Tank Levelling

[kenreefer]

Hey there

I just had an Innovative Marine Nuvo 16 crack on me after 2 years of being installed. It was on an office desk and at first I thought its was because I recently installed an ATO that was pumping cold water in the tank but I was told its probably because the tank was not levelled. Now I just bought another tank its a Red Sea peninsula. I reinforced the table just in case and used styrofoam beneath the tank.

My question is that the front right corner of the tank is not fully sitting on the table as I can slide that section of styrofoam below the tank. When checked with a level the tank is sitting 100% level except for that front right corner not fully touched the styrofoam. It's maybe about a 2-3 mm space. Will this cause an issue long term?

 

[kenreefer]

 

[kenreefer]

bump

 

[bradreef]

I would get a solid flat top surface and level under that with shims. You dont want a corner not touching.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Yeah your asking for a world of hurt if the tank isn't level. Sorry but that's a lot of weight inside and it's only a matter of time and something is going to give. If the stand is level and your using styrofoam ( good way of doing it btw) then that tells me the tank wasn't built square and straight. I know this will be a pain in the butt.. you should drain the tank and flip it upside down and see if the bottom of the tank is level. Or you can use something as simple as a carpenter Square and see if all four corners are at 90° angles all around. Hopefully it's not another issue with Red Sea aquariums :/

 

[bradreef]

Especially since it isnt a rimmed tank.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

my apologies, I didn't take a close enough look at your first photo. Never put Styrofoam under your tank like that. You need to put a complete piece of Styrofoam under the entire tank. To me it looks like you have two pieces which isn't good especially the part that isn't supported. You honestly need to change that up quickly. The tank isn't very big so if you drain half the water out you should be able to lift it up and get somebody to put one solid piece under the entire tank.

Back in the day we used to use styrofoam just in case there was a small piece of gravel per se and the styrofoam would absorb it without cracking the glass. That's why a lot of tanks these days come with the included leveling mat.

 

[kenreefer]

my apologies, I didn't take a close enough look at your first photo. Never put Styrofoam under your tank like that. You need to put a complete piece of Styrofoam under the entire tank. To me it looks like you have two pieces which isn't good especially the part that isn't supported. You honestly need to change that up quickly. The tank isn't very big so if you drain half the water out you should be able to lift it up and get somebody to put one solid piece under the entire tank.

Back in the day we used to use styrofoam just in case there was a small piece of gravel per se and the styrofoam would absorb it without cracking the glass. That's why a lot of tanks these days come with the included leveling mat.

To clarify. I have put the levelling Red Sea mat on top of the styrofoam. Would you still make this change? It sucks because I have the rock work exactly how I want it

 

[Salty_Northerner]

?

 

[19Mateo83]

?

Looks like possibly a reflection of a keyboard?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

To clarify. I have put the levelling Red Sea mat on top of the styrofoam. Would you still make this change? It sucks because I have the rock work exactly how I want it

Oh man that's a tricky one, how many gallons is that tank?

 

[kenreefer]

?

It's just a reflection. And the tank is 25 gallons. Check out how its sitting based on the level

Left to right in the back

Front to back side view

Left to right in the front

 

[Salty_Northerner]

It's just a reflection. And the tank is 25 gallons. Check out how its sitting based on the level

Left to right in the back

Front to back side view

Left to right in the front

You're leveling looks pretty good but I can see that the back of the tank is sitting lower than the front a bit. If you drain half the water out you can lift it without much effort. Try removing that styrofoam and just put the mat under and see how it settles in.

 

[stoney7713]

The tank may be level but it isn't supported under that corner.

It would be like having 1/4 of the tank hanging off the edge of your desk. You could probably get the tank level but the whole side isn't supported.

The weight should go straight down, right now it's going down to the bottom glass and then the bottom pane is carrying the weight over to the other side.

To solve this you have to have a flat bottom beneath the tank, then shim the flat bottom if needed. Such as a piece of plywood.

Place it directly on the desk with just the mat and check for level.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

It looks like the tank is twisted.. like the entire body is perhaps? I know somebody will correct me if I'm wrong but by looking at your leveling again something isn't sitting properly. I've put tanks in the past on unlevel surfaces before and used styrofoam and they would always level out pretty quickly especially when you have all the water inside the box. I don't know man but to be honest if it were my tank I'd be a little concerned and would be trying to correct the problem ASAP. I'm not being a fear monger by any means LOL but these tanks aren't cheap anymore. And can I just point something out without sounding like I'm insulting,.. how about I ask everybody who chimes in to this thread.. take a look at the silicone joints especially the top right corner of the tank. In my honest opinion if that is what Red Sea is passing as a proper seal, I think they need to get their eyes checked because that is a very shoddy looking silicone job.

All in all that's a beautiful tank and the picture of your rockscape looks fantastic!

I did post in a different thread that I'm upgrading from my fluval 13.5 and spent the big bucks. I did a lot of research in a all-in-one tank and it was a toss up between Red Sea, IM and water box.. after all the comments about the Red Sea splitting at the seam that was a no-go for me. The IM tank just didn't have what I was looking for so I went for the water box.

dang man, I'm kind of feeling what you're going through right now and I don't like what I'm seeing because I hate seeing people have to break down something over a manufacturer that either don't care or don't have good quality control.

 

[kenreefer]

The tank may be level but it isn't supported under that corner.

It would be like having 1/4 of the tank hanging off the edge of your desk. You could probably get the tank level but the whole side isn't supported.

The weight should go straight down, right now it's going down to the bottom glass and then the bottom pane is carrying the weight over to the other side.

To solve this you have to have a flat bottom beneath the tank, then shim the flat bottom if needed. Such as a piece of plywood.

Place it directly on the desk with just the mat and check for level.

Sounds good. I did somehow solve this and I used some very thin cardboard and shimmed it in under that corner. As it sits now the styrofoam does not come out loosely and that corner seems supported fully.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

The tank may be level but it isn't supported under that corner.

It would be like having 1/4 of the tank hanging off the edge of your desk. You could probably get the tank level but the whole side isn't supported.

The weight should go straight down, right now it's going down to the bottom glass and then the bottom pane is carrying the weight over to the other side.

To solve this you have to have a flat bottom beneath the tank, then shim the flat bottom if needed. Such as a piece of plywood.

Place it directly on the desk with just the mat and check for level.

Exactly! It's like going to the drag races and watching some of these cars launch and you see the whole body twisting.. that's what that tank is doing is twisting.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Sounds good. I did somehow solve this and I used some very thin cardboard and shimmed it in under that corner. As it sits now the styrofoam does not come out loosely and that corner seems supported fully.

Ken that is not solving your problem, you need a flat surface and then put your leveling mat on top of it, the weight needs to be equally distributed through the bottom pain of that glass.

 

[stoney7713]

Exactly! It's like going to the drag races and watching some of these cars launch and you see the whole body twisting.. that's what that tank is doing is twisting.

And glass doesn't twist well, It goes kablooey!

 

[kenreefer]

The tank may be level but it isn't supported under that corner.

It would be like having 1/4 of the tank hanging off the edge of your desk. You could probably get the tank level but the whole side isn't supported.

The weight should go straight down, right now it's going down to the bottom glass and then the bottom pane is carrying the weight over to the other side.

To solve this you have to have a flat bottom beneath the tank, then shim the flat bottom if needed. Such as a piece of plywood.

Place it directly on the desk with just the mat and check for level.

So essentially youre saying put plywood then the styrofoam then levelling mat? This would solve the issue