# Need some advice on leveling my tank.. (Pics inside) (one corner not touching stand)



## Canuckgame (Mar 2, 2013)

Hey everyone,

so i have a 75G tank, and a stand i built myself, the surface seems flat, the stand is built from 2x4's and sheeted in 1/4" plywood, and the top of the stand has a 3/4" sheet of plywood that the tank sits on.

now the tank sits flush all the way around except the front left corner, the corner hovers off the stand by maybe a credit card width, nothing too substantial, but it worrys me enough to make this thread.... i really dont want to put any stress on the tank and have it crack on me, if it was the middle of the tank i wouldnt be worried, but my research says all 4 corners MUST be flush to the stand.

the only solution to this i could think of was i bought some wood shims, if i put say, 2 shims under this corner, tight, but not too tight would this give this corner enough support to avoid any twisting, and eliminate the concern of the tank cracking?










and just so everyone has an idea of what im dealing with, im 24 years old, and live in a 850 sqft trailer, and this is the ONLY location i can have an aquarium of this size in the whole house, the stand sits on my linoleum floor, but about 7" sits on carpet, so i have 1/4 inch plywood under my stand to level it out a bit my tank is not perfectly level, but pretty damn close to where im happy with it, its just that one corner that is my concern..


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## shady280 (Oct 17, 2011)

if you take a level/long straightedge and place it on top of the stand where the dip is, how long is the depression? his it maybe 4x4" square or larger? you can actually use bondo to build up the corner then sand it so the corner is perfect and paint it and no one would be the wiser. I'm guessing your piece of plywood has a thin corner on it. you could also cut a strip off the thin plywood off and install a new strip in that location and use some filler so it looks good. i really wouldn't use shims just incase they don't support 100% of the footprint.


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## poiuy704 (Nov 6, 2010)

a sheet of styrofoam cut to fit under the tank would probably be the easiest fix, I have done that with a number of my tanks with good results


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Yup, i agree with the styofoam fix.


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

3x the foam, I have seen friends do it and some highend tanks come with them.


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## Canuckgame (Mar 2, 2013)

Ive read alot of people saying NOT to put styrofoam under a glass tank with a rim on it as you compromise the integrity of the bottom of the tank.

I was originally going to do that but got worried cause I read alot of people disagreeing with that method.

my girlfriend has a really thin yoga mat, maybe that would work and not compromise the bottom of the tank? But at the same time wouldnt shims give it a much more solid surface to sit on?


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yeah, I've also read that for glass tanks. I believe glass tanks are meant to be supported only around the edges of the tank. You don't want the foam to somehow push up on the glass bottom. I guess under normal circumstances, the foam should not touch the glass but at some point, the foam may crush and compress enough that there is a possibility the foam could then come into contact with the glass. I've tried it on my 90g glass before and the foam did crush but never sufficiently to cause foam/glass contact. I used a high density "pink" foam board.


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Not too sure if mine is just under the bottom panel or around the edges too?? because its covered by a moulding you can see here whole tank then a close up of the bottom with foam
View attachment 55601

View attachment 55609


Edit - sorry for a sideways pic stupid iPhone.


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## Canuckgame (Mar 2, 2013)

Ok, so i have done some more reading and it seems as though foam is OK under glass tanks with the rim, as long as the foam doesnt push up. so i went to home depot and got this pink insulating foam.

here are the results.

The foam is VERY strong and doesnt compress barely any, which is a good and bad thing, good because i dont have to worry about it coming close to the bottom pane of glass, and bad because that left side corner is still hovering a bit...

while it helped alot, its still hovering and concerns me. here are 2 pics (sorry for the bad quality...)



so as you can see, a card can still stick in there, but where you see the card going the width of the tank, is as far as the gap goes that way, so it has closed it up quite a bit, but i was hoping for no gap.

here is pic #2 of the gap going length ways, where you see the card placed is as far as the gap goes towards the middle of the tank, the rest of the tank is sitting solid under the foam all the way around from what i can see.



should i be concerned with this??? should i stick a couple of shims under there to maybe close that gap and give the corner a solid surface?

also this is as close to level as i can get it i think... the water line actually doesnt look too bad all the way around, not perfect, but not so bad that i think its creating alot of stress anywhere, please correct me if im wrong!


