Styrofoam under tank?

[rocketeer]

How many of you use 3/4" styrofoam under your tanks? I'm talking about large tanks, let's say, bigger that 120 gal and 24" tall.

It seems to me that if the base is flat, then uneven compression of the foam might cause strain in the tank. Any opinions?

Jack

[hobogato]

i do, i havent seen any issues so far.

[don-n-sa]

With glass tanks you are supposed to use styrofoam under the tanks to aviod stresses for slight impertfections and or leveling issues. Back when I was shopping around for my 240g, just about every large tank manufacturer recommended it.

I am guessing you didn't?

I used the styrofoam that came with my glasscages tank...I am guessing that you did not?

I know that Alex did on his, I did on mine, Jeffco on his, not to sure about all of the others, but that would be interesting to find out.

[hobogato]

I used the styrofoam that came with my glasscages tank...I am guessing that you did not?

mine didnt come with any, so i used the 1/2" blue insulation foam that you can get at lowe's.

[LoneStar]

I used the styrofoam that came with my glasscages tank...I am guessing that you did not?

mine didnt come with any, so i used the 1/2" blue insulation foam that you can get at lowe's.

hmmmm I gotta incorportate that into my new build. How much did the tank settle into the foam Ace, after you filled it with water?

[don-n-sa]

hmmmm I gotta incorportate that into my new build. How much did the tank settle into the foam Ace, after you filled it with water?

I have no idea...Its hard to look at the back of my tank since it is against the wall, and due to the front trim, I cannot see it from the front...I will try to get a look.

[5.0Stang]

GREAT NOW SOME1 TELLS ME

[LoneStar]

Ok thanks... What I may do is make my canopy hang below the top edge of the tank to incorporate any amount of impression into the foam.

[hobogato]

i dont think it compressed more than 1/4". i didnt think to measure or take note of where the molding on the stand was before adding water.

[Bill S]

Hmm. When I talked to Oceanic, they recommended that it be installed DIRECTLY on their stand...

[z28pwr]

I've heard diferent opinions regarding this.

One is if it's a flat bottom tank IE Acrylic or Eurobraced tank then you can use foam, but if it's a tank like an oceanic that has a trim then you should not. I even heard that if you call oceanic and ask them that they will tell you not to use it since it will void your warranty. On my 10 foot long 3 foot tall tank I debated this question and called Tenecor, the manufacturer and they said it doesn't really matter and since the tank was pretty heavy already and going to a very tall stand I was not going to mess with trying to raise up any higher since it was only my girlfriend and I moving the 900 pound tank from one stand to another, therefore I did not use any foam.

I've never used foam in any of my tanks and i've had many ranging from 10 gallon to 750 gallons and never had an issue. With that said glasscages tanks (eurobraced) are required by the manufacturer to have foam underneath.

[LoneStar]

Hmm. When I talked to Oceanic, they recommended that it be installed DIRECTLY on their stand...



Thanks for posting that Bill.



One is if it's a flat bottom tank IE Acrylic or Eurobraced tank then you can use foam, but if it's a tank like an oceanic that has a trim then you should not.



I bet the reasoning is that on a tank like Oceanic, you have a trim that sits on the stand, not the glass bottom.... with a noticible gap between the 2. If you set the tank on the foam, the trip pushes into the foam. Once the trim settles in the foam (down to the glass bottom) thats where its going to stop. The weight of the tank is being pushed on the perimeter edges so you have downward force there. Then you may have an upward force in the center of the tank where the foam is pushing on the bottom glass pane, with no place to go. This could POSSIBLY create an issue down the road or it could just be me rambling on. Before hand I never really thought about it.

I guess the best thing is if your tank is totally flat on the bottom, your safe using foam to level. If you have a trimmed edge tank, better make sure your stand is level :P

[brieman]

I have it under a 380 with about 600 lbs of sand and 400 lbs of live rock, can hardly tell it compressed the foam at all.

[blueboy]

that foam is denser than you may think. i know a guy who fell off the top of a two story bank in seguin, onto 2 sheets of that foam and walked away! after he caught his breath anyway!

[safeuerwehr]

During the meeting at Wolfe Reef I notice tha Ed had used foam under his new setups (125g tanks), well as i was closely inspecting some I noticed that they had a gap in the middle that allowed me to move the foam bed up and down between the bottom rim of the tank and the base. So I figured the base was warped. I havent check to see if the gap is gone now that the tanks have been in place a few months.