Aquascaping Help... Doh?

[SkiFletch]

Just wanted to make this post a quick aside from my diary as I think I overlooked something. When I setup my tank (still dry) with some base rock and sand, I aquascaped it by putting the rock straigt on to the glass, then filling in with sand. How imperative is it for me to have something under the tank like a foam pad? I've been reading a lot on tank setup and people have greatly reccomended this . Too bad I allready laid out my rocks to my liking and its gonna be tough to get a pad in there. If its imperative, I can do it, but if I can go without, I'd rather do that. The tank is 45 gallons with about 60lbs of base rock and I plan on adding another 20-40lbs of liverock to that for a total of 80-100lbs of rock. What do you guys think I should do before I fill it?

 

[Aquascaper]

If you can be sure that the base that the tank sits on is perfectly level then you should be ok.

The reason for the foam/polystyrene base is to even out any lumps and bumps and to ensure that the weight of the tank and contents is spread evenly over the entire glass base sheet. If there is any uneveness then this will cause stress at that point which could lead to a stress fracture forming and the tank shattering.
Worse case scenario would be if you had a heavy rock balancing on a point on the base glass sheet which is directly over a small depression in the stand top, all that weight concertrated on a point on the glass with no support underneath it a certain recipe for disaster.

If it was me i'd take photos of the rock formations you've created, empty the tank, put down a good 1" polystyrene sheet, replace the tank, refill it and create the rockwork from the photos.........lot of hassle but could save a lot of problems.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, I came up with a unique solution to the problem since I didnt want to do all that hassle . The stand actually does not have a "bottom" to it, its wide open, so I taped a piece of 8mm thick foam neoprene to the under side of the tank from inside the stand. Then, I stained a piece of 3/4" plywood, slid it up under the tank, and secured it with some steel brackets along its length, width, and straight down the long center in a nice tight fit. Hopefully the moisture in the area from the sump will cause the ply to swell and press the neoprene up against the glass even further over time.

 

[Opcn]

The problem and the solution you used don't realy fit each other. the foam is to protect from point contact from below cracking the glass, the base rock is making point contact from above the glass. Ironicaly the foam acctually makes the problem with the rocks more of an issue since you are still dry I would highly reomend taking aphoto of your tank, pulling out the rock and sand and dropping in some egg crate then rearanging the rocks like you had them before only 1 cm higher

 

[SkiFletch]

Wait, the foam is supposed to go inside the tank ?

 

[Aquascaper]

To clear up the confusion:

The tank itself should sit on a layer of foam/polystyrene to cushion the weight and to even out the surface that the tank sits on. This spreads the weight of the tank evenly over the entire bottom sheet of glass which minimises the risk of stress fractures in any one particular point.

The rockwork inside the tank should be placed onto a supporting layer to spread the weight of the individual rocks over the bottom sheet of glass. This is usually done with eggcrate, a plastic matrix, which lifts the rock off the bottom sheet of glass and can be hidden under the substrate (comes in black or white usually). Depending on the size of tank and amount of rockwork this is not always necessary but it is recommended.

 

[Opcn]

Size of tank is important, I meant to mention that. If its 30 or smaller I'd say don't worry about it, also if the tank bottom is tempered Its probably not an issue either. You don't use foam on the inside of a tank thought just FYI, egg crate or a PVC or ABS rack to hold the rocks off the glass

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh, well mine's a 45 but its a tall, meaning the footprint is very small (3'x1') and its made out of tempered glass. I questioned its previous owner and he said he kept well over 100lbs of LR in it without issue... Armed with all that knowledge, I'm gonna go ahead and think that I'm safe with the under sheeting and re-inforcing that I've done. Thanks for the input guys

 

[Aquascaper]

Best of luck with it

 

[SkiFletch]

Thanks man, got my buckets here at the lab ready to fill up with DI water and finally get the tank wet