Questions on Rocket Engineer Tank Stand

[Thalasstronaut]

Hello,

I’ve built a stand for my 90g and rebuilt it and rebuilt it and rebuilt it yet again. I keep getting a “wobbly” stand, in that three corners can be on the ground at the same time, but when I push down on the area that is lifted up, the opposite corner (obviously) lifts up as well. This is never a problem on my work bench but only when I move it to the nook where I intend to have my DT, or frankly anywhere else on my living room floor.

Now, this is a not so insignificant gap. When I have the tank level according to my 48inch level, the back left corner is off the ground, as well as most of the back bottom frame and the left bottom frame. The gap at the corner is big enough that it takes three composite shims to fill it.

My question is in a few parts:

1. If my tank is level on my bench, both in the sense that it measures level and it can’t be rocked back and forth, but that it can be rocked when I put it on the floor, I am correct in assuming my stand is fine and it’s the floor I’m on that’s wonky, right?

2. If so, what’s the response? The stand rests on a 1/2 inch plywood base, and I would assume I would just shim the stand against the base, but it is so far off, I’d be using probably close to 60-75 shims to fill in all the gaps. Do I just need the corner to be in contact with the ground or the entire bottom box/frame? Am I better off getting some kind of larger wedge or shim cut?

For the record I used the standard design without the inside anchor pieces for the legs (or rather, I didn’t glue the anchor pieces in and have since removed them), no bracing in addition to the legs, and standard stud 2x4s for everything but the top box, where I used 2x6s. Stand will hold a standard 90 gallon (48x18x24) and a 40 breeder sump.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[mtfish]

1. Stand is fine, floor is not level.
2. You need to put either a large shim or several smaller ones. Once shimmed, you should be able to put your level on the stand showing it is indeed level. If it were me, I would find some type of hardwood and make a custom shim just the correct height so you are dealing with only one piece.
3. Not sure what you left out of the design, but if you removed the inner bracing, I think you are more likely to have the stand "twist", making it less stable. What was the reason for modifying the original design?

Good luck, hope you come up with a good solution.

 

[RocketEngineer]

yup, sounds like the floor isn’t level. This is very common and is easily fixed with shims. I prefer cedar shingles for this as they are cheap (a bundle lasts forever) and cedar is rot resistant. They are also quite wide so a few can span most of one side of the tank.

Removing the green boards is fine as long as you have some other joining method and have secured against racking/twisting.

 

[Thalasstronaut]

yup, sounds like the floor isn’t level. This is very common and is easily fixed with shims. I prefer cedar shingles for this as they are cheap (a bundle lasts forever) and cedar is rot resistant. They are also quite wide so a few can span most of one side of the tank.

Removing the green boards is fine as long as you have some other joining method and have secured against racking/twisting.

Awesome. I have glued the Ls on the corners together, and then to the top box and bottom box. Is that adequate or should I add something else?

 

[Thalasstronaut]

1. Stand is fine, floor is not level.
2. You need to put either a large shim or several smaller ones. Once shimmed, you should be able to put your level on the stand showing it is indeed level. If it were me, I would find some type of hardwood and make a custom shim just the correct height so you are dealing with only one piece.
3. Not sure what you left out of the design, but if you removed the inner bracing, I think you are more likely to have the stand "twist", making it less stable. What was the reason for modifying the original design?

Good luck, hope you come up with a good solution.

Thank you for the reply. I removed the inner pieces that the legs screw into so there would be a full rectangular space under the tank. The 40 will already take up a lot of the space under there and I wanted to be able to slide it over more.