That sounds like a good idea. I have a bunch of Masonite lying around and plenty of wood glue. It is thin, hard and very smooth, and after it is polyurethaned, it will be waterproof. Perhaps I'll give that a shot if I can't get rid of the gaps in a few more tries. I have gotten it flatter, meaning that if I take a single piece of cheap printer paper and a level, there is never a span of more than 7-8" that the paper can fit under and I cannot get the paper under at all at the corners. I will have to try it with the tank, but I didnt have an assistant today to help me lift it up.
120g FW Build, A big upgrade from my 10g!
- Thread starter matseski
- Start date
I'd imagine if you've got tolerances that tight you should be fine. The stand will always settle a little bit, no matter how well or what it's built from. Wood compresses, floors sag. Some of those minute discrepancies will iron them selves out over time. Just make sure the rim isn't resting on any fasteners. My 75g sits on white pine, when I moved I could see the very faint indent from the rim on the top panel.
I got all kinds of paranoid building my stand. It wasnt quite perfect then for fun I decided to look at my other tanks and friend's tanks. None were any better.
If you've got time to kill set it on, fill it with water, and check back in a week. If anything its good piece of mind.
Your stand looks good by the way
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I got all kinds of paranoid building my stand. It wasnt quite perfect then for fun I decided to look at my other tanks and friend's tanks. None were any better.
If you've got time to kill set it on, fill it with water, and check back in a week. If anything its good piece of mind.
Your stand looks good by the way
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Just worry about the corners. That's the most important part. Chances are its not your stand that isn't level it's either the floor or in most cases trim is never completely level. It's squeezed, pinched onto the glass and some spots have more or less silicone.
I've made stands before but even the manufactured stand for my 180 only supports the tank by the 2 ends of the tank with a 6 ft span and nothing touching except one 6" section dead center of the tank.
There's not a lot of reason to go over board on stands once you break it down to the pounds per square inch of force that is applied. A lot of times I think less is more as the more you add to something the more discrepancy you will get.
I would not use any foam on a tank with trim.
I finally got a friend to stop by to help me lift the tank up to check how flat it is. Apparently, the top is a bit more concave than I could tell with my 2' level. The corners all touch, but the front edge has about a 1/16" gap at the center. I think I will try one more time with a piece of thread as my level guide, but since my girlfriend can't help me lift the tank, it is really hard to do a real check. If I'm still off after the next sanding, I think I will buy some of these 1/8" thick strips, and glue them around the perimeter with the stand on top. I figure that if it is perfectly flat, there will only be about 10psi on the edge, so even wood glue can support that. Seem reasonable?
The bottom shelf is worse than the top with a hump in the middle that will require a lot of sanding. I think I am going to have to come home early tomorrow so I can get an hour of sanding done before most people in my apartment complex are home.
The bottom shelf is worse than the top with a hump in the middle that will require a lot of sanding. I think I am going to have to come home early tomorrow so I can get an hour of sanding done before most people in my apartment complex are home.
Stand building is cruel and unforgiving. Ive done a few and its not always fun. 9 out of 10 times your going to have issues with lumber not being absolutely perfect even if you do it all right.
I ran into issues with sanding and a 4ft level. A level is basically a 2 dimensional tool. Only putting the tank on the stand will show you how all your planes of measurement intersect.
Im surprised some guy hasnt posted "rebuild your stand" chances are youll hit similar road blocks on round 2. I wouldn't go that far.
I'm all about doing things the wrong way. On my 90g I sanded and sanded the stand and got to a point where I just made things worse for my self. I came up with an alternative method. ended up making a square of pine 1x4s (3/4"x3.5") and put a layer of JBkwik wood under the perimeter. It took 6 tubes to do a 48x18 stand. I made little "patties" about the size of a half dollar and approx 3/16" thick. I placed them about an inch apart all the way around. Then I put the tank on and filled 20 or 30 gallons in it. I let it sit for a couple days and it leveled perfectly. That was basically the best bad way I could come up with to remedy the situation.
As others have said those tolerances are probably ok. 120g is alot of water though.
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I ran into issues with sanding and a 4ft level. A level is basically a 2 dimensional tool. Only putting the tank on the stand will show you how all your planes of measurement intersect.
