Thanks guys. It's going to be a long-term thing (I hope!) so I have to consider carefully....leaning toward replacing the MDF with plywood for now 
Question re. styrofoam thickness
- Thread starter peathenster
- Start date
Probably long past this but I would replace the MDF. If you are not going to I would try to coat it with an oil based paint or finish. IME oil based seems to hold up much better on all my fish tank stands and breeding racks (all saltwater though).
For the foam, people seem like they were spot on. I used 1" foam under my glass 520g saltwater reef and it barely compressed at all. This is with a 1200 lb tank and it full or water.
For the foam, people seem like they were spot on. I used 1" foam under my glass 520g saltwater reef and it barely compressed at all. This is with a 1200 lb tank and it full or water.
tanglovers;4857978; said:
Thanks! I even thought about spraying a layer fiber glass on it but eventually couldn't bare the thought of disintegrating MDF...so I replaced it with 3/4" plywood, then 1/2" styro on top. Hope it holds up
Think through your selection of material for under the tank.
A flat bottom 225G acrylic tank has approximately 2200 sq inches of bottom making contact with the stand (assuming your stand is constructed to provide support over the entire top surface). That comes to only 1 lb/sq inch of force.
Pink Styrofoam needs ~ 25 lbs of force for any noticeable compression. I would suggest a light density white foam that you can buy at a fabric store. You can test it buy cutting a 1 sq/in block of wood and putting a 1lb weight on top of it. You can then get an idea of how much the foam will compress.
Update - Oops; I just realized this was an old post that was resurrected.
A flat bottom 225G acrylic tank has approximately 2200 sq inches of bottom making contact with the stand (assuming your stand is constructed to provide support over the entire top surface). That comes to only 1 lb/sq inch of force.
Pink Styrofoam needs ~ 25 lbs of force for any noticeable compression. I would suggest a light density white foam that you can buy at a fabric store. You can test it buy cutting a 1 sq/in block of wood and putting a 1lb weight on top of it. You can then get an idea of how much the foam will compress.
Update - Oops; I just realized this was an old post that was resurrected.
