# Aquarium underlay matting



## Monkfish (6 Jun 2019)

Hi, 

Got planning permission from my wife to set my bigger tank up and have Q about underlay for it.

Many years ago we used to just have polystyrene that got really compressed over time.

Would this Matting be a good buy? I would be getting the 80cm x 35cm version

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium...var=413753082829&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649


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## Simon Cole (7 Jun 2019)

I prefer to use this:  https://www.homebase.co.uk/grip-mat-black_p373923 - 120cm x 45cm £2.50


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## Monkfish (7 Jun 2019)

Is that thick enough for a 120l tank?


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## alto (7 Jun 2019)

If you want something actually “supportive” look for anti-vibration pad (closed cell foam)

I use ADA garden mats - reasonably priced for what they are - but then there are frequent large trucks and occasional minor quakes


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## Monkfish (7 Jun 2019)

Thanks.  the ADA garden Mat looks very similar to the eBay one.


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## alto (7 Jun 2019)

eBay linked product looks to be an open cell foam but easy to confirm by asking 
- if seller has no idea that’s reason enough for me not to purchase


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## Monkfish (7 Jun 2019)

ah right ok thanks.  I'll ask


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## Aqua sobriquet (8 Jun 2019)

Everyone used Polystyrene when I first got a tank in the 1980’s. My tank was 36” long, 23” high and 20” front to back and I never had any problem with it and I had a heater mat between the Polystyrene and the glass. It doesn’t look good though so you need to hide it with some trim or tape. The thin black mats sold with the Nano’s work well and look better. As said I believe you need closed cell foam. Let us know what works for you in the end and where you obtained it.


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## Regent (9 Jun 2019)

If anyone is interested I've found this stuff:
https://www.poly-props.com/craft-foam/craftfoam
it's £10 for a 1mx2m 1cm thick sheet.
It is a closed cell eva craft foam (same as eva tiles), which I'm hoping will be ideal, I've been trying to cut polystyrene down all day and it just keeps breaking along the edges.
It comes in three densities and I'm not entirely sure which one is best?


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## Aqua sobriquet (9 Jun 2019)

Thanks for that Regent, they’ve got various sizes of that on the auction site.


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## alto (9 Jun 2019)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> My tank was 36” long, 23” high and 20” front to back and I never had any problem with it and I had a heater mat between the Polystyrene and the glass


Rim less tank?

It really depends on what you need that under tank mat to do


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## Aqua sobriquet (9 Jun 2019)

No, it had braces front and back. It was 10mm glass obviously. The matting is only there to take out any irregularities between the tank and the base, at least that’s what I was told.


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## Regent (9 Jun 2019)

I have ordered a sample pack of the foam which includes all the densities so will report back...


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## Tim Harrison (9 Jun 2019)

I use this universal matting, it's pretty much identical to ADA Garden Mat but a fraction of the price


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## Aqua sobriquet (9 Jun 2019)

I’m going to use an under tank heater on my Nano and unfortunately there is a plastic moulding that covers the electrical connections where it joins the mat. On my old tank I just made a cutout in the underlay for it but these latest mats seem to have a thicker connector. I’m waiting till it arrives but I’ll likely need 10mm or 12mm mat to allow for this.


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## Regent (9 Jun 2019)

Tim Harrison said:


> I use this universal matting, it's pretty much identical to ADA Garden Mat but a fraction of the price


I was looking at this, but it doesn't seem to come wide enough for under a two-foot tank, otherwise looks good!


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## Monkfish (10 Jun 2019)

Tim Harrison said:


> I use this universal matting, it's pretty much identical to ADA Garden Mat but a fraction of the price



Just ordered one and it’s the correct size so no cutting needed. Thanks!


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## alto (10 Jun 2019)

Tim Harrison said:


> I use this universal matting, it's pretty much identical to ADA Garden Mat but a fraction of the price


Definitely a great price but I don’t see any claims of anti-vibration  and the mats seem thin 

I’ve just used the ADA mats (which come in a lot cheaper than the equestrian version ) without much thought (did look at an some alternatives but they compressed to a thin hard line with any pressure) 

Since this topic I looked at my 60P filled and the mat shows negligible compression - I haven’t trimmed the mat


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## alto (10 Jun 2019)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> these latest mats seem to have a thicker connector


Apparently due to changes in code


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## Kev_M (11 Jun 2019)

Regent said:


> I have ordered a sample pack of the foam which includes all the densities so will report back...



