Leveling 75G aquarium.. good enough?

[DanandAnd]

Hello. My 75 gallon aquarium has been in place for 1 year since we moved into this house. It was in my apartment prior to this for 1 year. I keep a foam pad under the stand, and under the tank, to make up for the floor not being exactly level.

I've noticed that the water level is not exactly level. According to my levels, it's not bad, but not perfect (pictures attached).

Is it worth draining and putting shims under the stand, or should i leave it as it is?

Thanks

Dan

[Sarina]

Most of my tanks are way less level than that 😂 

Framed tanks are generally safer than frameless if they're slightly out of level. You should be okay with the readings you show in the photos. 

[DanandAnd]

Thank you. We have 3 40's in the basement that are not level either... but I am not as worried because it's on a cement slab and a sump pump if there are any accidents

[Pepere]

A thing to remember with levels is that they can go out of level…

you need to put the level on a surface that measures level, or shim up a side until it is level and then turn it 180 degrees to see if it is level in that orientation as well..

 

with a framed aquarium you are more interested if the water level is parLlel to the top.

 

looking at that picutre without a tape measure there I am guessing the distance of the water to the bottom of the frame might be 1/8 to 3/16 more on the left than the right…

 

practically speaking I cant see where it would affect the tank so long as the surface the tank is resting on is flat and in plane and not humped up in yhe middle or warped.

 

If you raise the water level up to be hidden by the frame nobody would pick up on it…

[DanPlanted]

Looks level to me 😁 

I have a 29g that's definitely worse than that tank, I do worry about it from time to time but it's been ok for years now. 

[nabokovfan87]

You have a bit of a lean left to right and front to back.... the result of that is a lean which puts pressure on one corner compared to any of the others.  Let me draw you a sketch of your setup so you understand a bit about what is going on.

Red = support beams
Lines = Load lines
Arrows = Stress direction

When you have those blue arrows not loading directly into those stress beams you'll have a lot more flex compared to when you have them over those beams. 

Corvus Oscen just did a stream and he talked about cinder block stands for a bit.  I edited it down to a chunk and he may or may not upload that.  But, I would encourage you to check out the stream.  It may have been 2 or 3 weeks prior.  It was the "Juneteenth" stream.

Here's an example of "worst case scenario" and this tank will flex/bend the most.  There is a higher chance this tank has twisting compared to any of the others.

 

[Galabar]

I try to get my tanks level enough so that I can fill them above the level of the black plastic at the top.  At that point, no one can tell that they aren't level... 🙂

 

[madmark285]

On 7/18/2023 at 9:10 PM, Pepere said:

practically speaking I cant see where it would affect the tank so long as the surface the tank is resting on is flat and in plane and not humped up in yhe middle or warped.

That's my concern/problem when building my own stands, getting a perfectly flat surface. 

If I was to build another aquarium stand, I would build it in reverse/upside down. Put the top face down on a flat surface then start adding the cabinet parts. I would use Polyurethane glue and a few pocket hole screws after the glue has dried. I am currently build a stand for a 40 gallon tank in a room where nothing is level.   I put a bead of polyurethane glue down and carefully put the top on. Then put the aquarium on it and fill with water. 

 

[Scapexghost]

Yeah i think its fine.

 

However, you should not have a foam pad under the tank. This causes pressure on the bottom pane, which is bad.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/19/2023 at 1:19 AM, Scapexghost said:

However, you should not have a foam pad under the tank. This causes pressure on the bottom pane, which is bad.

Most pads are a few mm and won't ever touch the glass. If it does, then it can indeed pop the bottom glass and that's a severe issue.

[Andy's Fish Den]

I would not worry about the tanks, I have myself a few tanks that are much more out of level than those and no issues after many years. I have also seen many in LFS that are not level that you can tell have been in place for a long time, like decades and not had any issues. 

[Pepere]

On 7/19/2023 at 4:05 AM, madmark285 said:

That's my concern/problem when building my own stands, getting a perfectly flat surface. 

If I was to build another aquarium stand, I would build it in reverse/upside down. Put the top face down on a flat surface then start adding the cabinet parts. I would use Polyurethane glue and a few pocket hole screws after the glue has dried. I am currently build a stand for a 40 gallon tank in a room where nothing is level.

As a general rule, build the stand so it can be plumb and level, then either scribe and cut the feet so it sits plumb and level where you want it or,  shim under the feet so it is plumb and level.

[Tanked]

The water is always level.

As pictured, I would leave well enough alone. Being level front to back is more important due to the possibility of tipping.  when building your own stand, a metal yard stick or other straight edge will help you determine if your surface is flat.  A foam or rubber pad will correct minor flaws.