Wavy floor+75 gallon+floor load+levelling

Linden

Linden

A box of animals way off the ground
Jun 11, 2006
81
0
6
Minneapolis
I just bought a 75-gallon tank. My 2nd floor apartment lists to the east, and my old wood floor goes in every direction. The tank is planned to go on the west wall. I already have a 55-gallon on that wall.

What should I do for a level and safe tank setup? I was thinking of getting 3/4" plywood under the stand, leveled out with 'mini-jacks' (do they even exist?). But, it seems like the jacks would put a lot of weight in a small area.

The wall I am putting the tank on has the 2nd floor's 'stairway' behind it, so I assume it is a load-bearing wall. BUT, I already have the 55-gallon tank on the same wall (yeah, I will have a wall of fish, with a TV in the middle).

I don't want everything to go crashing. When I got my 55-gallon in 2002, I just put shims under the stand, but its still uneven. So, I want to make this tank level, or at least safe. I certainly don't want to ask my landlord about which way the floor beams go, since I don't want to know what he thinks of my fish tanks in general. Is there a slick way to tell if the beams are in the right place?

I live a 100-year old building that was originally built as morgue/funeral home. Now it has a cafe underneath, and apartments on top.
 
What kind of stand is it (pressboard, wood, etc)? Got any pics? If you can shoot pics of floor, wall, stand so we can see what you got goin'.
 
Depending on your stand type, you could use the adjustable screw pads in the legs to level the tank.
 
Shim it some more and get some renter's insurance.
 
It is a 4-foot long 75 gallon All Glass aquarium with an All Glass stand made out of real-wood lumber. The 55- gallon is also four feet long (only thinner) and has similar stand.

By an odd set of flukes [not an aquatic pun, I swear], I won't have my digital cameras back for week - so Buckdog, I will re-post when I get the cameras back. Thanks for your offer to look at this.

I like the idea of Styrofoam between the tank and the stand...It would offer some insulation too. Kind of ugly, but I can always do a Martha Stewart on the edge.

As far as adjustable screw-pads...The bottom of the stand is like 1x4s stood on edge all around -- no legs. I was wondering about putting screw-pads under the plywood. So, it would be fishtank, styrofoam, tankstand, plywood, screw-pads, floor.

Finally, on shims: They are fine at first, but after things are all filled up and if the floor shifts, it's hard to adjust shims. That's why I was thinking the screw-pads would be a good idea. But can they really hold that much weight? Argh.

So, that's all the agonizing I will do for now, until I post pictures next week (which I want to do anyhow to show off my other tanks).
 
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