griss' Tank Upgrade Thread

[griss]

Also, the tank overflow had a lot of tube worm tubes in it. The plumbing in there is very tight, so I taped a putty knife to a dowel and scraped, then shop vacuumed those out.

It’s been a long time since I’ve finished a basement and set up a mid/larger system and I’ve learned I don’t have the energy I had in my 20s, 30s and 40s.

 

[vlangel]

The manufacturer builds them into the stand. Had to remove a few brackets holding the sump and one of the center braces but, got it done. Very dirty and a lot of salt creep in the stand, need to clean that.

I wondered if you were going to remove the center brace. I couldn't see any other way to do it.
Welcome to the 'getting it done but doing it slower' club! LOL

 

[griss]

I wondered if you were going to remove the center brace. I couldn't see any other way to do it.
Welcome to the 'getting it done but doing it slower' club! LOL

This is definitely the slowest build I’ve ever done. When I was younger, before kids, I blazed ahead. You’d think with the kids all being grown, I’d be doing the same but, it takes longer to do things and watching grand kids/dogs, taking the boat out, fishing, etc takes up more of my time. Back in the day, my only hobby was reefing.

 

[griss]

I was messing around with the stand and level last night. It seems the floor is a lot less level than I thought. Getting the stand level is going to be a bit of a challenge.

 

[wvned]

Buy pack of shims. Slide under and snap them off.

 

[griss]

Buy pack of shims. Slide under and snap them off.

That's what I started last night but, I didn't have a full pack of shims and ran out.

 

[griss]

Will having the adjustable feet on shims be an issue? I'm only having to shim up the left front foot a significant amount. The other front feet may just need a little shimming.

 

[vlangel]

Buy pack of shims. Slide under and snap them off.

That's what my husband and I did with my aquarium. You would think the livingroom floor was level but it definitely needed shimmed in the front.

 

[wvned]

Feet I would shim with metal or commercial tile pieces.

 

[griss]

Feet I would shim with metal or commercial tile pieces.

This is what I’m dealing with.

 

[vlangel]

This is what I’m dealing with.

Wow, that looks tricky!

 

[kharmaguru]

There's not enough adjustment between the legs to avoid shimming?

 

[griss]

There's not enough adjustment between the legs to avoid shimming?

Not sure Sean. I was adjusting another foot and it came out of the stand completely and I had to start over. Watching MNF so, won’t be doing anything with it tonight.

 

[griss]

There's not enough adjustment between the legs to avoid shimming?

For clarification, I started with all the legs on the “shortest” setting.

 

[wvned]

I cant tell much from that pic. Are some of the feet on the new floor and some not?
Tilted front to back?
Get a metal bar and saw it up into squares with a jigsaw. Stack the pieces.
Add a 1/2 inch under a foot. Then adjust it down again.
Do the middle of the low side first. Then left and right. Shim the low foot to raise it so the top is level with the other screwed all the way in. Then screw the last side down to the floor.
Done.

 

[griss]

The left front foot was “stuck”. I was able to free it and now it’s level side to side and front to back. Only problem is the middle back foot is off the ground and the back of the stand is against the wall. Who the heck designed this stuff? How to I adjust that last foot, in the middle, back of the stand with (potentially) throwing everything else off?

 

[griss]

Maybe duct tape a wrench to a dowel and use that to screw it down.

 

[wvned]

Swing it out, screw it down, swing it back. Might need a few tries. Mark 2 of the feet and the rest will go back to the exact same place if you need to. Half circle in pencil around the side back feet or whatever you can get to on the floor.
If it was easy everyone would do it.
Or scoot a good fitting shim in there. Something flat.

 

[griss]

Swing it out, screw it down, swing it back. Might need a few tries. Mark 2 of the feet and the rest will go back to the exact same place if you need to. Half circle in pencil around the side back feet or whatever you can get to on the floor.
If it was easy everyone would do it.
Or scoot a good fitting shim in there. Something flat.

Thank you. In over 40 years in this hobby, this is my first tank stand with adjustable feet.

 

[vlangel]

Thank you. In over 40 years in this hobby, this is my first tank stand with adjustable feet.

LOL, and someone had a brain fart and thought adjustable feet were a good idea! Never mind that a lot of us have been leveling up our tanks with the wooden shims for decades and those have worked just fine.