Styrofoam under fish tanks?
In this video I discuss what happens to foam that you place under your glass fish tank. I show you the effect of having the tank's weight (transferred through the frame) on the surface of the styrofoam that I use.
I generally use Insulfoam foam board insulation that is available for cheap at your local or big box hardware store. I like it because of the insulating properties which can save me money on heating my tank and also the tough silver foil coating on one side that is puncture-resistant.
One of my fears with using regular "crumbly" styrofoam is for one edge or corner of my tank pushing down into it and causing the whole tank to go off level and failing.
People have gone back and forth with whether or not using styrofoam under aquariums is a good idea. I believe the catastrophic failures and leaks that people have reported are due to tanks settling into poor quality, less dense foam. When this happens, foam can press up into the bottom pane of glass and cause problems as the bottom pane isn't really designed to support the tank (it is the plastic bottom frame that does that).
I've adapted my foam use to placing a layer of it on top of my wood stand surface and then placing a layer of OSB on top of that to create a flat surface for the bottom frame to rest on, avoiding the possibility of any wayward foam to migrate up towards the bottom pane of glass.
Hope you found this video informative! Please hit the subscribe button and leave a comment if you enjoy the content. Thank you for watching and happy fishkeeping!
#Styrofoam #FishTank #DIY
