I am not mistaken. This debate has been going on for many years in many forums. It doesn't matter if I used to work for an aquarium builder as a line assembler. It doesn't matter if I regularly visit my very good friend Russ at his glass shop and talk about this very thing and why he has stopped the floating design when he is commissioned to build an aquarium. It doesn't matter that the only failures I have had with tanks I have bought were floating bottom design, with and without foam. All the aquariums I have built, including my 500g acrylic (yeah, I said acrylic) have been a success, except the 125 I built as a floating bottom.
I'm not talking from my ass about this subject and I'm not just msking it up as I go along. I have been in this hobby for 40 years and 10 of those were a business.
This debate is going to end for some people when their floating design fails and some people will never experience a fail in their entire fish keeping life. Others will experience constant fails with glass tanks and switch to acrylic and swear by that construction. And then there will be those of us, myself included, that have experienced fails in both designs and both materials but continue to persue the hobby because that is just part of the hobby.
I would suggest, and just my opinion, construction of your own aquarium be done in a clean, well lit dedicated area and have a concise, well thought out plan before during and after construction.
But, be prepared for catastrophic failure at least as something that could happen and sometimes does even to the best construction.
This debate, like the add-salt-to-freshwater debate, the should-I-use-a-bubbler debate, is-bare-bottom-better-than-substrate debate are never ever going to be resolved or "won" because there are too many people with too many experiences, too many variables and too many opinions.
Do the best you can and make the best determination based on your gut feeling and just go with that prepared to accept whatever happens after......or doesn't happen.
...out
