am i being a Sissy

Ok i have this rock work that weighs about 60lb, now i know are tanks holds thousands of pounds of water, i have a 150G . And i'll add sand and about 180 lb of rocks. But the sculpture i made has a "V" shape as you can see in the picture. I've built a support structure that is now failling and craking all over. That in mind i'm getting worried that the weight is too great on that one spot. If i cut the stands legs and put the structure directly on the sand, do you think its going to be ok, or just get rid of the whole feet all together and put the 16"X7" base rock directly on the glass be a better choice. 60Lb on an area 16"X7" is that too much for any glass. Any thoughs. Some of you must have done structure i'm waiting for your inputs thanks in advance. Maybe i'm over thinking this, just let me know.

 

hmmm, i would think a glass sheet is far more resistant that a hollo tube but this being said i would personally keep the base structure you made for your rock, its very useful if you plan on keeping a sand shifter as it will keep your rock work stable. otherwise you might find yourself with tumbling rocks that can at beast scratch your glass as they fall or worst, crack it.

what you could do is try and get your substrate really in the cracks and corners of your tube base this way the rocks weight will also slightly distribute itself on the sand bed.

i am no physicist, tank builder or architect however so this is really just my 1 cent and half :s

and by beast i mean best...... -_-

 

I'd skip the stand and put on the sand/glass... Should be fine. Nice scape btw...

 

I would put it directly on the glass as well. I have one very large rock (must weigh at least 75 lbs) that I placed directly on my 55, and now on my 125. Definitely make sure the rock structure itself is fully supported so there is no chance of pieces breaking off, but otherwise the tank bottom will handle the weight no problem IMO.

 

Thanks.



So my sculpture is finished, just have to rebuild the support with 1" pvc which i got as you can see i just need elbows ,lol. Then just got to hide those nuts and put it in the tank with a plexi glass in the bottom. The sculpture is 36" longX20"wideX 20" hight. My tank is 21" hight, but the structure was suppose to be built with 1/2" pvc now its with 1" so my last rock will be floating, i'll put a mini palm tree and a lodge for the snails.













At the end of the ramp a stalactite will come down.

 

I am a sissy!!

We just got my tanks 2 starfire and a regular one. Dang, These thing weigh a ton...... the glass is so thick... no worries about my sculptures anymore. i'm still going to put a plexi glass at the bottom but i'm just going to replace the upper support structure,of the sculpture because the fist one cracked, but i wont make the extra foot i had before. The four legs will land on the plexigass that will spread the load quite nicely and thats it; I AM A SISSY! lol. ;D

 

So a the name states in the glass business. The bottom of most tanks are tempered to be able to handle the weight and stress of water rock and other decoration. But never to safe. Its the edges you have to worry about.proper tempered glass can take head on hammer blows and never budge.but clip the edge wrong heck even lol at the edge cross eyed and it will blow in to a million pieces lol. Love you structure by the way

 

Actually mine is not tempered its thicker because of that 15mm instead of 12mm.

 

lol dont forget the nori mixed mojitos, and most importantly the little umbrellas in the drink!!

 

I would go cut some 3-4 inch pvc rings to balance it on so that flow and critters can move beneath it.