Aquaman used to be 60tons strength, that was before the upgrade. Now it seems that he in addition to getting a magic water hand, is now using his telepathic powers in greater range and volume. He could always do lots of things with his telepathic power, it just wasn't brought out in many of the comics that he could do so.
He's a bit stronger now, and just as someone mentioned earlier, the comics are base partly or mostly on evolution, also with magiks and some creation. That's what aquaman has done, evolved somewhat by getting more in touch with his partly water-based heritage and its earthly mystic background, he has increased in power, endurance, strength, reflexes, speed and he's tougher. All of these attributes of his were already very impressive, to a degree where he could battle the heroes who in terms of power, were top tier without getting owned or dominated but still would lose decisively everytime(it being clear that he is not as strong) without using his telepathic abilities. Now however, he is more powerful, with strength that appears to be low-level class 100 on average, with it becoming even greater when he is exposed to water.
If you are not superman, captain marvel, martian manhunter, orion, wonderwoman, supergirl or powergirl, you really wouldn't want to battle Aquaman physically. Those are about the only superheroes(any others on their level physically) who out rank aquaman in strength(he's probably as durable as a couple of them I name and maybe a little more tougher physically than one of them) or he not that far off from a couple of them physically.