I recently purchased a 55 Gallon Tank with Stand. I've kept these before, but i lived elsewhere. I set up the think and filled it. The stand is sitting on Carpet. That's where the problem lies. It's SLIGHTLY Unstable. I can push it and it will rock a little. There's nowhere in the house to put it that doesn't have carpet. Do you think that a 75 Gallon base would make it more stable? I don't have any kids or pets in the house. I live alone. What would you guys do?
Instability with a 55 Gal
- Thread starter Fin Man
- Start date
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mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
could always get a piece of plywood and sit under it... or you could get some shelf brackets and brace it against the wall
Blueiz
Aquarium Advice FINatic
You must have some monsterous padding under that carpet..lol. Before you put is solely on the tank sitting on carpet, did you use a level to make sure it was level before filling it with water? I would think the weight of the stand, tank, and water would surely compress the carpet rather quickly.
The Tank is Level. That's not a problem. When i say that the stand is unstable, i mean that it's not quite as stable as i would like. I don't think it's going to tip, but if someone bumped into it pretty good the water would probably slosh. I also thought that the weight of a 55 Gallon tank would stabilize the tank. Apparently i was wrong. It's a Walmart stand. Perhaps i should get a different one. Shelf Brackets wouldn't work because the Tank has to sit too far away from the wall to allow space for the filter. I'm not looking forward to emptying this tank again.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
The floor is prob uneven under the carpet. I would NOT trust any tank/stand that rocks, however slightly. The sloshing water stresses the glass seams & might cause a leak down the road.
Carpets have a nailing stripe at the perimeter that holds it tight. That stripe is 1/4" up from the floor. If you rest your stand on it, you might get the rocking. It is usually 1/2" out from the wall & 1" wide, so if your tank is tight against the wall, pulling it out a bit might help.
Otherwise I would try shimming the stand so it is absolutely level. You would have to do that after filling, as you can't tell where the floor is until after the weight of the tank had compressed the carpet. that might involve multiple filling/unfilling of the tank.
You might want to shim with wilder pieces of plywood so the weight is spread over a larger area, or in the worse case scenario, put the whole stand on an oversized 3/4" plywood. <Would look ugly, tho!>
Wally stands are not too stable. If the stand itself is wobbly, rather than the stand rocking on the floor, then you might try to reinforce it on the inside.
Carpets have a nailing stripe at the perimeter that holds it tight. That stripe is 1/4" up from the floor. If you rest your stand on it, you might get the rocking. It is usually 1/2" out from the wall & 1" wide, so if your tank is tight against the wall, pulling it out a bit might help.
Otherwise I would try shimming the stand so it is absolutely level. You would have to do that after filling, as you can't tell where the floor is until after the weight of the tank had compressed the carpet. that might involve multiple filling/unfilling of the tank.
You might want to shim with wilder pieces of plywood so the weight is spread over a larger area, or in the worse case scenario, put the whole stand on an oversized 3/4" plywood. <Would look ugly, tho!>Wally stands are not too stable. If the stand itself is wobbly, rather than the stand rocking on the floor, then you might try to reinforce it on the inside.
Zer0
is back to save the day!
2x4's are ridiculously strong. Just my two cents.. Use 2x4's. They may be ugly, but those pieces of wood are hella strong.
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