Quote:
Originally Posted by vancat  What is your method of ensuring it is level, other than being as exact as possible with your measuring and cutting? |
everything squares up pretty good with attachment of the framing connectors. the floor in here is pretty flat, but i did have to put a little 1/8" felt pad under one leg to achieve level. however, i had to adjust the stand a little bit because i found that the tank was not sitting quite level. the long 2X4's that i used for the top horizontals along the width of the stand were about 1/8" thicker than the shorter pieces. so, the aquarium was sitting just on that front horizontal support and on its corners in the back. my solution was to remove the bottom front piece and plane it down to the same size as the short pieces. i was able to leave everything else set up while i stole that bottom 2X4.
after planing and refinishing that board, i removed the tank from the stand and then switched the adjusted 2X4 for the over-sized one on top. i put that one on the bottom, where its level will be less critical.
the stand is about 2 1/2" deeper (front-to-back) than the 55 gallon tank. i had to make it deeper to leave a little bit of space between the pairs of steel connectors at the top corners. thus, the back of the aquarium was just floating without support. i decided to add a brace with a short piece of pine 2X6.
i'm not counting on this supporting a whole lot of weight: i just want to spread it around a little bit more and have something under that long span of the back of the aquarium. i used a little steel bracket beneath to hold the brace in place.