Im surprised some guy hasnt posted "rebuild your stand" chances are youll hit similar road blocks on round 2. I wouldn't go that far.
I'm all about doing things the wrong way. On my 90g I sanded and sanded the stand and got to a point where I just made things worse for my self. I came up with an alternative method. ended up making a square of pine 1x4s (3/4"x3.5") and put a layer of JBkwik wood under the perimeter. It took 6 tubes to do a 48x18 stand. I made little "patties" about the size of a half dollar and approx 3/16" thick. I placed them about an inch apart all the way around. Then I put the tank on and filled 20 or 30 gallons in it. I let it sit for a couple days and it leveled perfectly. That was basically the best bad way I could come up with to remedy the situation.
As others have said those tolerances are probably ok. 120g is alot of water though.
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Yeah, I wonder how many tanks are actually supported by more than their corners...I bet very few. Especially as you get bigger, it is basically impossible given any set of even semi normal tools to be able to do it perfectly. I have seen many posts about the tank not being flat either. Mudbutthones, you are very lucky to have been able to keep your tank at the same level as the stand. Having to ask a friend to stop by to check makes it very, very difficult to do this effectively. I wonder how professionals do it...
So I am now thoroughly confused. Last time I tried put the tank up, I had the corners touching but nothing else. Ok, but not great. So I got a dark thread and pulled it tight across the surface, corner to corner on each side, and sure enough the string only touched at the edges. So I sanded, and sanded, and sanded, until I had all the edges and diagonals with no more than 1/32" gap, between the string and the surface. I thought, great, that is good enough!
I check the bottom of my 55g that I have been using as a reference for the long side since I cannot lift the 120g. It is slightly concave up (gap is still between the string and the bottom of the tank along the entire length.
The only place they touch is in the center with about 1/8" gap under each corner. I do not understand. Perhaps the 120g is bent a lot more and it will be fine. My friend is stopping by tonight to help me try it out...I tested the bottom of the 120 against a yard stick and it looked about the same as the 55, so I am not hopeful. Taking after mudbuttjones, quikwood and 1/4" thick wood strips have been purchased. I think I am just going to use the quikwood on the corners and center and make a putty out of wood glue and sanding dust for the rest just to make sure that those 6 points are good, which will be more than enough piece of mind for me.
I check the bottom of my 55g that I have been using as a reference for the long side since I cannot lift the 120g. It is slightly concave up (gap is still between the string and the bottom of the tank along the entire length.
The only place they touch is in the center with about 1/8" gap under each corner. I do not understand. Perhaps the 120g is bent a lot more and it will be fine. My friend is stopping by tonight to help me try it out...I tested the bottom of the 120 against a yard stick and it looked about the same as the 55, so I am not hopeful. Taking after mudbuttjones, quikwood and 1/4" thick wood strips have been purchased. I think I am just going to use the quikwood on the corners and center and make a putty out of wood glue and sanding dust for the rest just to make sure that those 6 points are good, which will be more than enough piece of mind for me.
Kwikwood is the stuff. Cures to 900 psi. And you can sand it. I love the stuff
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That really should be included in the standard stand building instructions. Perfect contact all the way around, it was super easy, no human error to mess things ups. I used 3 tubes of Kwikwood to make little spacers every 12", then filled in the rest of the gaps with a mixture of wood glue and saw dust. The strips were 1/4"x1.5" lattice strips ($0.97 for 8ft) and did the job perfectly. Make sure you have a bunch of shims around to bring the the strips into contact with the tank everywhere (gently so as not to make a high spot, just in contact). Best $20 and 30 min I have spent on this project so far.
I still have no idea what went so terribly wrong with the string. A few people ended up coming over tonight and all agreeded that the only place the thread touched on both the tank bottom and plywood was at the corners, yet the tank still rocked on the center... Oh well...
Now to let it sit for a few days with some water in it. There's water in the sump tank as well since I did the same strips on it.
I still have no idea what went so terribly wrong with the string. A few people ended up coming over tonight and all agreeded that the only place the thread touched on both the tank bottom and plywood was at the corners, yet the tank still rocked on the center... Oh well...
Now to let it sit for a few days with some water in it. There's water in the sump tank as well since I did the same strips on it.
Looks great. Sounds like the tank was the culprit not the handy work of your stand building.
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