How thick of styrofoam to put under acrylic tank?

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Rob3rtPhan

Rob3rtPhan

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May 29, 2012
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So I have a 180gal with 1/2 to an inch thick styrofoam underneath the tank started leaking the wood started to warp. Now I have to reveal the tank. Is it because I use to thick or not enoughImageUploadedByMonsterAquariaNetwork1370404479.969994.jpgthats how thick it is. I need help because I'm revealing it Thursday and need to know what I'm doing wrong.


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I'd go with as thick of a chunk of foam as I can manage to use. The thicker it is the better it will be at absorbing the warping in your wood. To be honest, if the wood is warped bad enough, you might need to just rebuild the stand.

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Chances are theres not enough support beams across the bottom of the tank. You need them every 2' on the bottom of an acrylic tank if not more like every 12-18" if ur bottom sheet is thin. I also suggest resealing the tank with weld on #40 or it will happen again in the future. Imo foam is not needed with an acrylic tank. Ur better off fixing the stand with more braces and a thicker piece of plywood, resealing with #40 and tossing the foam all together. Cant stress the use of weld on #40 enough. It is the only glue that should b used for acrylic. Look up wheatgerms 20' tank and theres some good pics of the "tip and pour" method of reinforcing acrylic seams with #40. If u deciede to use #16 i assure u you will run into problems with leaking again down the road. It is very brittle full of bubbles and breaks down after a few years. What does the leak look like? Do u have full seam seperation? If the entire seam "popped" i recommend shooting some #4 in the gap then tip and pout with #40. There are also some pics in my 3k thread towards the end with the tip and pour method on acrylic seams. No better way to repair ur problem. U may as well do the whole tank while u have it torn down to prevent any possible problems in the future.

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For some additional assurance of weld on #40, it is 30 times stronger than #4 and 60 times stronger than #16. This information can be found right on their product disclaimer on their website. I repaired tanks with #16 for years before i knew better and watched them physically seperate with years of time. I re repaired all my old work with #40 and the difference in quality is night and day. Havent had any issues since.

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wednesday13 said:
Chances are theres not enough support beams across the bottom of the tank. You need them every 2' on the bottom of an acrylic tank if not more like every 12-18" if ur bottom sheet is thin. I also suggest resealing the tank with weld on #40 or it will happen again in the future. Imo foam is not needed with an acrylic tank. Ur better off fixing the stand with more braces and a thicker piece of plywood, resealing with #40 and tossing the foam all together. Cant stress the use of weld on #40 enough. It is the only glue that should b used for acrylic. Look up wheatgerms 20' tank and theres some good pics of the "tip and pour" method of reinforcing acrylic seams with #40. If u deciede to use #16 i assure u you will run into problems with leaking again down the road. It is very brittle full of bubbles and breaks down after a few years. What does the leak look like? Do u have full seam seperation? If the entire seam "popped" i recommend shooting some #4 in the gap then tip and pout with #40. There are also some pics in my 3k thread towards the end with the tip and pour method on acrylic seams. No better way to repair ur problem. U may as well do the whole tank while u have it torn down to prevent any possible problems in the future.

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Click to expand...

Stands is on 4x4 reinforce to the fullest I'm put a new thicker piece of plywood on top to keep it level after removing the warp one. I can't see the crack or separation right now because the tank is still running. It's leaking about 2-5gal a day not a lot but scares me to death. I currently bought weld on 4 and will be getting weld on 40 soon. I have all I need to fix it except the weld on 40. I will be buying acrylic sheet to weld on to the bottom of where it seems to be leaking. I saw this on a video recently to patch up a big crack. I don't believe there is a crack but I will reinforce it any way. Weld on 16 didn't hold for me at all. That's what I use last year to fix a separated seam. Do you know how long it will take to dry?


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wednesday13 said:
For some additional assurance of weld on #40, it is 30 times stronger than #4 and 60 times stronger than #16. This information can be found right on their product disclaimer on their website. I repaired tanks with #16 for years before i knew better and watched them physically seperate with years of time. I re repaired all my old work with #40 and the difference in quality is night and day. Havent had any issues since.

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Click to expand...

So do you think I need to buy acrylic sheet to weld to the bottom for reinforcement or just use your tips and lean the tank to redo the seam? I will be attempting to do everything Thursday and Friday so I wanted to do 2 seams per day with 8-12 hours to dry in between and is hoping to put fish back in by Saturday. Is it possible? Or should I wait at least 48 hours


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1/2" is plenty thick enough, if your stand is warped enough to need thicker than that then you need to sort out your stand. The foam is really just to absorb small imperfections, not big gradual unevenness like twisting or warping.
 
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David R said:
1/2" is plenty thick enough, if your stand is warped enough to need thicker than that then you need to sort out your stand. The foam is really just to absorb small imperfections, not big gradual unevenness like twisting or warping.
Click to expand...

Stand was fine till I added a 40lb driftwood and since then it started leaking. Been putting it aside but this need to be done this week. I need some thing flat and strong to place under the tank.


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