Advice of aquarium stand

[Sudsly]

Hey hey,

I was looking for some advice regarding an issue with an aquarium stand I just finished building ‘my first ever DIY project’. I was hoping there was someone with a lot more experience than I have that has encountered such an issue and how they have/would remedy it. The issue can be seen on the picture of the corner of the tank, that is the glass is not sitting flush with the plywood. This gap equals about 3 pieces of paper in thickness and is only occuring in this one locations. The tank that will be sitting on the stand is 36 x 16 x 16 inches. 

The main questions that I would really love to hear peoples’ opinions on are.

1.       I have the foam cut that will sit under the tank, is this enough to make this stand safe for my aquarium?

2.       Should I attempt to plane down the timber under the plywood and make it more level? A note to this is I attempted to keep it level through out the build using a hand plane and I am not sure I have the ability to correct this gap. 

Any advie would be much appricated,

Cheers,

Hayden

[dmurray407]

I don't have an answer for you, but I think you did an amazing job building your stand! I'm wondering if a thicker piece of foam (maybe 1/4 inch?) underneath might solve the problem?

[Sudsly]

On 2/21/2022 at 8:54 PM, Sudsly said:

Thanks for the good vibes I apricate it! I was thinking the same thing but just so hard to know what the right thing is to do is.

 

[lefty o]

first thing i have to say is, that stand is some serious overkill. i like it. while i would make no guarantees, a good dense foam pad under the tank will likely make it safe.

[Biotope Biologist]

A thick piece of neoprene foam should be all you need to get the tank to sit level and keep the pressure on the glass even. Stand looks more than capable of holding a tank of that dimension.

 

Great job btw!

[Guppiesgonewild]

On my stand I used some epoxy designed for the top of bars.  I put the stand in the house where it would be permanently located and check for level. Over 4ft I was out about a 32nd.  I poured about an 1/8 of an inch of the epoxy and it is now perfectly level. 

[lefty o]

On 2/21/2022 at 10:37 AM, Guppiesgonewild said:

On my stand I used some epoxy designed for the top of bars.  I put the stand in the house where it would be permanently located and check for level. Over 4ft I was out about a 32nd.  I poured about an 1/8 of an inch of the epoxy and it is now perfectly level. 

that is a good thought. a good thin layer of epoxy will self level.

[MarkM]

Is the top glued down?  If not, you could try to shim between the plywood and the top brace in that corner. 

[Torrey]

On 2/21/2022 at 2:54 AM, Sudsly said:

Hey hey,

I was looking for some advice regarding an issue with an aquarium stand I just finished building ‘my first ever DIY project’. I was hoping there was someone with a lot more experience than I have that has encountered such an issue and how they have/would remedy it. The issue can be seen on the picture of the corner of the tank, that is the glass is not sitting flush with the plywood. This gap equals about 3 pieces of paper in thickness and is only occuring in this one locations. The tank that will be sitting on the stand is 36 x 16 x 16 inches. 

The main questions that I would really love to hear peoples’ opinions on are.

1.       I have the foam cut that will sit under the tank, is this enough to make this stand safe for my aquarium?

2.       Should I attempt to plane down the timber under the plywood and make it more level? A note to this is I attempted to keep it level through out the build using a hand plane and I am not sure I have the ability to correct this gap. 

Any advie would be much appricated,

Cheers,

Hayden

Excellent first DIY. Your woodsmanship is excellent. 

The purpose of the neoprene self leveling mat is to level out small imperfections like that. I have store bought stands with larger gappage. The second part is, have you done your water test yet?

Looks like you have a rimless tank, some folks will do the initial [water] test with the tank on the leveling mat, and get out the level to check for the base being true (level) when the tank is empty, and again when it is full.

Other people will throw a bucket in each corner and fill with water to test whether the stand is level under the weight of the water, claiming rimmed tanks can handle the water test better than rimless due to design.

Personally, I would not be worried about the equivalent of a few pieces of paper. As long as the gap isn't thicker than the neoprene, you shouldn't have any problems. 

Theoretically.

[Guppiesgonewild]

On 2/21/2022 at 9:49 AM, lefty o said:

that is a good thought. a good thin layer of epoxy will self level.

Yes it worked out much better than I had hoped for.  I made sure the epoxy was up to temp. I usually run the heat at 68 or so in the house but ran it at 72 for a few days in advance. The intention of making sure the epoxy was warm enough was to make sure that it would flow. 

I did two layers of water based poly on the bare plywood first. I think this advice came with the epoxy instructions or it may have been a forum. The intention of the poly is to seal the wood in advance. 

I covered some cardboard with masking tape and hot glued it to the back of the stand to act as a dam or form if you will. 

If I had to do it all over I would have added about a half inch to the depth of the stand front to back.  The epoxy seems to climb when it hits vertical surfaces.  Nothing major and on the sides I really like it because you end up with an 1/8inch or so filled. On the back however I did not have the margin and had to do a little hand planning and sanding. 

I used a heat gun to ensure any bubbles made it to the surface. 

I will warn you the cure time on the epoxy is very long. If I remember right it was 3 days before your finger nail would not leave a mark. And something like 7 days for full cure. 

I included a few pictures. They are not the best but you can see the gloss finish.