egg crate in substrate?

[briguy44]

Anyone her put egg crate in the bottom of their tank under their sand? I have heard of people doing this to help stabilize rock and preventing it from falling and breaking the glass on the bottom. Are there any disadvantages or anything to be careful about if I do this?

[J-P]

I have done it but only directly under the rock, not the entire tank floor.

[RTR]

All high-rock tanks I set use eggcrate to distribute the weight. I have more than one rock wall tank - solid to within an inch or two of the water level. But all of those are also OE-RFUG.

[Blaine]

I highly recommend it in any tank with any rock work. 1 small grain of sand under a rock can crack a tank bottom faster than you can say indoor pool.

Doing a full tank bottom is a little safer but if you place individual pieces under the rocks it is a lot easier to hide...especially if you have diggers like some puffers and/or cichlids.

If you are cutting it to fit make sure to smooth off any rough edges.

HTH

[allycat]

... and you're talking about plastic/Styrofoam crate, right? Cardboard (paper pulp) can have a lot of acid. I'd never heard of this, but when I first read "egg crate" I thought of cardboard egg crates like between eggs that are bulk packaged.

[J-P]

nope ... it is a plastic grid found in the lighting section of a hardware store used as a diffuser.

[Blaine]

Yeah,...weird....called eggcrate...has nothing to do with eggs that I know of.

[Pufferpunk]

Yeah,...weird....called eggcrate...has nothing to do with eggs that I know of.

I always wondered about that...

[briguy44]

... and you're talking about plastic/Styrofoam crate, right? Cardboard (paper pulp) can have a lot of acid. I'd never heard of this, but when I first read "egg crate" I thought of cardboard egg crates like between eggs that are bulk packaged.

haha I was nervous because I wasn't 100% sure that the plastic lighting diffuser was called egg crate and was afraid everyone was going to make fun of me for asking if I can put cardboard in my tank. I am glad most of us were on the same page

Thanks for the recommendations, I picked some up yesterday just in case before I put sand in my tank. I am glad I did.

[RTR]

When eggs were shipped in bulk (a gross per box), there were cardboard dividers between layers plus a cardboard grid separating each egg from the others, that divider between the individuals within a single layer was called the eggcrate. Architects adopted such grids of wood for shading purposes and/or light diffusion. The name was kept when it was translated into plastic for fluorescent lights.

There are advantages to being old enough to have been in the draft. I do remember being on KP in basic training and having to break multiple gross of eggs for breakfast - all from eggcrate cardboard boxes. Some things you just cannot forget. I learned to do one-handed egg cracking with both hands. There is a skill wasted othside of the Army!