Material and thickness
- Thread starter nly04
- Start date
tmantaylor18
Active member
I used 1/4" white starboard from tap plastics
DivingTheWorld
Active member
+1. It was not expensive and you can have them cut it to your exact dimensions. The big decision is color... When I had some sand, I wished I had gone with white since it would have blended better with my sand. But once I converted to bare bottom, I'm glad I went with black. Once the coraline takes over though, it doesn't much matter.
Julius Chen
New member
My tank is with rim and a brace across the bottom. Can i benefit from using this? It goes between glass and stand right?
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nly04
Active member
This is go inside the tank, styro foam sheet is the stuff you need for between stand and tank.
maddhugan
New member
no
no
no, they are talking about putting a sheet above glass inside the tank to protect the glass (just in case a huge rock falls or something like that, I know buoyancy won't let the rock fall fast enough to break it, but it is more for psychological comfort).
I have the marine board black color too and I went with 1/2".
Acrylic won't work great for this application, and you need to get the marine board.
Tap plastic was a rip off, I bought mine from a whole sale dealer in Hayward, and paid 1/4th of the price what the tap plastic was charging. This place also has CNC so they will cut the sheet to the dimensions that you need.
If you have a small tank then you can go with tap plastic, but if you have a huge tank that has a lot of bottom surface area, then the whole sale dealer will save you a lot of money with which you can buy a coral that may die later... haha
Hope this explains
no
no, they are talking about putting a sheet above glass inside the tank to protect the glass (just in case a huge rock falls or something like that, I know buoyancy won't let the rock fall fast enough to break it, but it is more for psychological comfort).
I have the marine board black color too and I went with 1/2".
Acrylic won't work great for this application, and you need to get the marine board.
Tap plastic was a rip off, I bought mine from a whole sale dealer in Hayward, and paid 1/4th of the price what the tap plastic was charging. This place also has CNC so they will cut the sheet to the dimensions that you need.
If you have a small tank then you can go with tap plastic, but if you have a huge tank that has a lot of bottom surface area, then the whole sale dealer will save you a lot of money with which you can buy a coral that may die later... haha
Hope this explains
DivingTheWorld
Active member
I'd be a little wary of that for two reasons:
1. Who knows what chemicals might leach out of it.
2. It crumbles easily and you could have little while pieces floating all over your tank.
Some people use egg crate, some use plexiglass, some starboard. But to Randy and Maddhugan's point, it's mostly just for piece of mind. The odds of something breaking your bottom pane is super low. If I did my tank again, I'd seriously consider not using anything.
you're thinking white styrofoam, which actually shouldn't be used under the tank, or in...
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DivingTheWorld
Active member
Yep, you're right. I was thinking white styrofoam which both LeeMar and SPS Coral Store (where I bought the tank) recommended I use under my tank. I went with starboard inside since it's tried and true for not leaching.
Care to share the wholesalers name? Are they open to the public?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Julius Chen
New member
Anybody know the name/contact of the whole sale dealer in Hayward?
I need one for my 4"x2" tank.
Also wonder if white is better than say "seafoam" (slighly yellowish) - less risk of color leeching into the water long term?
Will 1/2" work better than 1/4" thickness for installing rods to hold rocks in place? How do you secure the rod itself to the starboard sheet?
I heard rocks could move in bare bottom tank. Tap plastics has a kind starboard that has a pattern on one side, wonder if that will work to prevent rock movement?
Thanks!
Julius
I need one for my 4"x2" tank.
Also wonder if white is better than say "seafoam" (slighly yellowish) - less risk of color leeching into the water long term?
Will 1/2" work better than 1/4" thickness for installing rods to hold rocks in place? How do you secure the rod itself to the starboard sheet?
I heard rocks could move in bare bottom tank. Tap plastics has a kind starboard that has a pattern on one side, wonder if that will work to prevent rock movement?
Thanks!
Julius
