# Aquarium safety base mat



## Konrad Michalski (14 Jul 2014)

Hi everyone. I was wondering whether it is necessary to use some sort of mat between aquarium and cabinet? It is going to be a 90x45x45 signature tank with white gloss cabinet. All the mats I have seen were in black colour which wouldn't really much white gloss or optiwhite glass. Thanks for your opinions.


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## tim (14 Jul 2014)

A white yoga mat would suit your purpose.


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## Konrad Michalski (14 Jul 2014)

Thanks. I've never thought about it.


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## Adam humphries (15 Jul 2014)

I used a sponge sleeping bag mat £1 from b&m job done


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## ian_m (15 Jul 2014)

Yes you must use something between the glass bottom of the tank and any surface its rests on.

This serves two purposes:
- Allows for any slight miss match if the surface resting on is not 100% flat.
- If any dirt/sand gets in, it stops it breaking the bottom glass sheet.

My mate broke the sheet of glass on the bottom of his tank (once full of water of course ) when he placed it on top of a chest of drawers and caught a piece of gravel/sand under the tank. Luckily leaked quite slowly, but he fixed it by siliconing a piece of glass over the crack in the bottom. Tank now rests on a couple of sheets of polystyrene insulating wallpaper, lesson learnt.


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## sciencefiction (15 Jul 2014)

If the tank is with a floating base, then you shouldn't use anything between the tank and the stand but if its flat base, as pointed out already, you need to use some sort of polystyrene. I had the opposite problem, couldn't find a black one, only whites/greens/grays in the hardware store.


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## ian_m (15 Jul 2014)

My mates polystyrene base is now painted black, since he moved the tank into the kitchen onto a black kitchen work top. Just paint the polystyrene with PVA and black emulsion. Job done.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (15 Jul 2014)

http://www.anyfoam.co.uk/sheet-foam.php


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## Konrad Michalski (18 Jul 2014)

Thanks for all the replies. I will definitely use something as suggested.


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