Tank Setups • Sand Substrate and Egg Crate-Terrible Smell

[Jayse]

Links to documented occurrences, please. Until then, never heard of it.

That's like saying if it isn't on the internet it never happend , and that everything on the internet is true because.... well... it's on the internet!

I take everything including some stuff I get from here with a grain of salt. Every circumstance with living creatures (fish) can vary, as well as somebodies aquarium. Just as with any other product that is manufactured, not all are created equal. Defects happen even in the glass manufacturing business, and by viewing some of the articles that are in the library, who's to say an aquarium somebody has purchased isn't one that was made at home by another person possibly without a tempered bottom.

I have a 40-50lb rock that is going in my next tank and has some very rough points that jut out. Removing this from the previous tank when breaking it down while it was wet was a task in itself, all the substrate had been moved away underneath it from the Mbunas. I would rather trust the few dollar piece of plastic that was underneath it than chance breaking the glass from it slipping and causing what water was left to spill out damaging other stuff. Call me scared of what might happen by dropping a rock in my aquarium... sure I'll take that tag gladly.

[prov356]

That's like saying if it isn't on the internet it never happend , and that everything on the internet is true because.... well... it's on the internet!

No, it's not. I"m not an idiot, thanks.

[BillD]

This has been kicked around a lot. Some swear by it, others like myself say it serves NO purpose, total myth about it strengthening tanks to support rocks. It's flimsy plastic on top of tempered glass. Think about it. As for pressure points, never heard of it blowing out a tank, but if someone wants to ride on that reason, then they'd have to tell me how they keep the grains of sand out from under the edges of the eggcrate. As for protecting against dropped rocks, well, be careful. I'd think you'd have to drop a pretty large rock from a good height to blow out a tank. And there's always the sand to buffer the blow. Not enough of a reason, at least to me, to put eggcrate in tanks. Bottom line, not needed and useless and ugly when exposed and traps detritus, as you've seen.

There, I've reopened the can of worms.

You are not likely to have pressure points cause tank failure when using sand. Gravel, however, is a different story (so, now you have heard of it). Sand shouldn't need anything beneath it and anything falling on it should also not be an issue.

Gravel, however, is a different story (so, now you have heard of it).

You'll never get enough pressure to blow out a tank, gravel, sand, doesn't matter. Links to documented occurrences, please. Until then, never heard of it.

Contact Bunbarsch who posts under the CARES threads. He lost two tanks to pressure points.

[748johnd]

BillD, It must be a very rare occurrence. I have been keeping fish for over 60 years and never had or heard of gravel causing a tank blowout. I have had gravel with rocks, gravel with plants and also sand with rocks and plants without any problems. Reading your posts makes it sound like using gravel is risky. I have no hesitation using gravel with rocks, even heavy ones.

[Mr.Dempsey]

Watch and be amazed.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgEwEiTyYcs

[prov356]

BillD, It must be a very rare occurrence. I have been keeping fish for over 60 years and never had or heard of gravel causing a tank blowout. I have had gravel with rocks, gravel with plants and also sand with rocks and plants without any problems. Reading your posts makes it sound like using gravel is risky. I have no hesitation using gravel with rocks, even heavy ones.

That's it exactly. The threat is always WAY overblown. Misleads newcomers to the hobby. I've seen way too many new setup threads from new keepers listing eggcrate as part of their setup because they've been led to believe there's a strong risk of tank failure if they don't use it.