Unlevel brick floor - New tank- big problems

A

Andrewsreef

New member
Ok, I ordered my new 90 gallon tank and stand/canope and get it home. I checked before I got it to make sure the floor was pretty level and I must have messed up bad.

The room has a brick floor and even though it appears level accoss the spand, the stand is rocking from corner to corner diagnoly about 1/4 inch. That does not sound like much but it moves a lot and is not safe. There must be a problem with some of the individual bricks. To fit in the opening, it can only go in this one place

What is a safe way to resolve this? If I use wood strips and level it will it be ok?

Also, this is an island stand that will be visble from 3 sides. Is it safe to drill a hole in the end (that will not be seen) large enough to get my return hoses through?

Thanks

Andrew
 
Bump, need someone with experience that knows if the wood ship approach will be safe as long as it is level when done.

Thanks

Andrew
 
Well I can't really help you in how to level it permanently, but I think you need to at least temporarily shim it before it is stressed too much and possibly crack. Shouldn't be too much of a problem if the tank base is at least on a flat surface, but you never know.

eee
 
The tank is not set up yet so I just need to level it out before the water goes in. I am just not sure about how to do this effectively.

thanks

Andrew
 
Andrew,

Cabinet shops use leveling devices that bolt inside of the bottom corners. Each device has a bolt with a plastic cap that screws up and down. This should work well for you.

Bill
 
I live in a old house with a cement floor and it is far from level. I went to HD and got some adjustable feet and drilled a few holes in the bottom of my stand and adjusted it as I needed to
 
You could shim the stand to make it level.I would try to level the floor with plywould big enogh to be under the stand but not visible to the eye.If you own the place and the floor is brick you can buid a form and poor cement leveler.The leveler will level the area of your stand you can hide the area with corner rounds.90 gal weighs 900 pounds when full of water.Shim the plywood with a plainer or a belt sander.
 
I have my 75g on a concrete floor, also not very level. The stand is very sturdy, so I put 2 2x4's under each side and shimmed it until it was level. Doesnt look very pretty but it worked.
 
Shims o.k., Steve's idea much better. Cabinet leveling feet don't spread the downward forces as well as supporting the whole perimeter of the stand. Remember, cabinetry does not have to support half a ton, even with a granite countertop. Steve's idea will likely wreck the underlying brick though, so I thought maybe you could build a base out of mdf and trim to match your stand, then shim that. Apply the trim after shimming, and it will hide the shims. If you do decide to install feet, I would suggest putting them where the low spots are, and adjust so that the stand sits on as much solid brick as possible.
 
Make it hardwood like oak or poplar. Pine will crush under the weight. Forget about those cabinet things. They wont support the weight .
 
I had this exact same problem when I installed my 90gal in my sunroom (brick floor) I went to home Depot and purchased 2 packs of Door Shims (located in the Door and Window Dept.) They are thin wooden wedges. I went around the stand and slid the shims under every crack that I could see. Worked Great and I was even able to fine tune the level with these. When the tank is level fill it 1/4 full of water and re-check your level. If all is ok then break the part of the shim that is sticking out from under the stand. You do this by simply grabbing the end of the shim and quickly 'folding/pulling' it up. 90% of my breaks were even and not visible, but there were a few that I had to trim with a razor blade.

Just my experiences with this situation I would highly reccomend it. Oh by the way the shims are less than $1 per pack. I only used part of one pack but I purchased 2.
 
Hey Rustybucket,

Two questions for you:

1. I have the same problem, only my tank will go on carpeting. Do you think the door shims will work on carpeting?

2. Can you send me a HD link for the door shims, I can't seem to find them?
 
I wouldn't use wood shims because if you have a spill, they will soak up the water and expand. This will create massive pressure (seriously massive, you can split stone using this method) in a couple areas and could crack your tank. Use the synthetic ones they have at HD. I think they're actually wood, but they treat them with some type of resin so that it won't soak up water.

The same thing goes for MDF if you don't coat it with something.
 
Being in the home improvement myself, I would have a few questions. First I would assume that the floor you are talking about is on a slab (no floor joist supporting it-or-no basement under), also is the floor a finished surface in the house or in the garage? If the tank still has no water in it you should be ok to make floor repairs (preferably by paying a pro to do so) and then not only would you have a firm level surface, but even better, peace of mind. If you intend to handle it yourself, then you should remove the brick (in the problem area), remove or add new sand (or whtever the base materiel is) to ensure that the sub-surface is level with the rest of the floor, pack it down with a tamper (make the base materiel-usually sand or limestone-slightly higher by about 1/4" as it will settle from the weight), then work the original bricks back into place, setting them with the but end of a heavy hand sledge until they are consistant and level with the rest of the floor ). If the original finish has some sort of a grouting you will need to relace it, if not fill the small joints with coarse sand, pushing it in with a broom. use a long STRAIT 2x4 as a strait edge to check for level along the way.
You can use HARD WOOD shims to self level the tank as stated above, but that will only be a temporary fix, if the floor is out of level now it will only continue to degrade over time, making the problem and the risk even worse over time, even with shims properly set. I had a similar problem with my hardwood flooring (100gal tank) and ended up jacking up the floor underneath and adding 3 new, stronger LVL's (laminate beams). Lot of work, but worth the peace of mind, especially with kids in the house.
I would highly recomend using a pro- it wont cost you much (compared to the tank costs and you will then have someone to hold liable if something goes wrong in the future. Just make sure you sign a contract and the contracter is licensed and bonded. The cost (depending on the size of the problem) should be about $300, no more than $1200 or so for the whole floor if it is an average size room (if I was doing the job). Money well spent and you won't have a single worry about the problem after. Besides, even if you didn't have a tank it would beifit you to fix it anyway.

If wou would like more help, just drop me a PM
BB
 
To clarify: when you set the sub-surface it should be slighly higher with the rest of the sub-surface, not the floor surface, obviously. Just seemed a little unclear when I re read the whole thread
BB
 
IMO, virtually all floors have level issues - some minor, some major. I've dealt with some of the larger problems with galvanized steel shims (octagon electrical box covers work in a pinch), and lesser issues with homemade hardwood shims. Just try to make sure you are shimming areas that are supporting the weight; shim under the vertical components that are transferring the load to the bottom of the stand/floor. Feel free to keep going around the cabinet until you are satisfied that the tank is evenly and well supported.

Scott
 
man i didnt realize my floor was out of level till i had my tank all filled and in place... now one end of the stand is clearly stickin up.. im not really sure wat to do now. i cant just drain it cuz its full of fish and corals from my other tank
 
what i did to combat my out of level concrete floor was to get some polysyrene foam sheeting put it on the floor shim that with sheets of cardboard then put my stand on top of that the poly will compress more in the high spots. or you could go to the hardware store abuy some self leveling cement mix.
 
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