55 Gal Metal Stand (uneven)

So I recently picked up a used 55 gal aquarium with a metal stand. Getting it home I placed it on the stand, to find out that one corner is a little off. On the other 3 sides of the tank, it sits flush, except for the right front side. The is without water in the tank.

Upon closer inspection, you can see that the right side of the tank was welded a little shorter than where it should have been. I attempted to file down the high side to try and get it to sit more flush, but isn't working and would take a while by hand.

I don't have an angle grinder so I purchased one tonight (good excuse to finally own one now) and I was going to attempt to grind down the entire top part of the stand to get it level on all four corners.

I guess my question is, has anyone ever done or seen this before? Do you think the end result will turn out okay from your experience? I had made a plywood shelf out of 1/2 plywood, and I even used that under the tank, but it still doesn't look right and I feel it will still cause a pressure point, especially with it being at the corner, which is extremely important. Attached are some photos. Please let me know what you think. Friday 6/4/21 the grinder should be here and I plan on giving it a good grind all around to hopefully make it level, and also remove the plywood.

 

Croeso Welcome to fishlore
Personally I wouldn't touch it its obviously been like that a long time and the previous owner probably had wood on top, I think if you take an angle grinder to it you'd end up having to go round the three sides to try and get it even
You should get more answers now I've started

 

I slept on it last night and after further thought, I don't think it's the right idea. If I had a welder and knew how I'd just fix that piece. It's actually a beautiful older style stand, just needs sanding and fresh paint. All the welds look good.

I would for sure have to grind down all other 3 sides because what I would need to do is make all 3 match the one that's wrong. Given that is a lot of material to remove, I would worry it would be too much removed and it would make the stand unstable. I've just gone ahead and ordered a new metal stand from Petco. Will be here Tuesday. I didn't want to, but the cost is worth it for me to be able to sleep at night.

Anyway, I appreciate the welcome, and if a mod would like go ahead and delete/move this thread if need be.

 

Don't delete the thread just yet you sound like a hands on guy and you bet your bottom $ some wiz here will give you something to work with

 

Don't delete the thread just yet you sound like a hands on guy and you bet your bottom $ some wiz here will give you something to work with

Sounds good, I appreciate it. I'd be open to ideas. I ordered an 80$ stand similar to the one I have, I like that style. If I can fix my current one by grinding I'd rather use it and return Petco's. But I'll keep an eye out here for any suggestions.

 

Why not a plywood topper with foam (old yoga mat?) to pad the difference?

 

Why not a plywood topper with foam (old yoga mat?) to pad the difference?

I have read that with framed glass aquariums you shouldn't use any type of padding to help fill a void. Acrylic or rimless tanks require some form of padding or a flat surface, but with a framed glass tank you shouldn't use foam/padding. I also tried with some plywood, and even the plywood starts to deform to the shape in the corner. I'd buy some thicker plywood but it's ridiculously expensive right now nearly the price of the new stand I just bought.

If I am mis informed please let me know. I took that info from this post on reef2reef

I think this is misinformation, possibly passed on by mistaken employees or people meaning well by going the extra mile. There are a few fish stores around here and a few aquaculture facilities that keep tanks on cinderblocks. There are usually some wood boards spanning the front and back on the (much) larger tanks but that’s it.

Wood will compress. All board wood has a bow to it. In construction, you always install the bow facing up. The weight of whatever is going on top will straighten the wood. Plywood doesn’t have this but it too will compress a bit.

A decade or o ago I had an AGA stand and the bow of the front top pointed down. This left me with a half-inch gap between the tank and the stand in the front center. I called them and they asked me to send a few photos, some showing the measurement. Their engineer called me back and stated that once I filled the tank up it would even out flat and it did. Not the greatest construction as we all know but it did perfectly even out.

A flat bottom glass tank should be on foam. A bulge or any non-uniform spot could cause the bottom to crack. A tank with a rim however has a built-in means of dealing with uneven spots. A thin sheet of foam could be used but I’d be afraid of the tank frame compressing the foam so far that the center foam was pushing on the glass. You don’t want anything touching that glass. This is why manufactured stands only support the frame.

Framed tanks only need to be supported on the frame. Even if you put ten sheets of plywood and foam, only the frame would be touching anything. Tanks like this don’t need a single piece of anything flat under them, just the frame needs to be supported. It’s fine to add plywood for aesthetics or any other reason but foam is a no no.

 

As I will have some time over the weekend and the new stand won't be here until Tuesday, I was at work today and thought what if I applied JB Weld to the 1/8" gap that is in that corner? Apply some weld, let it cure, if it's not high enough, add more until it's level. Sand + Paint.

I'd assume the tank would be around 600-700 lbs at most filled with decor+substrate? Does anyone know if JB weld could support that? I basically have a project stand now that I'd rather use if I can get it functional.

 

After JB Weld, I have this outcome! I feel much better now about using this stand now. What does everyone else think?

I want to thank everyone who offered help and ideas, I really appreciate it!

 

That looks good to me are you putting the ply back on top? I think I would!