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Styro under tanks
Mark Pan wrote:
>I'm just curious ... I've heard it mentioned quite a few times here that one
>should tape styrofoam to the bottom of the tank to insulate it. Here in
>Singapore (or Malaysia, where I come from) *all* tanks come with a piece of
>styrofoam to be placed under the tank. The thinking is, no matter what tank
>you have, and no matter how small (or how big) you absolutely *must* have a
>piece of styrofoam underneath it or the tank will crack!
>I get the feeling that many of you don't follow this practice and your tanks
>are none the worse for it?
Nope. Tanks are routinely sold without any sort of insulation under them.
While I have read of people putting styro or thick cardboard under tanks to
solve any slight unevenness, and I've actually done it a couple of times
with a long tank on a questionable surface like an angle iron stand, it is
certainly not a necessity under most circumstances. More people than not
level their stand carefully and then place the tank directly on the stand.
I think most tanks (at leat those made in the U.S.) these days tolerate
this treatment without problems. I also suspect that if YOU happen to be
the person who gets one of the few that DOESN'T handle this treatment, you
are gun shy forever more.<g>
Sort of like I ALWAYS tell people to fill a new tank and check it for leaks
before setting it up. Only once, out of all the tanks I've been involved
with setting up have I seen one leak, but it was enough of a pain in the
neck that for me it's worth the effort to be extra cautious!