Plywood

[Seriak]

Well what a coincedence. I bought some panels from Ikea that look great. A little bit of gorilla glue and some rare earth magnets and I should be set.

Question though. If my stand wobbles slightly should I just shim it. I could also put a sheet of plywood on the bottom. My tank is being custom made so it will being sitting flat without a trim so I will be using plywood and styrofoam on top. I have extra sheets of 5/8 plywood lying around or is it better to go with 3/4?

I went and bought marine enamel. They said it is now called Weather-it at general paint. But they said it should work, even though it says in clear wording only for metal.

[sphelps]

5/8" is fine, it really doesn't offer any additional support. The stand should be shimmed to be level and distribute the weight properly, it shouldn't wobble.

For the magnets, the link I provided comes with cups for mounting. I'm not sure I would rely on glue.

[Seriak]

The magnets are purely holding them to the stand. They will be sitting on the floor, so it should be okay.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Seriak

The magnets are purely holding them to the stand. They will be sitting on the floor, so it should be okay.

Yeah I know but the rare earths stick pretty good, the bond between the stand and magnet maybe more than the glue and the magnet. Not sure but the cup sets are cheap enough.

[Seriak]

Yeah I considered the cup sets at lee valley but I wasn't going to go the extra step of routering them in and I only got the 9lb magnets, so I thought it should work. I think gorilla glue should be stronger then the 9lb magnets. I guess if it doesn't work I will come back and let you say "I told you so". :-) and then go by the cups.

[sphelps]

Yeah you're probably right, 9lbs is minimal.

The cups don't have to routered in though, I've always just screwed them to the inside surface. Unless you're really trying to get the panels flush against the stand but then you have to router in magnets anyway as the cups only add less than 1/8".

[kole]

What thickness of styrofoam are you using? I have a 180 on the way and was wondering if I should put styrofoam under it.

[Seriak]

I use the pink stuff. I think it is 1"

[The Grizz]

I have 1/2" under my 96" x 22" x 18" tank.