Please let us know your thoughts once you've received the sample. I've got a whole fishroom to deck out!


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## Regent (12 Jun 2019)

Kev_M said:


> Please let us know your thoughts once you've received the sample. I've got a whole fishroom to deck out!


Will do, i'll post my thoughts and some photos when the samples arrive..


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## Kev_M (14 Jun 2019)

I've actually had a sample pack delivered today but I'm still not sure which to choose!


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## Regent (16 Jun 2019)

I got mine too.
The standard foam is 45 density, the middle 65 and the top 100.
The 100 is too dense and has little compressibility. I think it would be useful for monster tanks, or I'd use their hybrid foam. I don't think the cost is justified for smaller tanks.
If you wanted only 0.5 cm thickness I'd go with the 65 foam, but I think with a big tank it could bottom out at 0.5..
To compare I then stacked the two sheets of 45 from the trial pack so I had a 10mm 45 and 10mm 65. I couldn't really tell the difference between 45 and 65. I certainly can't compress a 1cm thickness of either to collapse. Both are flexible and should compress to give a smooth top ironing out but not transmitting high spots. Not that there are any in the stand as far as I can tell. Both absorb point pressure well but don't deform much with my whole body weight on it, both 45 and 65 are easy to cut with a standard knife. I'm putting a 400l tank on it and just ordered the 45, I hope it's the right choice!
I'll post the tests that I did later in full.

But I sat a 10x10cm square of wood on the foam and stood on it on one leg, that's about 75kg going through 10cm with no collapse on either foam. For point pressure I used a pen point to equate to a grain of sand under a tank, all foams absorbed it, the least dense the most quickly but damaged the most.

Even the standard craft foam is the same density as high impact gym mats etc....


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## Kev_M (16 Jun 2019)

I've come away from it thinking I probably won't be using it, to be honest. Did you end up ordering 5mm?

My issue is I'm not buying this for a show tank on a stand. I'm buying it for my fishroom which consists of tanks with foot prints of 60cm x 60cm, 120cm x 60cm and 1800 x 60cm. So I'm not going to use a whole sheet under each tank because my pockets just aren't deep enough, unfortunately! So I'm going to cut strips and fix them to the racking wherever wood would come into contact with glass - which is only at the perimeter. The main problem I have is there's one ever so slightly twisted timber in one of the racks. It would be a massive pain to change it out at this point so I've decided to just account for it by using some kind of underlay that can compress where it needs to without affecting the level of the tank. I've tried so many different materials now but none are quite right.

At the moment the tanks are sitting on 20mm polystyrene sheets but it doesn't look great, takes up a lot of vertical space, and isn't quite square at the corners - which means I've got external corners of tanks floating in the air a few mm here and there. I thought I'd make do with it but I've got a job to do in there that's going to require the removal of the tanks one rack at a time; so I figure while they're out I may as well solve this problem once and for all.

I was hoping the craft foam was going to end up being the same stuff used on the Evolution Aqua tanks but it definitely feels different to me. I'm probably 50/50 between just using the CF45 at 10mm which I think will probably do the job fine, or continuing to look for something superior.


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## Kev_M (16 Jun 2019)

Too late to edit my (upon second reading) redundant question! So you went with 10mm of CF45?


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## Aqua sobriquet (16 Jun 2019)

I’ve ordered some 10mm but it’s not arrived yet.


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## Kev_M (22 Jun 2019)

I started the fishroom makeover today. I ended up going with CF45 in 10mm and it seems ideal. Still got 5 racks to do, though!


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## Aqua sobriquet (22 Jun 2019)

Mine arrived the other day, all trimmed to size and under the tank. I don’t know what grade it is but suspect it’s the CF45 though and I’m sure it will be fine.


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