How perfect does my stand need to be?

[Cpants]

I'm descending into madness....I don't really do any woodworking but I'd say I know enough. I'm also a perfectionist. I had a friend cut my lumber (he has a miter, I do not) for a pretty typical Rocketengineer 180 gallon stand. The cut ends on my 2x's are all a little...crooked. I'd say sloping about maybe 1/16 of an inch on a couple of them. I'm considering using a square and just running my circular saw down the ends to even everything off.

3/4 plywood under the tank and a glass cages mat will be under the tank as it's a eurobrace. Do I really need to lose sleep over this, should I leave them as they are, or should I potentially mess them up even more with my circular saw?

 

[Fish Fan]

Do you have pics of what you're dealing with? IF I'm following you, a slight angle to the cut end shouldn't be a big deal. You could even them off with a circ saw and straight edge, but you'd be losing a bit of length, and I assume they are cut to length.

I'm near Canandaigua and have made several of these stands, if I can help you let me know.

 

[Cpants]

Something like that. I intentionally have extra length on my stand for something like a peninsula with a left side overflow. So the stand will be 4 inches longer than the tank itself for overflow/return. The jack studs, who cares if i lose an inch total. It'll sit around 38" instead of 40.

 

[Fish Fan]

Your buddy's miter saw may not be perfectly setup, but I don't see that as being a problem. Even with a straight edge, a circular saw may not do much better. I'd be tempted to use them as-is.

 

[KrisReef]

I have seen large tanks survive on crudely leveled wooden stands that have lasted decades.

For people who obsessed with perfection I recommend getting a crew involved that can make the top of the stand optically flat. An aquarium can survive on either stand but the reefer needs comfort in order to rest properly at night.

HTH!

 

[UncommonSense]

Assuming the tank is rimmed and the stand is leveled out where it’s going to go, this ought to be quite alright!

that is to say, those little plastic rims do a remarkable amount of heavy lifting for the tank’s structural integrity!

Note this LFS’s entire freshwater section being rimmed tanks precariously set on the rims of plastic totes, possibly on some lumber if lucky!

 

[Cpants]

Assuming the tank is rimmed and the stand is leveled out where it’s going to go, this ought to be quite alright!

that is to say, those little plastic rims do a remarkable amount of heavy lifting for the tank’s structural integrity!

Note this LFS’s entire freshwater section being rimmed tanks precariously set on the rims of plastic totes, possibly on some lumber if lucky!

That's pretty crazy. I don't believe there is any rim with the GC eurobrace though. Definitely will be leveling with shims as needed