Problems with basement floor?

[Herald]

Hi

My friend sold to me his relatively new 180 gallon All-Glass aquarium. I was going to add liverock soon and have had the tank filled with saltwater for the last week. Today I discovered cracks all along the black trim at the back of the tank along the bottom. So I need to buy a new tank. Now I do want to get into this hobby but want before I buy a new tank, I want know the cause? The only reason I can think is that my basement floor is not leveled. Would that cause my trim to crack? I was thinking about having a contractor build me a concrete platform that is 10 foot long by 5 wide and 1 foot tall. Will this platform be strong enough and effective to supporting my new aquarium in my basement?

 

[Fourty Two]

tanks must be on flat, level, planar surfaces and the stand must be level and shimmed accordingly if the floow it is sitting on it not level. it wouldnt take much to support a 180, i would just make sure it is level by shiming the stand/tank depending on what is out of whack

 

[adammreef]

don't shim the tank or stand to make it level, after the water and live rock is in the tank the stand is going to settle where it is not shimmed. building a concrete pad will work if you want to do that or you can build a form out of 2x4's and use floor leveler its basically the same as mortar mix except when you pour it in the form its self leveling. if you do decide to go for a concrete pad make sure you use some re-bar to hold the concrete together and go with a min of 4"

heres a link for the floor leveler you can get it at home depot or lowes

http://www.usahardware.com/inet/shop/item/11550/icn/20-157131/dap/10414.htm

 

[Fourty Two]

if the stand is built flat and level, you can shim the stand on the floor to correct any problems. use shims every few inches if necessary

 

[adammreef]

hes talking about getting a new 180 which is 72 inches long. So the floor could be as much as an inch or even more out of level. If you want to shim a brand new tank that much then go for it, but I would rather have a sound foundation for my new tank. That's just my opinion.

 

[nickjj]

I had a similiar problem with my basement floor and decided to build a concrete pad. I wasn't very difficult just some 2x3's and styrofoam. Tapcon the frame to the floor and fill it up with high strength concrete. Make sure to use some bonding cement on the existing concrete floor.
Check out my build thread by clicking onthe little red house for pics.

 

[Fourty Two]

i guess it just depends on how much it is out of level, which we dont know, if its only out a quarter inch there would be no reason to worry about a new surface, if its out over an inch thats a whole diffeent ball game, but im guessing he would have noticed if his tank rocked back and forth an inch when he set it up

 

[nickjj]

Your right Fourty Two. In my case it was out 1.5" over a 5 foot length. I had no choice but to build the pad in the location I wanted it.

Herald - was it a tubular metal stand or wood?

 

[Black Mammoth]

I don't understand why you just can't build a stand that is level which takes in account for the floor. It isn't hard and it is cheaper and easier to do. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

A steel stand with leveling feet works very well on non-level surfaces...

 

[Herald]

Thanks for all the replys.

nickjj
The stand is a cherry All-Glass Mission stand.

Here is a picture of the black trim that started cracking.

 

[Herald]

I am going to hire someone to build this for me. I am not handy and not familiar with terms such as re-bar. What should I request from the contractor in terms of what is required to make the structure strong enough to support my aquarium for the long term? What dimesions would you recommend?

 

[nickjj]

It doesn't look like the bottom of the black trim is supported completely. If the tank is sitting on the corner of the trim like it looks it is in the pic it will crack for sure.
It may not be a problem with your floor but your stand.

 

[patel]

In pictures 2, 3 and 4 it seems that the crack started where the tank was supported. Perhaps you should post some more pictures, but from what it looks like, the stand is the culprit not the floor.

 

[RokleM]

My 180 was level on both sides, but has a 1/4-1/2" dip in the middle. I just made sure to put shims in.

I agree, on initial glance it appears to be a horrible stand design and/or improperly placed or sized tank. Only a small portion of the corner and middle appear to be braced underneath. Honestly, I'm surprised there haven't been more serious issues.

 

[Herald]

Sorry, didn't realize that if I deleted photos in photobucket to clear space that it would have deleted photos already posted in my thread.

 

[Herald]

Hi

I measured the distance between the water surface and the lip of the aquarium. On the right side there was 1 7/16 inch space and on the left side there was a 1 1/16 of inch. That a difference of 1/16 of an inch. Is that significant enough to cause the trim to crack. When I first put water in the aquarium the left overflow filled first but I did not think that the unlevelled floor would cause damage to the tank. Even if the floor is not the problem I think that I will have the platform build for peace of mind. Is there certain kind of concrete that I should recommend the contractor to use? Can someone explain the concept of a re-bar.

Measurement from right side

Measurement of left Side

Here are some more pictures of the black trim staring to crack

The stand has two of these supports down the middle.

This stand is relatively new and is built especially for the 180 gallon RR aquarium by All-Glass. When I put the new tank on the platform I will also put shims in. Hopefully these measures will prevent this from happening again.