foam under stand
Yes, they say that you should put foam under the tank. I myself didn't do that. I haven't had a problem yet.. Not say that I won't in the future.
I built my own 55 gallon, and over built it, if you go and look on the web you'll find some plans, also another good way is go to the store and look at what is out there and how they built it. For example most stands now days don't have lips that hold in the stand, they just use the weight of the tank to keep it in place.
But, I built one with a lips around the tank, I had kids around, and they could bump the tank and break it possibly. It depends on how much you want to work on it.
It took me a good week to figure a really good, strong tank, that would stand up, for YEARS to come. And when you build your own tank, it is usually cheaper than store bought, you get a sense of pride, and learn from you mistakes, so next time, you can do better, or just buy one