I am re setting up my 450gallon in the garage and it's sitting on a custom made steel stand but the floor is completely uneven. I shimmed all 4 corners but I notice in the middle there are huge gaps. So I shimmed where all the main bases are on the stand but there are still gaps in between the bases. Is this safe to leave those gaps? Or should I place ply wood or styrofoam in between leaving no gaps? Please help thanks.
Need help levelling tank stand.
- Thread starter Crazyfish88
- Start date
If anyone is confused on what I mean about gaps in between here is a picture of my stand. I shimmed all 4 corners and see the 4 middle bases. I also placed shims under them too but the spaces in between the end corners and middle bases there aren't touching the ground at all. Those spaces are about 2" off the ground.
I have my tanks on a concrete basement floor and faced the same challenge.
My most recent set up was a 125G 6' tank last year. The floor was slopping to the left and back. I ended up with seven different thickness shims under the eight legs. The extremes were: one leg was on the bare floor and the left rear leg had a 1 1/4" shim. I also had to make more shim adjustments as I filled the tank. It took me a few hours and three or four fill/drain cycles until I got the stand flat.
For my 75G stand that had a flat bottom (i.e., no individual legs), I cut two 4' long strips of wood for shims. They basically went from 1/32" to 1".
BTW - The plywood on top offers virtually no help if the stand/floor is uneven or twisted.
My most recent set up was a 125G 6' tank last year. The floor was slopping to the left and back. I ended up with seven different thickness shims under the eight legs. The extremes were: one leg was on the bare floor and the left rear leg had a 1 1/4" shim. I also had to make more shim adjustments as I filled the tank. It took me a few hours and three or four fill/drain cycles until I got the stand flat.
For my 75G stand that had a flat bottom (i.e., no individual legs), I cut two 4' long strips of wood for shims. They basically went from 1/32" to 1".
BTW - The plywood on top offers virtually no help if the stand/floor is uneven or twisted.
The horizontal parts along the floor are "zero force members". You don't have to worry about them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_force_member
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_force_member