Tank Pad ?

[augustaranger]

Setting up my first real tank, a 20 gal. high.

Do I need a tank pad?

Also, when moving or adding fish to a new tank, when should you feed them?

Thanks!

 

[ShoC]

Setting up my first real tank, a 20 gal. high.

Do I need a tank pad?

Also, when moving or adding fish to a new tank, when should you feed them?

Thanks!

I would seriously recomend a pad,
Imagine all that weight from the water onto a single section of the glass, It's like a foot standing on a needle, instant penetration,
the pad will distribute and squish down to make no single area have excess pressure,

as for feeding, I would try to feed the fish and introduce at the same time,

I.e Add the bag in the water wait for the water temperature to become the same then,
Put fish food in and release the new fish so, The current fish are more interested in the food than the new fish,
will save bullying and stress,

Regarding feeding times, Try to maintain a regular pattern morning/evening etc..
Even when housing (in my humble opinion)

Hope this helps
Carl

 

[Christine1014]

Sorry, I have to disagree with ShoC. Tanks are designed very carefully. Weight is equally distributed, and doing anything to change where the pressure naturally lays just doesn't seem like a great idea. I have a 10 gallon and a 44 gallon currently, and had a 30 gallon years before that and never had (or even heard of) a pad.

As for introducing new fish, I usually feed my fish when I introduce new ones ... gives the old fish something to focus on besides their new tankmate. If the new fish grabs some of the food, great. If not, no surprise since he's likely a bit stressed.

 

[ShoC]

"As for introducing new fish, I usually feed my fish when I introduce new ones ... gives the old fish something to focus on besides their new tankmate. If the new fish grabs some of the food, great. If not, no surprise since he's likely a bit stressed."


glad we agree on one thing

As for the tank pad,
when your talking about putting glass down on a surface now lets assume that surface could have a kink or a slight hump in,
the pressure on a specific section would increase tenfold under the weight of the tank,
for peace of mind I would allways add a tank pad,
In simple terms a tank pad can consist of some form of material than will compress when weight is added creating in a sense a cushion,
Reducing any impact a specific hump/bump etc. could have on the glass,
Better to be safe than sorry,

But I'm sure you will find many different opinions

 

[Christine1014]

Hmm... I'm definitely interested to see if anyone else weighs in on this.
Maybe our tanks are just designed differently. Honestly, I'm not sure what the bottom side of my 44 gallon looks like, but in the 10 gallon, the glass doesn't touch the tank stand. There's a 1/4 or 1/8-inch "lip" along the perimeter of the tank that bears the weight (not to say the glass doesn't bear any weight, but the "supports" of the tank are the edges). If a tank pad was thin enough that it didn't touch the glass and only lent support to the frame, that's probably okay (although I'd still say not entirely necesssary) but I'd worry about anything that touched the glass because it would transfer that pressure off the frame and onto the glass, defeating the original design of the tank.

Any tank engineers out there want to weigh in??? There's gotta be a DIY person out there who's studied this.

 

[ShoC]

your assuming he/she has a Tank stand it could simply be a tank put onto a cabinet or some sort then I'm totally with a tank pad, if It it a pre-built cabinet then I dont see there would be a need for the tank pad

 

[vinylman]

Setting up my first real tank, a 20 gal. high.

Do I need a tank pad?

Also, when moving or adding fish to a new tank, when should you feed them?

Thanks!

Are you doing a fishless cycle?.

 

[Lynda B]

Here is some helpful insight to glass versus acrylic aquariums. Could be you're comparing tanks that don't have the same requirements.

Glass can support considerably more than its own weight over distances. Because of this, glass aquariums can be kept on stands with an open or incomplete top with little or no risk. However, the aquarium stand still needs to be level and the stand still needs to be strong enough to support the weight of the tank.

Also, because of this rigidity, glass tanks require less structural support at the top to keep the tank from flexing or splitting its seams under the weight of the water. Though some bowing of a tank is normal, excessive bowing can lead to split seams or fractured glass.

Acrylic tanks require a stand that will support the entire bottom of the tank, or else the bottom of the tank may pul away from the seams under the weight of the water. This is not true in acrylic tanks that have a substantially thicker bottom than would appear necessary.

Also, acrylic tanks require much more support across the top of the tank to keep the acrylic from bowing apart and either splitting seams or spilling water.

 

[augustaranger]

Setting up my first real tank, a 20 gal. high.

Do I need a tank pad?

Also, when moving or adding fish to a new tank, when should you feed them?

Thanks!

Are you doing a fishless cycle?.

I'm seeding the new tank with filter media and gravel from the old one.

 

[Lynda B]

Bravo!!!! The very best kind of cycle!

 

[cookie_db]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it depends on your tank. Some tanks now come and the glass itself doesn't touch the surface it's on, it's raised and these don't need anything under them. Tanks which have glass sitting directly on the surface do as (as mentioned before) any some lumps or bumps could cause the glass to crack.

Hope this helps

Dani

 

[Rooster]

Polystyrene ceiling tiles under all mine...