unleveled tank
- Thread starter JOMA
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
2 cm isn't terrible, but the first question you need to ask is...why is the tank not level? Is the floor uneven where you have the tank? Or is it a furniture (stand) issue? Sometimes tanks become unlevel because they are placed upon a piece of furniture not designed to hold the weight of an aquarium, and over time the wood starts to warp under the weight. The problem with this scenario is that the problem tends to get worse & worse over time, and that 2 cm difference today might be 2.2 cm in 6 months, 2.5 cm in a year, 3 cm in two years, etc. And at some point, either the furniture can't take it anymore and the furniture itself collapses, or else the difference in pressure on the glass due to the extra water weight causes the glass to shatter and/or one of the seams connecting 2 pieces of glass to give way, and you have what NASA calls a "catastrophic failure."
The glass & the seams on an aquarium are designed to safely hold the pressure of the water when the tank is level. The more unlevel a tank is, the more disproportionate the force will be and you will start putting more force on some parts of the tank than those sections were designed to hold. Usually there is some safety tolerance built in, but if the difference in level (and thus pressure) becomes great enough, the tank WILL fail. I had a 29g tank that because unlevel due to warping of the wood furniture it was on, but the difference never got more than 1 cm or so, so I ignored it.
Honestly the best thing you can do if it is at all possible is to identify the cause of why the tank is unlevel, drain out most of the water (to reduce the weight), and then re-set the tank so that it is level. Even with most of the water drained out it will probably take 2-3 people to do it. If the floor's the issue, move the tank & stand to somewhere else in the room. If it's on an a piece of furniture then you may need to bite the bullet and just buy an aquarium stand designed to hold the weight.
The glass & the seams on an aquarium are designed to safely hold the pressure of the water when the tank is level. The more unlevel a tank is, the more disproportionate the force will be and you will start putting more force on some parts of the tank than those sections were designed to hold. Usually there is some safety tolerance built in, but if the difference in level (and thus pressure) becomes great enough, the tank WILL fail. I had a 29g tank that because unlevel due to warping of the wood furniture it was on, but the difference never got more than 1 cm or so, so I ignored it.
Honestly the best thing you can do if it is at all possible is to identify the cause of why the tank is unlevel, drain out most of the water (to reduce the weight), and then re-set the tank so that it is level. Even with most of the water drained out it will probably take 2-3 people to do it. If the floor's the issue, move the tank & stand to somewhere else in the room. If it's on an a piece of furniture then you may need to bite the bullet and just buy an aquarium stand designed to hold the weight.
strokinbyeu
Aquarium Advice Freak
i wouldnt say its dangerous, but if it bothers you u can shim the stand at the floor with some wood shims or thin peices of wood. i had to shim the one end of my 75gal tank stand about 1/2 in bc the concret floor wasnt level.
its on an aquarium stand (the metal kind) built for the tank so i know its not that but its probably because the stand is on carpet so it digs into the carpet a little to make it slighty uneven, the problem i see in trying to level it out is that if i put wood underneath one of the legs it might raise it more than i want because it wont be digging into the carpet, just sittin on top.
sorry if that didnt make sense^
sorry if that didnt make sense^
jeremyblevins
Aquarium Advice Freak
maybe try putting a sheet of plywood under the whole stand so all the legs are level?
so wouldd you all suggest doing this? would the plywood break under the pressure?
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
Empty the tank first, and you should get by with just one man!
Before shimming the whole tank, you might want to try moving it forward from the wall. Carpets have nailing strips under it ~ 1/2" from the wall. If the leg is resting on top of the strip, it will raise it up. If you have the stand 2" or so from the wall, you might find the stand will level itself out. Otherwise, shimming with plywood is the best way to remedy the situation.
HUKIT
Aquarium Advice Addict
A trick used for larger set up's would be a piece of stryofoam below the stand which works well.
