David R Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I've just had a steel stand made for my 630L tank, its made from 30mm box section and has eight legs. It is 70cm wide and 90cm high. It appears to have a very slight twist in it, on the level concrete floor in the room where its going one corner leg is about 5mm off the ground. I got two of my flatmates (who are only around 60kg) to stand on the diagonally opposite corners and it levels itself out easily with that much weight (probably less than 1/10th the weight of the full tank). Is this normal, or something to I should be concerned about? Will the weight of the tank and water sort out the slight unevenness or will it put enough pressure on the tank to stress and crack it? The tank is made from 12mm glass and is well braced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simian Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 is the problem the stand or the floor? concrete floors are often not truly level. Get a straight edge and see where the problem lies, as for the tank cracking that I cant comment on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I was originally planning on putting it in the garage, but the floor seems very uneven in there, I moved the stand around all over the place and it varied from being nearly level to about 8mm out. I guess they slope the floor of the garage to allow water to drain from cars, washing machine etc. I would expect the floor in the spare room to be pretty level though, short of lifting the carpet to check the actual concrete underneath, how can I tell if its the stand or the floor that is uneven? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I would leave the stand and pack the legs. You should be able to tell if the top of the stand is straight by placing the tank on the ply gently with no polystyrene. The bottom of the tank will be flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Good idea. I haven't bought the plywood yet (does anyone know of a joinery supplies place that will cut it to the size I need rather than charging for a full 8x4 sheet?), I was planning on following the method Warren [i think] outlined, where you put a big bead of liquid nail around the top of the stand, the put the ply on, then the poly and tank and partially fill it while the glue is wet so it gets squashed level. What could I use to shim the legs with? Is wood too soft? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Wood will be fine to shim the stand with. Get a few different thicknesses of ply and cut suitable sized shim pieces. As long as the weight is spread, wood can support a huge amount of weight. Get a straight edge and a level and make sure the top is flat, use the shims as needed to correct for the floor. If your floor is level within 5mm, you are lucky, but you want the top to be flatter than that. Cheers Ian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I would use metal shims but that is just my preference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I'll get a square and strait edge from work today and check the stand tonight. Hopefully the place that made it will be able to give me some small steel offcuts if it needs to be shimmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Normally they would weld the top of the stand up on a flat surface so the top "should" be straight. I have used galv washers and galv iron offcuts to leval stands up. When you build a fish house you would put some slope and grade on the floor to run any water the right way so that normally involves packing the stands to get them leval or building the legs different lengths or both.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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