Emergency!

[artman540]

I'm filling my 300DD right now and the water stand is 1/4 inch off level. Is this ok? I know the longer the tank the more off level it can be, but this is 300 gallons. Also the stand i had built is 3/4 inch birch ply with no framing. Should I reinforce it.

 

[polywise]

I would take the water out and re level the stand. also, what do you mean when you say "no framing" ?

 

[artman540]

There's no stud framing, the birch ply is held together with more birch ply.

 

[c-me-fish]

IMO 1/4 inch over 6 feet isn't the end of the world. If it's only filling up though I would still try to get it perfectly level. From what I understand about the stand, it probably does need to be reinforced, perhaps not for vertical load but horizontally.

 

[twitchy4821]

with a 300 gallon tank, I would personally make a 2x6 or 2x8 frame for the stand for stability and support.

 

[artman540]

I shimmed one side and no its only off by 2 mm. Now I just need to figure out how to frame it out. My plumbing takes up the space where I would put framework.

 

[insomniac2k2]

Frame it. It would be foolish not to. Ply is not going to hold that much weight long term.

 

[fronty]

I would drain it and frame the stand. I know it sounds like a lot of trouble now, but it is better than doing it down the road. I wouldn't risk it. That is a lot of weight on that stand.

 

[Garage1217]

You know that gut feeling you just had about the stand that prompted you to make a thread titled "emergency!" Yeah.. well listen to that gut feeling and build a proper stand before someone is killed by close to 3000lbs of weight with rock and sand + the weight of the tank itself.

 

[CreativeGuy]

Can you sketch and describe how you built your stand, and what it sits on please?
What are your tank dimensions?
Some pictures would also be good.

The more information, the more on how we might be able to help you.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

sounds sketchy..thats a big tank..id have a extra heavy duty stand!

 

[dahenley]

my 240 is on a plywood stand.... and i bought the tank used and have personally had it over 3 years with no problems.

Plywood is actully very strong!

But, if the floor is unlevel and the stand is square, then shim.
if the floor is level and the stand is not, then who built the stand? (if its a Marine land, then you might let them know and they can send you a different stand. (because you have to have their stand to hold the warranty.))

 

[artman540]

Ok, so I spent the day framing out the stand.... my back hurts. Filling it up now. 50 gallons in 250 to go.

 

[alton]

3/4" plywood is amazingly strong. My first stand was 2x6" 's and super heavy. My last was 1" oak boards and 3/4" oak plywood, glued and screwed.

 

[lucidheights]

plywood is fine, try re-leveling the stand, you may be able to do it without removing the water, just use shims and a hammer. I adjusted my 240 without removing water

 

[artman540]

So now the pipe that goes into the bottom of my bulkhead is leaking... What a nightmare this is. I don't even know how to fix it, looks like I need to replace the bulkhead and all the pipe attached.

 

[artman540]

I put like 3 layers of glue on the joint and then ran a bead of epoxy putty on it. Looks like it's holding so far it's been about 4 hours. I'm still worried though, the leak was on the return I'm not sure how much PSI a Reeflo Dart puts out.

 

[prop-frags]

You should drain the tank.
Resolve the leveling issues. Post some details of your stand design, with pictures.
If your tank blows a seam, think about the ramifications of that.