Unlevel Floor

[leafs]

I'm in the process of moving my 29 gal. to another floor and was wondering what I could do to level the tank. It will go on a wooden stand on hardwood flooring which slopes a bit. The whole room seems to be a little off. Would it be a problem if I did place it on an unlevel floor?


Thanks

 

[Lynden]

It depends on what type of irregularity the floor has. A slight lean, that causes the water to be a half an inch higher on one side, can be ignored with some caution. However, if there is a bulge or indent that pushes or pulls on just on area of the tank, then the silicon seal will be stripped and pulled away, causing a massive leakage or even a tank burst.

 

[leafs]

The tank will lean forward slightly, but hardwood floor is new and there aren't and bulges or indents. Hopefully it won't lean too much.

 

[Lynden]

My reef tank leans forward a little. Do not stack rocks at or near the front; try to place some at the back. Also, make sure you place the tank stand's legs on, and not between the floor joists.

 

[Durbkat]

You can do what I'm going to do with my 55g stand, the floor is level but the right side of the tank stand is a quarter of an inch higher than the left side and what I'm going to do is to cut a thin piece of wood and slide it under the left side of the tank to even it out so you could cut some thin wood and slide it under the front of the tank and then take a level to make sure its level. I wouldn't fill a tank that leaned to the front or any side, thats why I haven't filled my 55g yet till I fix it, because you never know if someone upstairs or downstairs could start playing really loud music or start jumping up and down and that could cause the whole tank to lean forward and crash towards the ground and with the weight of the water with most of it leaning towards the front it could make it fall foward at the slightest vibration. I just wouldn't want to take that chance and if it crashing to the floor and since its a hardwood floor the floor will swell up and warp then you will have to replace the whole floor and that will cost alot and you would have to move all the furniture.

 

[BigC]

Prepare the floor first using thin Plywood and Hardboard, using a spirit level check your levels.
Always level the stand from the floor and not directly under the glass of the aquarium. If it's only askew a small amount then a little packer (piece of thin plywood) here and there will not harm anything. If it is leaning into a room I'd much prefer to pack the front and have it leaning toward a solid structure rather than have a tank fall forward into the room.

 

[leafs]

Thanks for the help everyone. I'm going to slide some plywood under the stand and make it level. My stand doesn't have legs, it's a cabinet style so the weight is even. I'll be able to sleep better knowing that it's level. I'm already a little nervous about having the tank with a 1 year old running around.

 

[debiasir]

my tank upstairs had a slight lean towards the left, its only a 15 galon and a very slight lean so i added 2 bricks to the right side of the cabinate and it is now straight