Question on weight in a 55g

[Rembee]

My question is......with the weight of the gravel and sand(80 lbs.), live rocks (65 lbs.), plus water, will the tank bottom of a new 55g glass tank be strong enough to support all this weight? I do have a wooden stand that I bought for my new 55 gal. glass aquarium. For all the info that I have read on this website and others, I find that no one ever mentions if there is a need for some type of tank bottom support underneath the aquarium for the bottom glass.
Any and all replies would be of much help to calm my concerns about this.
Thanks....

 

[gizmo01gm]

hey there , your tank needs to be made out of 6mm glass at least to take the weight of the water and sand ect also make sure your stand or cupboard has a base board in it and that the tank is oon a leavel floor .check the level when you put the tank in the 1/2 fill it and check it is still level and pack the stand if needed do this and u should be fine cheers shaz :wink: :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Try putting laminated marine plywood (Must be marine so it wont warp if it gets wet!) on top of your stand and then putting an inch of polystyrene over that to absorb any possible unevenness in the stand or plywood. (Should be clear from the pic below) Also, the tank is easiest leveled with a tiny amount of water in it. that way you can see just how far out your level is and adjust it by looking at it. Try putting in just enough to cover the floor completely and then look at how the water slopes left to right and front to back.

 

[blackcloudmedia]

Actually I was wondering abou this myself. I did a LOT of math and was calculating total 55 gal of water weight, plus weight of rock plus weight of sand until I realized.....crap!!!! I forgot about displacement. Each piece of material you place into the tank will result in having to take water out. So I redid my calculations and weighed rock, sand, etc and found out that a gallon of water actually weighed MORE if not the same as the rock displacing the same gallon. Therefore the rock weight may be 80 pounds, but the ten gallons being displaced weighs 80 pounds as well. Plus the glass on larger tanks is tempered glass. My 55 gal actually has a crack on the back that doesnt go all the way through. Im worried about it but it seems to be holding tight until I get a paycheck I can afford to spend.

 

[Rembee]

Thanks guys for your replies. And very true Black cloud about the water displacement. I had thought about that but I didn't know how much water displacement I would have. 1 gal. of water weights 8.33 lbs. Thank you for the displacement calulations. I plan on doing some modifacations to the center opening of my stand with some bracing that will fit up under the bottom rim of the tank so that it will support the bottom glass all the way across the tank bottom.

 

[Anonymous]

The water is the heavest thing you will put in. You do not need to add the weight of the sand and rock. They will displace an equal volume of water. The tanks are desigened to handle the weight.

 

[Rembee]

Thanks Mark......I never thought of it that way but your right. Well....that solves that problem....lol