Re: Styrofoam - Is it safe? Advice please!

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul Dussault) wrote:

> Greetings,
> 
> I've recently moved my 77 gal. (24"x20"x16") from the 1st floor to the
> basement. The tank is all glass, on a plywood/melamine stand.
> I've often been advised to put a styrofoam board between the tank and 
> the
> stand, to help reduce the stress on the bottom glass pane.
> When moving the tank (which was in place for four years), I've noticed 
> that
> the plywood of the stand had swollen a little in a corner, due to small
> water spills; so I thought it would be a good idea to put styrofoam.
> I was told that the styrofoam board should be 1/4" or 1/2" thick.
> Unfortunately, none of the hardware "megastores" around here keeps 
> styrofoam
> under 1" thick, and they wouldn't cut it to 1/2" either.
> So I decided to go with 1". This styrofoam is quite hard and doesn't
> "crumble" easily.
> 
> So now the tank is in place, with gravel, rockwork and water. No fish 
> yet.
> It is almost perfectly level and the foam seems to bear it pretty well 
> (no
> sinking).
> 
> But some questions are beginning to make me nervous:
> 
> - Is a styrofoam this thick will be safe over time? (ie is it possible 
> for
> the tank to slowly sink in the styrofoam unevenly (due, for example, to
> rockwork), causing stress to the bottom glass pane?
> - Could the styrofoam eventually break or become damaged by occasional 
> small
> water spills?
> 
> Should I empty the tank (again!) and remove the styrofoam,  or can I 
> forget
> about it and enjoy my mbunas?
> 
> Do some of you have any experience with styrofoam under your tanks?

It is possible to crack the base of a tank if there is a bit of grit under 
it.  The thickness doesn't matter, so long as it is thick enough - I've 
used everything from insulation tiles 3/8 at most, up to over 1".  I 
wouldn't worry about it.

Roger Sleet
Roger's Aquatic Pages http://www.sleet.plus.com