilever pieces together out of that very fear. I'm considering using marine epoxy to weld a couple together near the top.

 

[hmello@bermexin]

If there is any pressure on the back glass you stand the risk of stressing the seams of the corners over time.

 

[jeeperrs]

I had never thought of that question before. It seems to me a lot of people stack their rock so that the back glass is very hard to get to. I am about to stack my rock and was going to put most of it along the back glass. Wouldn't the amount of water being displaced relieve the stress on the seams? I would think the weight leaning on the back glass would be a lot less than if there was no rock and a lot more gallons of water pushing on them. Hmmm, now I have to think through this ha-ha.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Ive stacked quite a bit on the back glass with no probs. I once had about 250lbs in a 105g for temp holding purposes, It was super packed in there, and it even had some decent sized fish that still found a way around.

 

[hmello@bermexin]

I read in a thread somewhere that the pressure from water is pressure in all directions. The pressure from the rocks and sand is striclty weight to the bottom, which is narutally supported by the stand. However if you pur the rock against the glass so that it is in effect leaning on it that is an additional stress on the glass from the weight. I think it was waterkeeper that had the explanation I will try to look for it.

 

[Lion_Babe]

You said that there was so much dang stuff in your tank.....thought you were calling some of the LR extra. Sorry, my mistake.

 

[kevin95695]

No need for apologies. I might actually shift some to sump later. Still in the early days... Might seed a buddies tank too. Don't know.