Large Tank Leveling Help!

T

tonyespinoza

Premium Member
Gang -

I have a 70" x 60" x 22" rimless (3/4" peninsula with 1" bottom and back) made by miracles. The stand (also by miracles) has no feet.

Putting my level on the top edge of the tank looks good, however, when I put 3/8" of water in the tank I can see where it's not level relative to the bottom eurobrace. Looks like one corner is about 3/16 higher than the rest (I'm sure it's a little wavy in between too). Feels like a lot...

Miracles is recommending I use sheets of galvanized metal to get it level.

Some else I trust feels wooden shims would work fine.

Any recommended tips or tricks? I want it just right, but having never had a tank this size before (particularly rimless) I'm not sure how stressed to be about zeroing it in on all dimensions.

Would really appreciate any guidance and lessons learned from you guys!

BTW, my house is one story and the tank is on a tile floor with wooden joists underneath. I had a carpenter reinforce the floor a bit by adding extra studs that run across the joists under the house.
 
Hi

I dont think wooden shims is the way to go
the wood shims will swell

sheets of galvanized metal is good option
 
Ah, makes sense.

Where would you put the plastic shims? Under the stand, between the plywood and the tank or both? I noticed on Peter's tank (NineBall) they had shims between the stand and the plywood but not sure if this was a "best practice".
 
BTW, here's a pic of the level issue

BTW, here's a pic of the level issue

Kinda hard to see, but check out how the water level reaches the top of the bracing closest to the camera.

(Tank is 60 inches in depth dimension.)

Waterlevel.png
 
Is that styrofoam under the tank? Not sure that thick is a good idea but I'll leave that to others for their opinions and experience.
I'd shim under the stand so the correction is disbursed over the entire bottom of the tank.
 
Shim under the legs of the stand. I would use metal shims, just like Miracles told you to. (IMO).

picture.php

BTW I think your Styrofoam is fine, looks like mine.

Maik1
 
Tony,
Dimentions of your tank is super! Godd luck with new tank. Iam planning on ordering fromDrek my self something like 72x36x25-rimless as well..
Dont wanna mess up ur thread, but can you tell me more about ur tank, overflow ,how thick is ur glass and so..

thankx
 
Gen came by and made short work of the situation. Don't know what I'd do without him!

mshur - i will of course defer to derek as to whether you wanna go rimless with those dims. i assume he'll be cool with it.

my tanks is 70" x 60" x 22" peninsular with 3/4" starphire on 3 sides.

The base and back wall are a full inch of tempered glass and there are 12 holes cut for closed loop and drain/return.

I went with the BeanAnimal return which required 2 holes towards the top. I'm putting in a custom/adjustable acrylic overflow to house that whole apparatus.

haven't started my build thread yet, but as soon as i prove the thing holds water (currently just testing the first few inches with bulks, leveling, etc.) then I'll start mine. it's been a few years coming!
 
DON'T USE WOOD SHIMS!

I did that 15 yrs ago on a 200 gal. After a few minor water spills the wood broke down, tank bacame unlevel & tank cracked.


Second time I used aluminum shims
 
Point is well taken. Used galvanized metal sheet shims.

Mike: Not certain but I believe Derek drilled the holes prior to tempering the glass on bottom and back. (Not sure if you can drill tempered glass...)
 
No, you cant drill tempered glass.. well, question is how comfotable you willbe with bulks in the base..I was always paranoid about it:)) what if the leak in year or two,then its a big problems on other had i have elos tank now and i have Vortches souring my eye:)

I am still undecided what do to with flow on my new tank:(
 
Depending on whether you can lift the tank in place at all or not, an additional option to leveling tanks and getting an uniform support under them would be using a "non-shrink" self-leveling material. It can be mixed at various consistencies to be trawled or flow-able. It can be used in conjunction with your shims and foam.

One person on RC when talking with him had mentioned that one thing he had wished he had dome was use self-leveling on top of his frame work and under the entire tank.

It won't be an option with my 600g display tank as the plywood and foam base it is being shipped on is remaining permanently under the tank and I am having it made from marine grade water proof plywood as an added precaution. Due to the size, has to be two 3/4" thick sheets of plywood laminated together with staggered joints. A heavy duty custom pallet will be underneath and removed upon arrival and transfer to a mobile cart. So to make up minor differences, I was thinking of placing a peel and stick rubber membrane (WR Grace - Ice and Water Shield) or thin conveyor belting on top of the main steel base frame for the plywood to slide on and take up any minor defects or imperfections. Has anyone had other leveling experiences and what were your solutions?

(As not to high jack this thread, I shall respectfully shall edit and post my circumstances in my own build thread, just thought it was a good place to share possible solutions. If pertinent responses are given, shall post back here as well)
 
MSHUR said:
No, you cant drill tempered glass.. well, question is how comfotable you willbe with bulks in the base..I was always paranoid about it:)) what if the leak in year or two,then its a big problems on other had i have elos tank now and i have Vortches souring my eye:)

I am still undecided what do to with flow on my new tank:(
Click to expand...

I was originally a big fan of Tunzes then after a few years I got sick of them breaking down (even though I became an expert at cleaning them). Seems moving parts inside the tank is just a bummer.

So I tried Vortechs. Super neat idea. But my wife was not happy with the noise. And on a big tank like this I'd need quite a few. So that's when I decided to go CL. To keep her happy I've located the pumps remotely. I tried the RD II DC pumps but they were too unstable so I'm on Dart Gold's now. They are cost effective and supper efficient. When there's a problem Chris at Sequence is awesome to deal with. Someday there will probably be DC pumps that are quiet and cost $400, but it will prob be a couple more years.

This big tank has 3 CL pumps each with it's own drain and return. I am obscuring the large strainers along the back wall of the tank and using a lot of them so as to diminish the velocity at the intake.

No doubt bulkheads create some anxiety. I even went so far as to go with the Aquatronica controller because it has a leak detector option. :)

KEY LESSON SO FAR: Make sure you have easy and complete access to the bulkheads even after the plumbing and sumps are in.

In my case I had planned to cram too much under the tank and this would have prevented me from being able to get in and tighten them easily. I'm actually changing my plans a bit to insure I have better access. I am using this industrial chemkor sched 80 bulkheads with huge gaskets. I hand tightened them and then put 1/2" of water in the tank. Most of them leaked so I took my monster wrench and turned an 8th of a turn. Half of them leaked. Did it again, now I'm good. Keeping an eye on it for a few days to gain confidence. I think most people wouldn't sweat it so much but it's my first time with a huge tank like this and 2" industrial bulks... :)
 
ohh, man i wish you good luck1 seems like you have a lot of bulks at the base. In my head i am always concernt whats gonna happend in 2 or 3 years when you have established tank with lots of corals and so on....
thats why i am still so undesided what to do:(((
 
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