Having a nightmare with DIY Stand and getting them level . Help!

[Herrwibi]

Hi all, i recently posted about building a stand and attaching it to the wall and working down. This hasn't worked very well .

I want to go back to my roots and build just a normal stand. I feel like this will be more secure as well.

How do you stop the tank stand from twisting? Whenever i put the top and bottom pieces down they always seem to be unlevel.

Also if i need to shim the stand what size of gap you would shim like up to 6mm etc? I know these need to be evenly spaced every 2 inches or so.

The tank i'm looking to build a stand for is 4x1x1.5. I'll probably use 2x3 for the top and bottom frame and use 2x4 for the supports and legs.

i know my floor is slightly out so the tank stand will need shimmed.

Thanks all for your help.

 

[Dalfrey86]

Use clamps when screwing the frame pieces together. Also make sure your assembly is as flat as possible.

 

[esoxlucius]

A few pointers to guide you in the right direction:

1. It helps enormously if the timber you are starting off with is true, even the smallest imperfection can lead to twisting once you've got those screws in.

2. The working area where you are building your stand needs to be very flat.

3. The final resting place for your stand also needs to be flat, though shims help out here to a degree if the floor is uneven.

4. And your basic diy skills need to be up to scratch. Use a set square, tape measure, spirit level and clamps are good too.

If you take into consideration all those points you really can't go far wrong, especially with the added bonus, in your case, that the stand you are building is for a tank with a small footprint. The critical diagonal to diagonal measurement on the top of your stand will be a lot easier to achieve on a smaller stand, such as yours.

Note:
Imperfections in the floor can be dealt with using shims, as mentioned. Very slight imperfections in the top of your stand can be dealt with using styrofoam.

 

[Oughtsix]

Put the shims under the stand, not between the stand and the tank. You are correct, any unevenness in the floor will telescope up through the stand when the tank is filled with water... so you need to do a final check for level with the tank filled with water. This might involve filling and emptying the tank several times.

Use wedges to shim the tank.

https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Project-Never-Rot-Composite-Improvement/dp/B071FRHGXX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=HTCY476KPYGL&dchild=1&keywords=shims+for+leveling&qid=1598123115&sprefix=shims,aps,291&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRlpQQlVXU1YzQ1dDJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzYzODQzUlc5NE5KTk9TMktFJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2NDUyNTkzUjBSUjhKWkdFNVQmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Put 2 wedges on the floor pointing in opposite directions under the low corner of the stand. Pulling the wedges apart from each other will effectively reduce the height of the shim. Pushing the wedges together will effectively increase the height of the shim.

After the tank is shimmed to the right height and everything is level with the water in the tank you can cut off the parts of the wedges that are protruding out from underneath the tank with a fine tooth hand saw or oscillating tool. If the stand is on a soft floor (not concrete) you should probably empty the tank and cut a large flat shim or stack of shims the height of the shim made from wedges to distribute the weight of the tank over a larger area of the floor.

Use a yoga mat between the stand and the tank to even out MINOR differences in height and eliminate pressure points on the tank.

I welded up some heavy duty leveling brackets for the 4 corners of my stand then leveled the tank with wedged as described above before putting the veneer on my stand. This effectively made the stand custom for the one particular spot on my floor where it will always sit but the tank is very level and the weight of the tank is spread evenly over the very large area of my wood subfloor.