A friend and I recently built a stand for one of my 87g tanks. It actually turned out quite nice. The stand was just about perfectly level so there was no issue there. However last night when i was filling the tank with water i noticed something not so good. The tank was over 3 quarters full when i noticed the water in the back of the tank looked lower than the water in the front. I measured it and sure enough the water in the back of the tank was 3/4 of an inch lower than the front of the tank. I looked at the stand and the front was sinking into the carpet while the back was not, causing the tank to lean slightly forward. I drained it and put the tank further back on the stand but still no luck. Any idea's how to fix this?
stand leveling
- Thread starter FishHunter8
- Start date
Is your stand backed up against a wall? It sounds like the back of the stand may be resting on the tackboards that are under the edge of carpet, thus raising the whole back of the stand. Try to shift the whole stand forward an inch and see if it solves the problem.
I use tapered wood shims you can find at the loacal hardware store and hammer them underneath the stand where I need to lift it up. Then use a razer knife to trim off anything that is left hanging out from under the stand. This works well for flat bottom stands not sure how well it would work with a stand with legs.
I built my own stand for my 30 gal. When I put the tank on it, I only filled it a quarter of the way. It started leaning to the front right off the bat. After sitting over-night, the back finally started sinking into the carpet. Once it was almost level, I filled it all the way. It leveled itself out in less than an hour. Also, as dbarron said, make sure it isn't on the tackboards.
Thanks for the replies, i will move the stand ahead a bit and see if that makes a difference(its about an inch from the wall). If that doesn't work i will head over to the hardware store tommorow and get something to put underneath the front. Thanks for the help!!
I have a new freshwater tank and it seems level to the eye. There is no noticeable difference in the level from front to back. However the level I am using, a small level that came with our toolkit, shows that the tank is leaning slightly to the left and slightly away from the wall. It is very slight, Here is what the level looks like
| [(0) ] |
So the bubble is in the center lines, but on the left side of that center marker area. This consistent with the slope of the entire condo which sinks toward the river a 100 feet out the door.
HOWEVER. I did not inspect the tank too closely upon first purchasing but to me it looks like at the front of the tank where the glass forming the front meets the sides there is a significantly lighter and more translucent area. It might be the proximity to the light that is playing a trick on me, but is pressure on the tank seperating the glass? Is there more caulking at the top than at the bottom? I'm stumped and I'm not sure whether I am in the clear or heading toward certain disaster. I should mention I crudely measured the height of the water at the front and back and they seemed even, perhaps a 1/16th of an inch deviation?
| [(0) ] |
So the bubble is in the center lines, but on the left side of that center marker area. This consistent with the slope of the entire condo which sinks toward the river a 100 feet out the door.
HOWEVER. I did not inspect the tank too closely upon first purchasing but to me it looks like at the front of the tank where the glass forming the front meets the sides there is a significantly lighter and more translucent area. It might be the proximity to the light that is playing a trick on me, but is pressure on the tank seperating the glass? Is there more caulking at the top than at the bottom? I'm stumped and I'm not sure whether I am in the clear or heading toward certain disaster. I should mention I crudely measured the height of the water at the front and back and they seemed even, perhaps a 1/16th of an inch deviation?
dslam said:
Make sure that the bubble is in the same position when you turn the level around. If not the level isnt 100% accurate. Unfortunalety a lot of them arent.
dslam said:
If you measure the "thickness" of the tank - including the glass - at any given point in between top and bottom it should always be the same - and if not tell you if the pressure seem to push it apart on top - where it should be wide then on the bottom.