(Left side of tank)

(Right side of tank)


(width of tank)

so ya... im not 100% happy, i REALLY dont want to every have to worry about the tank cracking or leaking or bursting, but given my circumstances about location of the tank, i think this will have to do,

I filled the tank tonight for this whole process so that the carpet compressed and could get an accurate reading and such. im draining it right now again so i dont have to worry tonight. im hoping to have this figured out by tuesday as wednesday im wanting to get the tank going and the cycle started.

any thoughts?


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

The hard foam might take a bit to settle. If you want it settle fast, you can use the softer white packing foam under the pink, or just use the 1" softer white foam.


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## poiuy704 (Nov 6, 2010)

I agree with Charles, I use just the one inch recycled packing foam under mine. I have yet to have any problems with the bottom glass breaking when it comes in contact with the foam.
I saw a video once not sure if it was posted on here or elsewhere of a guy stacking rocks in a ten gallon tank to show how much pressure it will take. I think he had a couple of hundred pounds of rock stacked in it and then stood on top of the pile of rocks the tank did not break. 
The weight of your tank filled will evetually settle into the pink styrofoam.


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## Clownloachlover (Apr 21, 2010)

here is another solution that could work for you. Get some autobody filler more commonly known as bondo. Lift your tank off the stand. Mix up enough bondo to fill the gap areas you are looking to fill. Place the bondo on the bottom of the tank on the areas that presently do not touch your stand. Allow your tank to settle back down onto the stand and let the bondo ooze out of the gap and wipe away the major excess. Allow it harden completely. Cut away the gobs that oozed out that you do not want to look at. Paint the bondo edges to match the tank rim and no one will ever see it. 

I think the styrofoam solution will work for you given that it is such a small gap!


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## Canuckgame (Mar 2, 2013)

Thanks for the advice everyone. I like that autobody filler idea I think that would create a nice surface when dry.

I may also do the white foam under the pink...

im so lost right now hahaha I do NOT want this tank to fail.. and id like to get it up and running.

how about the pictures of my level? Is that level enough to work right?r


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## shady280 (Oct 17, 2011)

I originally suggested bondo. It's the only sure fire way to support the weight. You can still use foam which isn't a bad idea but you need to start with the base. You have the stand leveled well then come the top of the cabinet the. The foam that the tank stands on. In most cases prep is 90% of the job. I wouldn't worry too much about that much about perfection of level of the whole unit as long as it's well supported.


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## Potatohead (May 27, 2013)

Good luck getting the tank back up off the stand if you use bondo. 

Is the problem A) the tank isn't sitting right on the stand or B) the stand isn't sitting right on the floor? B is a heck of a lot easier to fix, Styrofoam or shims will work fine. If A you'll probably have to sand/plane the stand where the tank sits to get the high spots level. I wouldn't shim the low spots unless you can do it in such a way there is no gaps between the tank and stand. That may mean putting 10 shims next to each other to get all the gaps filled, and then you'd have to worry about what the final result looks like, too. 

I also agree it doesn't have to be 100%, really really close is good enough, once that thing is full of water the stand will settle in anyway.


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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

Looks fine by me. IMO your close to level, the tank will settle once filled and that small gap will only get smaller. I dont think you will have an issue with that tiny gap causing any structural issues with the tank.

If it were me there would be fish in it already lol. Looks like you might not have any media to kick start you cycle from an existing tank? You could cycle the old fashion way or look into a product called stability by seachem. It works very well IMO for starting new tanks with no established media. Best part is you need to add a few fish right away to make the product work.

Good luck with the tank. Like I said, personally I wouldnt worry about it. If anything, might be a good time to buy 1 can of semi gloss or satin black spray paint and give the stand a coat or two.


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