Levelling Foam

[jslaney]

So my stand is either level challenged or I am the worst handyman in the world.

I was going to use some sort of levelling foam between the tank and the stand anyway to elliminate wieght concentration points but now I really need some.

I was just wondering if anyone can suggest a product that I can buy easily and does not look like crap. I have about a 2 mm gap under the middle of my tank. I hate working with wood.

Thanks for your time,

Jon

[i have crabs]

im handymanly chalenged also, i went to homedepot and bought some pink 1/2" styrofoam insulation wich i think is what most people use

[kwirky]

agreed. I used 3/4" styrofoam under my 120g tank.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Go to Revy & get their Blue foam sheets. Much nicer to see than the HD's Pink stuff.

[kwirky]

Go to Revy & get their Blue foam sheets. Much nicer to see than the HD's Pink stuff.

home depot has white stuff too

[mark]

Go to Revy & get their Blue foam sheets. Much nicer to see than the HD's Pink stuff.

Or just hide the pink foam with trim.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h316/das75/trim.jpg

[fkshiu]

I'd shim under the top piece of plywood (NOT directly under the tank) to bring the middle part up to support the tank before using foam - one shim every 3"-4" or so.

After the bottom of my 6-footer cracked even with foam underneath it I spoke with a number of woodworkers and a structural engineering friend (albeit in less than sober state :) ) and base this on their input.

On a GLASS tank you don't need the foam their as long as the perimeter is supported.

Insulation foam won't "squish" down much all at if that's what you're counting on - certainly not 2mm. You'll still probably end up with about a 2mm gap between the foam and the stand if you don't fix the stand itself.

[cprowler]

I agree with fkshiu, level the stand like he mentioned under the plywood. I would however use the blue or pink foam also and hide it with trim like mark.

[Myka]

If you could post a pic of your stand it would be easier to suggest ways to fix it. I also wouldn't suggest you try to "fix" a 2mm gap with styrofoam.

[Skimmin]

I've seen Marks set up and it looks awesome. Foam sheet under the tank and wood trim looks great when properly finished.

[jslaney]

Thanks for the advise guys,

A little background on the tank:

The Tank is a 70 gal Bow Front (BF) and was bought second hand. The previous owner had a small leak in the front and that is why he was getting rid of it. I bought it and brought it to Calgary from Van. Once carfully inspected I found out why he had the leak. There was a 4 mm gap in between the tank and the stand in the front. I think the wood might have shrunk in the dry air in Calgary. Anywho I tried to fix it by replacing the support studs with longer studs but because it is a BF it was a little more difficult then I thought it would be.

So here is where I am:

I still have a 2 mm gap. I intend to buy a sheet of Ply and do as suggested with the shimming. Unfortunatly the small profile on the stand will not be enough to use trim to cover any foam. In addition its a BF so I dont look forward to trying to curve the trim. Handyman issues.
The tank only touches the stand on the outside perimiter of the tank so I am not sure I want to use a sheet of styrophome. I was thinking more of some kind of strip stuff. Maybe some sort of weather stripping. The problem with the pink and blue stuff is that it does not compress much.

Thanks for all the advice. I hope it keeps coming. I am sorry to hear about a crack in the bottome of your 120 gal. That must have been a frickin nightmare. More incentive for me to get this right.

Thanks again,

Jon

[Myka]

I hope you are planning on re-siliconing the spot where it was leaking. Just removing that 4mm gap alone will not fix it. If it was leaking that means there IS a break in the silicon, and you WILL have to repair that. Fixing the stand gap will prevent it from happening again.

I would go with plywood idea. If you use 1" plywood it won't move much even under the tremendous weight of a tank, and you won't have to rely on the chintsy shims as much as if you use thinner ply. You can buy a small piece of thin trim (so it's bendable), glue that on the viewable edge of the plywood, and stain it to match.

PS I'm a renovation carpenter, so my advice comes from building experience. ;)

[jslaney]

I dropped about half a tube of silicone on the bottom seal to try and make sure I got the leak.

I have just bought a sheet of 5/8 ply and some 15 mm weather stripping the stripping will go between the tank and the ply and the tank will go onto the ply. I think this will be adequate. What do you guys and gals think?

Jon

[Myka]

What kind of shimming are you planning on doing?

[jslaney]

I was going to cut small wood wedges to use as a shim and put them between the stand and the ply until but once I saw how well the weather stipping leveled the tank I did not think it was neccessary. So as you can see from the attatched pic the weather stripping was layed down on the outside perimiter of the tank. This made sense as that was where the tank rests on the stand.

Unfortunatly it is fairly ugly and once I have filled the tank and it has compressed I will get some sort of trim as suggested to cover it. I think glueing it to the plywood should work fine.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions even though ultimatly I did my own thing. I guess I will see if I should have listened to you if my tank falls apart.

If you have any questions or want further detail do not hesitate to ask.

Jon