Can plant's weight break glass?

[blueberlin]

If I base a large plant in a glass tank, couldn't the weight of the plant break the floor of the tank?

-Eva

 

[Punkamph]

I have never had that experience and i have some rather large plants and substrates. I guess it would depend on the plant, it's set up and your tank.

Punky

 

[Joost]

the weight in a tank always has to spread out on the glass, or else it can break

 

[Yahilles]

Plants are built almost only with water. It's impossible for plant to break glass (or if you have really big plant which will fill the tank with roots and then break it by growing but it would be not caused by weight), i could never imagine such danger by myself... I think you can put 20 kg stone on terrarium glass and it probably won't do any "harm" to the floor.
Aquatic tank should be enough strong-made so it can resist itself full of water & gravel & hard decorations as wood and bigger stone, i think every commercial tank got it.

 

[blueberlin]

Plants are built almost only with water. It's impossible for plant to break glass (or if you have really big plant which will fill the tank with roots and then break it by growing but it would be not caused by weight), i could never imagine such danger by myself... I think you can put 20 kg stone on terrarium glass and it probably won't do any "harm" to the floor.
Aquatic tank should be enough strong-made so it can resist itself full of water & gravel & hard decorations as wood and bigger stone, i think every commercial tank got it.

Ok this is reassuring to me. I see what you mean about the plant displacing the water and so it is not necesserily adding more weight to the tank. I am thinking, though, about things like small trees or heavy vines that grow out outside of the tank but are still based inside the glass. (Sorry I wasn't more clear in my question.)

At the moment I am thinking particularly of Tetrastigma. I am infatuated with this plant at the moment and thought it would work well in a vivarium, but the plant grows about two meters a year and the ones I have have already broken their wire cage supports from their own weight. Hence my concern.

-Eva

 

[merk199]

Saltwater reefers use rock piled up that would easily outweigh any plant for an aquaria. In my dendrobates terranium tank I have a concrete background that weighs about 65lbs and doesn't displace anything except air.

 

[blueberlin]

Good point, thank you! Thank you all, I feel much more confident now.

-Eva