Help with shims!

Ok so the metal frame in this picture is seriously bowed. I planned to shim between the plywood and the metal frame to bring the plywood up so that it touches the tank frame.

The problem is that with the tank empty, putting the shims in enough to bring the plywood up to the tank tends to just lift the whole plywood top up and I end up with a plywood top totally proped up on shims not touching the stand anywhere.

There's only two options here and I'm stumped.

Option A - fill the tank part way up with no shims and a visible gap in the middle of the tank then shim under the wood now that the weight of the tank will cause the wood to bend to where it needs to be instead of moving the whole tank.

Option B- just shim between the plywood and the tank so that there are only short areas not making contact.

I'm really stumped and want to leak test this thing tonight!

Get a sheet of rigid styrofoam insulation and put it between the tank and the stand. It will compress a bit and give solid support for the tank.


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+1 styro

jonclark96 said:

Get a sheet of rigid styrofoam insulation and put it between the tank and the stand. It will compress a bit and give solid support for the tank.


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Click to expand...

What are the dimensions of the tank? I have some extra styro from my rack build that I can bring to the meeting.

It's 48x18. Here is the center of the tank you can see the space. Will the styrofoam take up that much gap? I thought styro was for flat bottom tanks like rimless only?



It's supported on all four corners and I read that it's only the corners on glass tanks that bear the load but I don't want to find out otherwise with an exploded tank.

I use styro under almost all of my tanks.

Styrofoam will do the trick. It will compress a little bit and take up the gap.

I forgot to follow up, but I do have a 20x48" extra piece. I'll bring it to the meeting for you. :happy0180:

Leffler817 said:

I forgot to follow up, but I do have a 20x48" extra piece. I'll bring it to the meeting for you. :happy0180:

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Thank you! But I chickened out and built a solid wood stand the other night. The metal stand is now my fiancés new planting/potting table lol.

Haha no worries.