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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / November 2004styrofoam and tank leveling
I'm about to set up my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I've heard that you should put a piece of styrofoam under the tank to even things out when it settles. My question is, how thick should this be? 1/2 inch, 1 inch? Also, there's a centre brace on both the top and bottom of the tank. Would I need to carve out a groove in the styrofoam so the centre brace at the bottom could slide in? Not sure if the styrofoam could break the brace or something under all that weight. The brace is flush with the plastic bottom edge of the aquarium. thanks in advance. > I'm about to set up my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I've heard that you > should put a piece of styrofoam under the tank to even things out when [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > thanks in advance. throw the styrofoam in the trash. If it is a glass tank you do not want anything at all touching the bottom of the tank. The only support should be the tank edge. As long as your stand has a fairly smooth top everything will be fine.  SignatureMargolis http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm http://www.unrealtower.org/faq > > I'm about to set up my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I've heard that you > > should put a piece of styrofoam under the tank to even things out when [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > anything at all touching the bottom of the tank. The only support should be > the tank edge. Depending upon teh construction of the tank, of course, since some do want support and some don't. If it's a tank that needs support, leave a cut-out around teh brace - the whole point is o avoid concentrating stress, and from the description, it sounds like you'd have one at the brace if you just put it down on a continuous layer of foam. regards, Ian SMith Signature|\ /| no .sig |o o| |/ \| It's a perfecto tank. If I were to use styrofoam, what thickness should I use? > Depending upon teh construction of the tank, of course, since some do > want support and some don't. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > regards, Ian SMith Thanks for the reply. The surface is pretty flat, but not perfect. When I place the empty tank on the stand (home made), there's a little bit more than a 1/16 of inch difference between the tank and the stand (on one side). Is that good enough? > > I'm about to set up my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I've heard that you > > should put a piece of styrofoam under the tank to even things out when [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > the tank edge. As long as your stand has a fairly smooth top everything > will be fine. > Thanks for the reply. The surface is pretty flat, but not perfect. > When I place the empty tank on the stand (home made), there's a little > bit more than a 1/16 of inch difference between the tank and the stand > (on one side). Is that good enough? 1/4 styrofoam should be sufficient then. Look for expanded polystyrene (not extruded). You want the one made of little bubbles. Signaturewww.NetMax.tk >> > I'm about to set up my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I've heard that you >> > should put a piece of styrofoam under the tank to even things out [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >> everything >> will be fine. I was thinking about getting the pink styrofoam used to insulate basements. Is that what you're talking about? > > Thanks for the reply. The surface is pretty flat, but not perfect. > > When I place the empty tank on the stand (home made), there's a little [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >> > I'm about to set up my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I've heard that you > >> > should put a piece of styrofoam under the tank to even things out when > >> > it settles. My question is, how thick should this be? 1/2 inch, 1 > >> > inch? [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > >> everything > >> will be fine. Probably not. BTW, styrofoam is a trade name owned by DOW chemical. The stuff is generically called polystyrene, and it comes in 2 popular formats, expanded and extruded, and in various colours. If your pink basement insulation is smooth to the touch (not composed of many small bubbles) then it's the extruded type. This works better for very large aquariums (150g+), but really does not compress much for smaller tanks (<100g). If you have protrusions in your stand's surface (ie: screw heads) and the stand is otherwise parallel to your tank (known as flatness), then the extruded polystyrene will work fine. If you have gaps between the tank and stand, then you want something more malleable, like the expanded polystyrene. Note that depending on where the loss of flatness occurs, the effect can be insignificant to disastrous. If one of your tank's corners is in the air, this is a bad condition (when filled with water, the side silicone will be sheer-stressed). If the gap is along the front (or back), away from the corners, then it's probably much less significant, as many tanks will be fine with only corner supports. hth Signaturewww.NetMax.tk >I was thinking about getting the pink styrofoam used to insulate > basements. Is that what you're talking about? [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] >> >> everything >> >> will be fine. Wow!! thanks. You sure know alot about styrofoam. My tank is a little off at the corner, so I think I should use some foam...I guess the expanded type. thanks again. > Probably not. BTW, styrofoam is a trade name owned by DOW chemical. The > stuff is generically called polystyrene, and it comes in 2 popular [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > gaps between the tank and stand, then you want something more malleable, > like the expanded polystyrene. > Note that depending on where the loss of flatness occurs, the effect can > be insignificant to disastrous. If one of your tank's corners is in the [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > >> >> everything > >> >> will be fine. > Thanks for the reply. The surface is pretty flat, but not perfect. > When I place the empty tank on the stand (home made), there's a little > bit more than a 1/16 of inch difference between the tank and the stand > (on one side). Is that good enough? as long as it's not a large gap it will be ok. As long as 99% of the frame is supported it should be fine. My 135 has about a 6" section that I can slide a piece of paper between the full tank and stand, and it has been fine for 16 years ;o) SignatureMargolis http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm http://www.unrealtower.org/faq >> Thanks for the reply. The surface is pretty flat, but not perfect. >> When I place the empty tank on the stand (home made), there's a little [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >slide a piece of paper between the full tank and stand, and it has been fine >for 16 years ;o) Almost always true, but I have seen a tank that started to leak from a its unsupported base after 20 years. The unsupported part was about 6 inch long. Glass bends into the gap if the sealer weakens. It is best policy to arrange for 100% flat base support. Steve So do you recommend using the foam? > >> Thanks for the reply. The surface is pretty flat, but not perfect. > >> When I place the empty tank on the stand (home made), there's a little [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Steve > I'm about to set up my 75 gallon cichlid tank. I've heard that you > should put a piece of styrofoam under the tank to even things out when [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > thanks in advance. I can't remember what it's called, but I used some stuff that I think was insulation for between doors and frames. It's foamy tape-backed rubber(?) that comes in rolls, and you can get it in different widths. I think I used 1" wide 1/2" thick strips between the frame of my 150 and its metal stand. Worked great. HTH. Cindy |
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