Tank stand

Z

zed102

Premium Member
The top of my tank stand is not perfectly flat. This leaves small gaps between the tank and stand. I would say there is a max .040" gap. Do you guys worry about the gaps, and if so how do you guys fill them?
 
Yes, you want to worry about gaps! the #1 reason tanks get cracked Home Depot has Pink foam insulation in 1/2 inch thick sheets, works great at leveling tank.
 
what i would do is get a piece of plywood wet it down then set it on your stand and weigh it down so it forms to imperfections of the stand
 
@duster wrote:
Yes said:
Best solution is the foam. Getting wood wet and then allowing the tank to set just weakens the plywood and you will have wood movement through the seasons, potentially causing the same unlevel issue.
Click to expand...
 
not going to start a debate on this one, but foam is only supposed to be used on tanks that are not supported by the trim around the tank. If you have a tank that has trim on it, it was designed to sit on the outer edges of the tank, not the bottom piece of glass. there are numerous threads about this and manufactures do or do not want you to use foam. If you have a tank that has trim on it and it is supported by the .25 inch edge trim, that will collapse the foam putting stress on the bottom piece of glass. If you have a totally glass bottom tank then you want foam. Do some research on this subject before you just stick it on there..

Foam is not intended to take away the unlevel portions of the stand top. The foam is only intended to take away pressure points that would cause stress. If you have any gap larger than a credit card thick, i would put another piece of wood on top of the stand and shim the wood to the stand and then put the tank on the perfectly flat piece of wood.

Zed, call me to discuss if you want.
 
This tank does have trim, and the bottom piece of glass sits pretty high up above the bottom of the trim. I would say probably .25-.5 inches. The gap is about the thickness of a credit card (.030-.040"). I found some foam board that is about .125 inches or so that I am going to put under it. This should fill the gap, but not touch the bottom pane of glass. What do all you guys think?
 
After going over and over this tonight, I think that I decided that the best way to take care of this was to glue a flat piece of wood to the top of the stand and let the glue fill in the low spot. What I need though is to know what kind material you guys have had success with being flat. This problem comes from the 3/4" piece of ply I used for the top being a little warped. Or if someone had a large planar that would work also. I just don't want to put another piece of wood up there and have it be warped again.
 
I picked up a piece of 1/4" birch plywood today, and I glued it to the top of the stand with the tank sitting on it . I then added some shim underneath the plywood in a couple of spots while the glue was still drying. This seems to have taken care of the problem. I can no longer even get a knife tip under the plastic frame in any spot.
 
zed, i think you did the right thing on this one. The foam is not your problem, only the wood. You need to make sure the tank has a full level surface to sit on and the foam would only compress putting stress on your seams. Good job and if you need help give me a shout. Sounds like you have your problem under control. Better to address it now than later when your tank breaks at the seam. Glass is a little flexible, but why take a shot when you can do it right the first time.
 
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