Uneven Tank Stand

[Louiseness]

I mostly build DIY stands so do not run into your problem. Any stand with a solid edge around the base of a tank, the kind with a plastic frame around the bottom, will give good support. If you choose to go with the plywood approach, make sure that you do not leave any rough or uneven points on the plywood surface. A very small bubble somewhere in the middle of that bottom can definitely cause the bottom glass to break. I have used plywood sheets to mount some of my smaller tanks on things like filing cabinets with good results. Gravity is your friend when it comes to a fish tank stand. You do not need any adhesive to hold that plywood in place once you have a hundred Kg of water holding it in place.

Neither of my tanks have any sort of plastic rim. They're from Ebay so I guess they're pretty old, literally just your basic all-glass rectangular tank on a coated metal frame like THIS. Obviously the tank is supported jsut by the edges, but my problem is the 'edges' don't even seem to be in contact with the tank, just the corners.

Adding a plywood top seems like it would brace it but I'm not even sure whether this would make the metal sit flush and straight or whether the tank would jsut be resting on half-unsupported plywood anyway!

 

[Vin Swords]

Adding a plywood top seems like it would brace it but I'm not even sure whether this would make the metal sit flush and straight or whether the tank would jsut be resting on half-unsupported plywood anyway!

this is where the liquid nail comes in it would fill the gap bitween the metal and the wood.

 

[Louiseness]

this is where the liquid nail comes in it would fill the gap bitween the metal and the wood.

Duh! Of course! I was just imagining it like you would be sticking the plywood to the metal to sort of force it back straight. Not that you would just let it carry on being wonky but level it with the adhesive. Never been a very practical minded person

 

[Vin Swords]

Duh! Of course! I was just imagining it like you would be sticking the plywood to the metal to sort of force it back straight. Not that you would just let it carry on being wonky but level it with the adhesive. Never been a very practical minded person

and when liquid nail drys it will be stronger then metal. it wont let the plywood bend.

 

[Louiseness]

and when liquid nail drys it will be stronger then metal. it wont let the plywood bend.

Ok, one more question, thanks for being so patient with a DIY imbecile

Would you try and glue it together but leaving the stand upright and gluing the wood to the top, or turning it upside down (if that makes sense) and gluing the stand to the wood?

 

[Vin Swords]

Leave it upright.. You just want to fil the gaps.. So put lots of it in the bend parts.

 

[Louiseness]

Leave it upright.. You just want to fil the gaps.. So put lots of it in the bend parts.

Cool, that's what I thought. Thanks so much!