now allot of this just doesn't make since at all... if your tank is a standard sea star tank there is about a 1/4 to 1/3" lift from the edge frame. if you are using 1/2" pink foam it will compress about 1/8th of an inch under load and the center glass should never touch the foam anyways. for the foam to cause a problem even if it is touching the center of the glass you would have to have a stand that is pretty far screwed up and not at all flat with weight on it.
there is one concept here that people are getting wrong, you have the exact same amount of weight (Pressure) pushing down on the whole bottom, weather it is in the middle or the edge.. pressure which is a force is influenced only by the the matter above it. I think the problem people have with foam is mostly caused by trimming it to close to the tank allowing the edge to collapse more than the middle, or thinking foam can adsorb more irregularity than it should.
the very edge will have the most weight as the density of the glass above it is higher than that of water so the edges should sink more. for instance I had a slight depresion in my foam around the edge like shelly's picture shows but the middle glass never touched the foam as pink won't compress that much
personally I think drilling the bottom would be a bigger cause of a break than it touching the foam as drilling a hole in it severely weakens the panel of glass thats why I always drill the back or sides of my tanks.
Steve
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Last edited by StirCrazy; 12-26-2010 at 12:13 AM.
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