Slight gap on the edges of the tank bottom and stand

[Jasongtr]

bummer on tank,belt sander / orbital sander on ply to flat ?

I’d be there for the rest of my life and it still wouldn’t be flat and would then be about 1/8” thick

 

[piranhaman00]

I’ve had this happen every time I build my own stands, I would put another piece of 3/4” ply on top without fasteners and use shims under the second plywood to level, keep the foam but foam offers no support, even when it compresses it’s not providing upwards force, foam should only be for minor imperfections in the wood itself.

 

[fishguy242]

wait for Joe,he will come ,think a quarter inch pad would be fine, 3/16" lil thin IMO.

 

[Jasongtr]

I’ve had this happen every time I build my own stands, I would put another piece of 3/4” ply on top without fasteners and use shims under the second plywood to level, keep the foam but foam offers no support, even when it compresses it’s not providing upwards force, foam should only be for minor imperfections in the wood itself.

The top would then be nearly 4” thick, I think I’m going to consider my options with this, the likelihood is I’ll buy a DD pro reef tank because at this rate I’m going to spend more building another stand and getting another custom tank and I’m on the verge after today of just not doing anything and keeping my little tank

 

[Jasongtr]

wait for Joe,he will come ,think a quarter inch pad would be fine, 3/16" lil thin IMO.

Is 1.5mm going to make any difference though?

 

[fishguy242]

Is 1.5mm going to make any difference though?

IMO, yes, water and tank will seek true level ,i'd be more comfortable with that 1/16th" extra.

 

[Joe Glass Cages]

i want to say 10mm pad to prevent twist,tweaking , better safe than sorry, jmo...
@Joe Glass Cages opinion please n thanks...

thanks for the reach out @fishguy242

Lets see here @Jasongtr I read though this thread. Some excellent suggestions and agree with all of them.

Sounds like this is a new tank. if so, a great place to start is with the manufacturer and their setup instructions. They should be able to support you with your challenge here.

So, I can only speak to our tanks and how we suggest setting them up. With a glass bottom or glass floating bottom we suggest 19mm styrofoam or polyethylene pad.

looking at the pictures, something is not flat. something. tank, stand, stand top, tank bottom, thickness of pad, floor or something is not flat.

again, can only speak to our tanks and our setup process. because we warranty our tanks on any stand, we require 19mm styrofoam or polyethylene pad. This will absorb most imperfections in quote/unquote flat surfaces or other imperfections.

for piece of mind, please get with the manufacture. they know their tanks best.

 

[Jasongtr]

thanks for the reach out @fishguy242

Lets see here @Jasongtr I read though this thread. Some excellent suggestions and agree with all of them.

Sounds like this is a new tank. if so, a great place to start is with the manufacturer and their setup instructions. They should be able to support you with your challenge here.

So, I can only speak to our tanks and how we suggest setting them up. With a glass bottom or glass floating bottom we suggest 19mm styrofoam or polyethylene pad.

looking at the pictures, something is not flat. something. tank, stand, stand top, tank bottom, thickness of pad, floor or something is not flat.

again, can only speak to our tanks and our setup process. because we warranty our tanks on any stand, we require 19mm styrofoam or polyethylene pad. This will absorb most imperfections in quote/unquote flat surfaces or other imperfections.

for piece of mind, please get with the manufacture. they know their tanks best.

Thank you for that I appreciate all the comments for help on this from everyone.

like any house I guess the floor isn’t completely level, I mean it’s perfectly acceptable for any item of furniture but a fish tank appears to be a whole new type of level, but one thing I’ll say is the cabinet it’s on has been strengthened to such a degree it’s ridiculously stiff and the four legs are shimmed to ensure it’s perfectly level.

let’s assume the tank is made from perfectly flat glass as I suspect is the percentage normal result ( it has to be rare for glass to be bowed at the corners) then it can only be the plywood top that’s causing this issue, the very fact it only appears to be at the corners leaves me to accept I made a big mistake when fitting that top by screwing it down close to the corners and have deformed the plywood enough to create these gaps, the fact the plywood is glued to the top in its entirety means it’s not coming off, which leaves me with either adding an additional plywood top or thicker foam padding.

so @Joe Glass Cages as this tank is not going to be the one I’m using due to seam air bubbles and I’m not taking the risk therefore reaching out to them about this is irrelevant would you say something like a softer 5mm foam on top of what I have now then another 5mm like I have so 15mm in total would work, I’m assuming as I 2/3 filled the tank yesterday and it did little to close the gap adding the soft very compressible foam then another firmer type would sort it, or my other mad idea of a latex levelling compound then the foam I have now ( only thing that thinks this may not work is just how perfectly flat these latex compounds really get, again for a floor unnoticeable but a tank….

thanks