Leveling an established tank

dmolavi · Apr 10, 2022

A little over 2 years post move to a new house and my tank (40B) is now about 3/8 off level from to back. My guess is the carpet and padding where I have it was previously "squashed" unevenly from the prior owners furniture. Is it possible to level it in situ, or should I drain into buckets, level and re-fill? I don't have a second 40 to drain into temporarily, unfortunately.

And when it comes to leveling, are a few shims under the front of the stand good enough? I have the tank on 3/4 inch plywood on top of the stand, so leveling there is an option too.

Biff0rz · Apr 10, 2022

dmolavi said:
A little over 2 years post move to a new house and my tank (40B) is now about 3/16 off level from to back. My guess is the carpet and padding where I have it was previously "squashed" unevenly from the prior owners furniture. Is it possible to level it in situ, or should I drain into buckets, level and re-fill? I don't have a second 40 to drain into temporarily, unfortunately.

And when it comes to leveling, are a few shims under the front of the stand good enough? I have the tank on 3/4 inch plywood on top of the stand, so leveling there is an option too.

Drain it into a 44g brute trash can from your local home depot / Lowes. The cost about $40. Shim under the stand NOT the tank. You can probably get this done in 30m or less. So just drain as much as you can so it's lighter. Just make sure you have a pump to send the water back or you'll have a few buckets to move lol. Also a good opportunity to do a water change.

jhuntstl · Apr 10, 2022

I wouldn't worry about draining a 40b. Just drive some shims under the stand where it meets the floor. Go slow and alternate working up both sides of the front. If you drain and refill, the floor and stand will likely resettle and you'll have to shim again anyways.

redfishbluefish · Apr 10, 2022

Wow, I would not attempt to level a full tank. I'd have everything ready to go and remove as much water as possible and then do what you can to level, and then pump the water back in. Here's how I leveled front to back, my five foot 90 gallon tank that was empty, and the sump removed. Made a 2x4 jack jig that jacked up the front 2x6 upper frame of my stand. Once jacked, using a car jack, I used a wood shim the entire length of the stand. The shim is ready to go sitting on the floor right in front of the stand.

Dburr1014 · Apr 10, 2022

Biff0rz said:
Drain it into a 44g brute trash can from your local home depot / Lowes. The cost about $40. Shim under the stand NOT the tank. You can probably get this done in 30m or less. So just drain as much as you can so it's lighter. Just make sure you have a pump to send the water back or you'll have a few buckets to move lol. Also a good opportunity to do a water change.

+1
If you're on carpet, drain most of your water. Shim it, fill it and check it again. If you need to adjust, well, the shims are already under.

ColoredRock · Apr 10, 2022

For me personally it would scare the heck out of me to have that much weight/volume pushing on anything, trying to shift it around it when full.

+1 on the brute.. grab the fish, if you can get 2/3 of the water out. Someone correct me if I am wrong but rock and corals should be fine for the 30 mins it could take to level it. Just have a plan of attack.. and good luck!

dmolavi · Apr 10, 2022

Yeah I'm gonna drain and shim.

I measured and its closer to 3/8. Should I just run a shim along the front, or should I have a wedge shaped one for the sides too?

jhuntstl · Apr 10, 2022

Given the size of the tank and amount he described it being out of level, I would be comfortable leveling it in place. Maybe I'm an idiot. I don't want to be the guy giving out bad advice.

Regardless, be sure to check level again after it's full. Good luck!