HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I want to put a false bottom in my new-to-me 55 gallon tank. I have landscape fabric, needlepoint canvas in every imaginable color, and a wide variety of zip ties, strings and cords and such to fasten it all together. I will get egg crate, and just wondering if it makes any difference what type or size of plastic pipe I get. Seems like a thicker one like schedule 40 would be capable of holding up more weight, and a thinner pvc could hold up as much if you just use more pieces. Or am I overthinking again, and making the weight of the substrate more important than it really is in this case. Also, I imagine something large like 4" pipe would be too ungainly to work with, and something really small like 1/2" cpvc would be too fiddly to stand up all the pieces long enough to get it all put together. Then I wonder also if I could get away without using egg crate if I fill the whole floor of the tank with pipe pieces.

Thoughts?

i hear you're dilemna, here's a link to what i did...

long story short i used pipe about 1 and 1/2 to 1 and 1 3/4 inch wide i think, and about 3 inches tall

http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 70#p929270

if i had to do it again i'd probably go with a pipe a bit shorter, and redo my breather pipes on the side. but all in all no complaints, it gets good air flow, and i can stick a hose down if i need to.