What do you put under your base
- Thread starter MikeyAl
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johntdaballa
Active Member
I placed a 1in yoga mat
prsnlty
Jackie
The stand? I would not put it on anything that is not perfectly solid. NEVER carpet or anything spongy. It will not hold the weight evenly/level and you risk a cracked tank or seams.
johntdaballa
Active Member
Hmmm I've had mine on for 2 years now !! No issues
prsnlty
Jackie
How much weight/ or size tank is it?
prsnlty
Jackie
Here's the thing if it's a small tank and you have no choice but to put it on carpet it should be okay in most cases. If it is let's say a 50 gallon or larger I wouldn't do it for nothing if I could put it on a solid floor. Not all carpet is the same some is spongier than others. @MikeyAl what size tank are we talking about here? Will it have a sump? Will it have rocks and sand and how much? What type of carpeting were you expecting to put it over? Do you have a choice? If you have a choice it is always best to put it on a solid floor
I doubt carpet will cause a tank to crack. Just doesn't make sense because the tank is sitting on the stand which is solid I would assume and the stand would be shimmed to make it all level even a solid floor can be uneven.
Nebnano
Community Member
I've always been under the impression that you want a thin layer of something that has a little give to it between the stand and tank. Reason being that one or the other may not sit completely flat to the other. But with the weight of the water in the tank it will try to flex the tank to the flatness or unflatness of the stand putting more stress on the tank seams /seals. I have a thin semi rubbery shelf/drawer liner under mine as I made both my stand and tank and know neither are perfect.
There are probably people that cut a section of carpet out but I'm sure 95% of people don't cut out their carpet to sit a tank down.
garethwood
Active Member
i have a yoga mat under mine but its only 500x340 foot print. the base is toughened
If your floor is carpet don't worry about it just shim the stand to level it out. The only thing that should be of concern is if the stand is true and flat where the tank sits. Should not matter if you have wood, tile, steel, glass, bamboo, carpet. And the comment about carpet being different which is true I highly doubt people have carpet the thickness of memory foam or a bed. Most carpet has 1/4 inch padding that will compress evenly to the base of the stand. Worry more about tank to stand contact and not stand to floor contact as long it's not a bed that your putting the stand on.
prsnlty
Jackie
To properly set up a tank it should be on a solid foundation. If it is not level then you shim it until it is perfectly level. A pad does not make up the difference.
Saltwater is heavier than freshwater first of all. You have a lot of movement in a saltwater tank due to water flow. If your tank is not level then one or more of your seems will receive more pressure than another. That can cause seams to blow and tanks to crack, which it has many many times.
If you have an acrylic tank you are supposed to put a pad between the tank and the stand. And never do this with a glass tank. However a pad should not be placed on the floor. The heavier the tank the more chance you have with bad things happening on a carpet or pad
Saltwater is heavier than freshwater first of all. You have a lot of movement in a saltwater tank due to water flow. If your tank is not level then one or more of your seems will receive more pressure than another. That can cause seams to blow and tanks to crack, which it has many many times.
If you have an acrylic tank you are supposed to put a pad between the tank and the stand. And never do this with a glass tank. However a pad should not be placed on the floor. The heavier the tank the more chance you have with bad things happening on a carpet or pad
I'm sorry I just don't get your heavy tank theory. The rest is true what you say. But let's say a tank with 1 gallon of water will not weigh down the carpet down and infact may shift and move, but a tank that weights 1000#s will absolutely compress the foam all the way down to where it will not shift. Rimless tanks are recommended that the tank not sit directly on the stand but rather have a piece of foam to self level and absorb any imperfections.
prsnlty
Jackie
I have had saltwater tanks since 1994 of all sizes up to and including a 300-gallon. Currently my 4 tanks are 20 gallons to 180 gallons. I have learned this lesson the hard way with a 300-gallon tank sitting on carpet and below the carpet was concrete. It was leveled on the carpet but over time carpet doesn't always compress evenly. Most of the time it put your tank out of level. I have had smaller tanks but didn't have this issue. Not all tanks of the same and have the same requirements. That's why I asked what type of tank he had. Instead of giving somebody advice without knowing what he/she has. When in doubt it is always best to put it on a solid base and level it.
prsnlty
Jackie
Is it glass with a frame? If so I would definitely put that on a solid floor. Make sure you shim the stand up level once you have it set up. but do that before water sand and rock.
prsnlty
Jackie
You won't need to put anything under it just make sure it's leveled.
But your forgetting to mention that infact if the stand is not true and flat that is what will cause a tank to blow or crack way before any issues with the carpet. The stand top needs to be flat on all 4 sides.
KJAG
Rogue
Can you explain your reasoning/elaborate further with specific details in regards to the highlighted section of this post?
