help leveling the tank

[apolyom]

just recived my new tank, havent filled it or anything like that yet as i made that mistake with a previous tank but it has ended up lower at the back (agaisnt a support wall) and off by about 10mm, i bought some plastic builders shims called "wedgies" would this support my tank?
also unfortunately for me our house is floorboards but i have placed the tank perpendicular to the joists and placed cut railway sleepers under the front of the tank on each joist the tank runs over. it's a 4x2x2 dalbarb solid wood frame, it has a skirting which is the front and side legs then has one leg in the middle at the back
i was thinking would i be better of buying a sheet of ply to place under it so the weight gets distributed evenly and not just at the feet?

 

[seasalt101]

yes anything that can dispearse the weight equally is good i had to climb under my house and brace it all up too. how big is your tank? mine is a 150 gal. plus the stand, hood and a 55 gal. sump/fuge 160 lbs. of lr, and another 100 lbs. of sand and i got some new mh lights in the box still with apparently one 70 lb. ballast (i'm in hospital so what i've seen has been pictures of other people's lights, the same one's i got and the ballast looks to be as big as a chiller arghhh.) but i would say that roughly i have 2500 lbs. in a relatively small area but i placedmy system in between 2 windows and about a ft away from a load bearing wall and i'm glad i left it out like that for accessabilityplus left enough stash place for the bucket of salt good luck to you...tobin

 

[apolyom]

thanks but will the big sheet of ply level the tank? as it has to raise up at the back around 10mm (1/4inch) so its better to leave it out from the wall? i have 2 very large cabinet doors that give me good access.
a load bearing wall from my understanding is any main wall that runs perpendicular to floor joists... is this correct?
my tank is placed just on the inside edge of a window

 

[apolyom]

sorry my tank is a 4x2x2 with hood, stand sump (not sure of size have to find out) which i think works out to about 125gal?

 

[seasalt101]

yes that is correct, in my case i left about 8 in. behind the stand for access to cords that you will have to pull out when you need to tear down equipment for cleaning, and i left 2 ft in the coner for the salt bucket and misc. supplies that i use frequently. under the house i put 6 braces roughly inset about 6 in. all corners and 2 in the middle front and back. and the shims should work fine but if possible graduate them up to minimize bowing and check the stand 1st and if you cycle the tank with uncured live rock, i would check for level with just the rocks in 1st in case you do have any sagging then check 1/2 full then fill all the way to (why i do that is you may need to jack the floor up if it sags to redo a brace or 2 if so check for level more often i am not a carpenter it is just the way i did mine there may and probably is a better way and just so you know the hydraulic bottle jacks are the easiest under a house because of there size in what can be very cramped quarters good luck tobin :happyfish

 

[marcelostank]

Originally Posted by apolyom
a load bearing wall from my understanding is any main wall that runs perpendicular to floor joists... is this correct?

Not necessarily...but yes...
(from a textbook)...load bearing walls carry the weight of the floors above down through the home and into the foundation. To safely support the entire house, these walls must be carefully located beneath upper level floor joists.
Not every wall perpendicular to floor joist are load bearing... most exterior walls are and yes if it is a wall that the floor joists terminate above then by default it would be a load bearing wall...
Hope this makes sense... I know it in theory... but sometimes it doesn't always come out right of my head..!!!

 

[apolyom]

yeah was a little confusing but i think i got it, the spot were i have the tank is against the front wall of the house therefore it would be a load bearing wall

 

[f14peter]

Originally Posted by apolyom
i was thinking would i be better of buying a sheet of ply to place under it so the weight gets distributed evenly and not just at the feet?
The best weight distribution would probably come from something harder, like wood planks. Although better than nothing, plywood being softer than wood, probably wouldn't spread the load out as much. A good hardwood, like oak or walnut, would accept the pressure from the stand and then apply it to the floor over virtually the entire area it covers.
I did however place a sheet of exterior plywood between my tank and stand because the contact area of the stand is only about 1/2" wide along the edges, yet the tank framing was closer to 1" so there was some framing that was just hanging out in the air, so to speak.
As for leveling, make any adjustments to whatever the tank is standing on, not the tank itself. It's probably difficult, if not impossible, to level just the tank and get sufficient and equal support under it that would prevent any twisting, torqueing, or uneven support. The contact surface the tank sits on must be level, the stand can be shimmed/wedged.
I've also heard that a tank can stand a small amount of unevenness, as long as it's uniform along an axis, and that it's even diagonally (Such as front-left corner to rear-right corner) to prevent twisting. My tank is about 3/32 lower in the front, but it's like that all the way across, checked straight back-to-front and diagonally.

 

[scrapman]

My tanks was off a 64th of an inch.... it bothered me!.. I jacked off one end to level it off... I cracked a side glass panel of my 90 gal. The location was a very tight fit between a wall and a post.. STUPID...

 

[seasalt101]

i was talking about jacking then bracing the floor joist from under the house

 

[apolyom]

well i have braced the floor (hopefully enough) but am going to keep an eye on it once i start to fill the tank. as for using hardwood planks this would work out quite costly but i will scout are the hardware when i get a chance to see what i can find.