diy stand and foam

[flame goby]

I just finished my tank tand and when I place the tank on top (65gal) the front left corner has about a 1/16 gap and the back right has a 1/8 gap. My guess is the dry wod now (2/4 and plywood on top) twisted slightly. I'm very apprehensive on putting th etank on th estand the way it is in fear it will crack one day from stress so hear about putting foam under but have hear some say yes some say no. yet to find out why not though. Should I scrap the stand and rebuild or put foam under to level it all out ?

Advice at this point is greatly appreciated...
thank you !

[uncleof6]

It would probably be best to work with the stand, to get it flat and level. It is my understanding, that it is not a good idea to use foam under a rimmed glass tank as it will cause issues with the bottom pane of glass. With acrylic tanks it is a fairly common thing to put foam under it to even out small inconsistencies. With rimmed glass tanks, the most support is needed at the four corners, and this is where you problem is appearing. I would hate to see you have to scrap it and start over.

HTH,

Jim

[kgross]

You need to try and level that stand some, that is way off of flat. After you get it much closer I will suggest you use foam to help make up for any small irregularities in the stand, but if the tank is rimmed, just use a 1 inch wide strip of foam so you are not putting pressure under the center of the tank.

Kim

[flame goby]

I think deep down I knew the answer but was dreading building a new stand. I think this time instead of going 5/8" plywood I think I'll go with 3/4" MDF top and bottom and then build the 6 side supports out of 2/4's. This one was built like a brick if it wasnt for the warp.

[uncleof6]

Sorry to hear that, you may want to look into some other build options rather than MDF and 2 x 4's.

Regards,

Jim

[strayvoltage]

There is no reason to start over. If you are able to remove the top plywood all you have to do is shim it in the places that are low and bring it all up nice and flat. Just check it from end to end front, back and center as well as front to back at both ends and a few placse between. You should also check it corner to corner.
Now you can do all of that or you can even shim under the bottom rim of the tank. When I took it down a few months ago the cards all still looked like new, they didnt compress like I thought they would

I had a 125 with top and bottom trim that sat on a stand that didnt turn out perfect either. Believe it or not that tank was set up for ten years with business cards to shim it all even between the stand and the bottom trim of the tank.

I would go for making the top of the stand nice and flat but the other way will work just fine.

[billdogg]

had the same problem with my last build. shim between the frame and plywood to get it flat. easy to do. well, actually a small pia, but nothing like a leaky seam 6 months from now