Worried about tank being uneven...

[Punkymom]

I think my tank is uneven. I've read that this can lead to problems, but when I measure both sides of the tank (I don't have a level) They come out weird measurements. Like it's uneven the wrong way. Does that make sense? So...do I have to dissasemble my whole tank and move it until it's even? It isn't off by that much at all...probably 1/4 of an inch...I don't want my tank to break!!! But I really don't want to have to move it either...grrr...TIA for any help.

 

[Barney]

i wouldn't be worried of 1/4 of a inch. but on the other hand, if your tank has 2 built in prefilters then one side will take in more water than the other for the filter to operate.

by the way, what size tank do you have? (in gallons)

 

[Paviduz]

I can't speak to how much of a problem it is going to cause, but obviously there is going to be more pressure exerted on one facet of the tank if it's not level. Measuring can be a rather difficult way to find if something is truly level, since if the floor is off in the slightest, then your measurements will be as well. I really wouldn't trust a measurement of that sort for anything more than a rough idea.

What you might want to try is a water level. I'm trusting that you have a gravel vac with clear plastic tubing here, so forgive me if I'm wrong. You can either remove the wider section of your vac from the tubing, or simply allow the water to drain until it's all contained within the tubing, but the idea is to avoid the valve found on most gravel vacs that keeps the water from back-flowing into the tank (this will invalidate any attempts at measurement). Armed with your water filled clear platic tubing, arrange things so that the water level on one side of the tubing is level with the lip of your tank. If your tank is level, the water level on the other side of the tubing will line up as well. If the second side is low, your water level will be high, and so on. Basically, the water establishes itself as level no matter how you hold the tubing, so you're effectively drawing a level line (between the two ends of tubing), and measuring the amount your tank is out of level relative to that.

While not doing much to address the problem, it will at least confirm for you whether or not your tank is level. At any rate, I hope that helped, feel free to ask for any clarification.

 

[Punkymom]

The filter is one the side where the water is lower...So I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not...Paviduz, that totally confused me!!! I would have to see a diagram or something...I always had trouble with word problems in school...LOL

 

[Paviduz]

Clarification

Okay, water natuarally finds it's own level, no matter the orientation of the container it's in (hence your problem). The gravel vac tubing is simply the easiest way to use this principle to your advantage to let you know how far out of level your tank is. Hopefully the attatched picture might help (copyright to the owner).

The water level at both ends of the hose is always going to be level (as illustrated by the dashed line in the photo). If the tank is sitting level, both water levels will line up with the top edge. If it is not level however, the side which is lower than the other will have the water level above the level of the tank.

Hope this has cleared things up a bit, if not, perhaps a web-search on how to make a water level might be helpful, or simply ignoring the suggestion and trusting your measurements.

 

[Paviduz]

Attatchments don't seem to want to work, try:

http://images.meredith.com/bhg/images/home_imp/a_335_3_1.gif

 

[Punkymom]

Ok, so I did that little testy thingy, and the results are that my tank is less than 1/4" uneven at one end. It doesn't seem to be causing any problems, the heaviest items are located at the end where the level is lower (i.e. the higher end of the tank)

 

[Paviduz]

Assuming an average length tank, you're probably looking at a pitch of a fraction of a degree. If the math works out right, your tank is sitting at somewhere around a 0.3 degree angle. I don't know at what kind of a range a problem starts to develop, but it would seem that it wouldn't be a huge deal. I would imagine you'll be fine, but you might want to take special care to pay attention for any problems with the glass or the seams of the tank.

 

[Punkymom]

Ok...thanks! I checked everything before I set it up, and it was perfect, so hopefully everything will be ok!!!

 

[TankGirl]

What I did for this problem was to get those wooden shims that they sell in the hardware store that people use when leveling door frames and window frames. They are a wooden wedge that gets tapped into a crevice until you achieve a level structure, then you break off the excess. That is what I did under the tank stand for my 55-gal, and under the tank itself on the 10-gal. I consider the tank itself to be a level, since the water inside it will always be "level" and you compare the water level to the rim of the tank. You can measure the difference between the back water level and the front water level, or side to side.