Aquarium Positioning HELP!

[lhswarrior]

Hey everyone, My name is Mike. I have a 55 gal tank on a steel stand the stand is a few years old but doesn't show any sings of decay. I have put this tank and stand on a carpeted floor against an outside wall. Since the area closest to the wall is a little higher my tank is on a small slant, let's say about .5 inch-1 inch slant. I was wondering if it is bad to have a steel stand on a slant, will it still be able to support the weight of my tank on that slant? thank you for your help I am renting a house and if this tank falls the damage it will do will break my bank !

 

[rich311k]

I would shim the front legs to make the tank level.

 

[HUKIT]

I would certainly shim that much of a varience, if we were talking about a eighth of a inch that would be minimal.

 

[lhswarrior]

So like a half inch thick piece of wood on each front leg should do the trick?

 

[HUKIT]

That's a good starting point but I would get it as close to level as possible, otherwise that's alot of stress on the front of the tank. Remember that carpet/padding will also compress under that weight so keep that in mind when shimming, so if it's that unlevel now it will change with the tank filled.

 

[lhswarrior]

No it is full already and the water level is about half an inch higher in the back as it is in the front, I will have to empty half the water at least to be able to shimmy something under the two front legs i think

 

[BillD]

The reason that the tank is higher at the back is that there is a tackless strip (1/4" plywood with tacks from the bottom) under the carpet to hold it in place. your stand is either on top of it or close enough that it has raised the carpet causing the tank to be higher at the back. Definitely shim the front as a tank stand on a lean is unstable, especially one that is that narrow.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I've learned that with carpet, the tank needs to be 4" or so out from the wall in order to get away from the tack strip that Bill is talking about. You definitely need to get the tank near level though. If you wanted to avoid wood, and the stand has 4 individual legs, you could always take a grinder to the back legs and get everything level... but that's a more permanent solution that may not work if you ever decide to move the stand to somwhere that's more level. That's what I did to one of mine, and I regretted it when I had to do the opposite once it was on a level surface.

 

[lhswarrior]

thank you all for your help, so would you suggest moving it a few inches out from the wall to level it or putting something under the front legs im assuming moving it would be the better option

 

[rich311k]

I think you got it. Moving it out would be easier.