Shimming??

[Dissy]

So, my 125 gallon tank and stand were delivered today.. It was just set against the wall, and I noticed that it leans forward even while empty (it sits on carpet, and is approx. 4" away from the wall).

I checked the bottom of the stand, and there is a space between the 2 front feet, the bottom of the stand, and my carpeting..

I've heard that you can put pieces of shim under your stand to level it out...

Does this work as well with just two front feet? Or, is there something else I need to do?

Help, please.

 

[Jc1119]

I moved my 90 upstairs and we found the floor to be uneven. Tank was leaning towards the wall a pretty good bit. I used three shims per back corners of the stand and leveled it out. Been set up like this for about 3 months and it hasn't changed position at all. Seems to be working fine.

My 60 in the office leaned foward a little too. Placed rubber shims under the two front corners if the stand and it's been fine for about 2 years.

 

[Joe M]

It is going to be difficult to level a tank on carpet, especially one that has a stand that has legs. Shims don't really work unless there is a hard surface under them as well.

I would suggest a thin board by itself or with shims between the board and stand to level it.

 

[Jer]

I had this problem with a new 80gal bowfront I recently bought and am not real sure it's not the stand/tank because the previous 55gal that sat in it's exact location was close to level as the water was visibly level inside when full.. or close to. I went round and round because my new tank is larger and leans out from the wall a fair amount and finally arrived at the conclusion that it just wasn't worth the effort not to mention preparation since I was in the midst of moving all of my fish that were unhapilly in larger 20gal buckets waiting for their new home to be done. I went ahead and filled it up and man does it look like it leans if you stand in the kitchen and specifically look how it leans compared to the wall from the side. Other than that it's not going to fall over. It takes quite a bit for something like an aquarium to move past center of gravity enough to actually fall over. This is even more the case with mine since it's a bowfront instead of a flat edge like a standard aquarium. It would take a LOT of effort to get a tank to move past center of gravity enough to fall over especially on a bowfront that's almost like having a kickstand for lack of a better term. My tank is also on parallel to the floor joists on a 2nd story so it really is the worst case scenario and even with traffic and slight rocking it isn't going anywhere. I doubt your situation is anywhere near as bad as what I've described so aside from you noticing it I would say not to lose sleep over it. It's more aesthetics than anything and another way to look at it is that by adding shims you could potentially be creating stress points that the aquarium itself wasn't designed to withstand.

 

[Dissy]

It is going to be difficult to level a tank on carpet, especially one that has a stand that has legs. Shims don't really work unless there is a hard surface under them as well.

I would suggest a thin board by itself or with shims between the board and stand to level it.

What kind of wood is strong enough to withstand that kind of weight, without bowing over time?

 

[Dissy]

I had this problem with a new 80gal bowfront I recently bought and am not real sure it's not the stand/tank because the previous 55gal that sat in it's exact location was close to level as the water was visibly level inside when full.. or close to. I went round and round because my new tank is larger and leans out from the wall a fair amount and finally arrived at the conclusion that it just wasn't worth the effort not to mention preparation since I was in the midst of moving all of my fish that were unhapilly in larger 20gal buckets waiting for their new home to be done. I went ahead and filled it up and man does it look like it leans if you stand in the kitchen and specifically look how it leans compared to the wall from the side. Other than that it's not going to fall over. It takes quite a bit for something like an aquarium to move past center of gravity enough to actually fall over. This is even more the case with mine since it's a bowfront instead of a flat edge like a standard aquarium. It would take a LOT of effort to get a tank to move past center of gravity enough to fall over especially on a bowfront that's almost like having a kickstand for lack of a better term. My tank is also on parallel to the floor joists on a 2nd story so it really is the worst case scenario and even with traffic and slight rocking it isn't going anywhere. I doubt your situation is anywhere near as bad as what I've described so aside from you noticing it I would say not to lose sleep over it. It's more aesthetics than anything and another way to look at it is that by adding shims you could potentially be creating stress points that the aquarium itself wasn't designed to withstand.

So this shouldn't scare the pants off me?

Facing the empty aquarium, first pic is the left side, second pic is the right side... They're not even evenly uneven. (Don't you love really bad grammar?)

 

[duke33]

Jer, the aquarium is built to sit level. Less stress on all the silicon joints. I suggest cutting out the carpet and using to correct size shim to get the tank completly level. You have yours twisting. Not good.

 

[frnchjeep]

So this shouldn't scare the pants off me?

Facing the empty aquarium, first pic is the left side, second pic is the right side... They're not even evenly uneven. (Don't you love really bad grammar?)

This is the worst possible thing for an aquarium. DO NOT PUT WATER IN IT. There is a serious twist in the glass right now, and water pressure will crack it for sure. It needs to be even. Make sure you level it front to back, side to side, and corner to corner.

 

[Jc1119]

I agree with the above two. Both my tanks were the same unlevelness ( there's that grammar again) from side to side. The fact that your off that much from side to side is not good. Twisting is very bad especially with a tank that large.

 

[Dissy]

I think I'm going to start by cutting out the carpet under the stand, at least. Any particular tile that may be strong enough to keep it's shape, or should I just leave it on the floor? (I was thinking ceramic, or marble?) I'd prefer tile of some sort to catch drips/spills during water changes, rather than it ending up in my carpet...