Is this safe? Uneven support

[ReefSlice]

So I finished filling my 150 SCA and I have noticed that the front right and back left corners of the tank are not compressing the yoga mat beneath the tank as much as the front left and back right. The tanks on an aluminum stand topped with 3/4" ply and I KNOW the surface is flat and level. Water is the same level on all four corners and I can get a piece of paper under the corners that are not as compressed but can't squeeze it in past the front pane of glass (won't go under the bottom pane). Is this safe? This is the second stand this tank has been on and both stands showed the same issue. Would hate to have to take this all down... Would you guys feel safe running a tank like this? It's got me on edge. I know it's hard to see but you can see two corners are pushing into the mat and two are just touching. Thanks for any help
Front right

Front left

Back right

Back left

 

[wesman42]

You should use a level and check both ways to see if the tank is level. If it is, then I really don't see anything to worry about...it's possible the mat could be off center a little bit and the compression pushes more material out of the crack.

 

[ReefSlice]

Forgot to add, my sump which is directly under the tank sitting on the same stand (same level of plane) and the sump is touching on all four corners and everywhere else, can't slip paper in anywhere. Can see what I mean here. With the tank not filled the front right corner is barely making contact with the mat. Anyone ever have this issue?

 

[ReefSlice]

You should use a level and check both ways to see if the tank is level. If it is, then I really don't see anything to worry about...it's possible the mat could be off center a little bit and the compression pushes more material out of the crack.

I used a precision level (4') to level the tank and its perfect. The last time I tried was with a different mat and it still looked the same which is what has me worried.

 

[GlassMunky]

What did SCA have to say about it? Seems like they would be the ones to ask

 

[ReefSlice]

Front right corner from front

Front left corner from front

 

[madweazl]

I'm guessing it's just the side panels that arent touching? If that's the case, they probably werent mounted square but I dont think that would pose a problem if the bottom panels flat.

 

[ReefSlice]

What did SCA have to say about it? Seems like they would be the ones to ask

Waiting on a reply back. Just want to know if it should be drained ASAP.

 

[Jon Fishman]

That's a nice looking setup.

 

[ReefSlice]

That's a nice looking setup.

Thank you, yes it came out beautiful, now if I could just sleep with this thing full of water I'll be in business
Planned on putting in my TBS rock and starting my cycle today but it's got me worried for sure.

 

[Mjrenz]

When you leveled it did you check the level diagonally from corner to corner as well as side to side and front to back? Sometimes a metal stand can have a little twist to it and you would need to adjust opposite corners up or down together to get it straight

 

[DLHDesign]

It's possible that the yoga mat does not have the same density in all areas. I can't imagine that they are made with the kind of the precision required for this application.
It's also possible that the mat was stretched while the tank was going down. This would thin the material in the stretched area and result in this kind of outcome. After placing the tank down (and filling it, obviously), did you by chance lift it straight up and down on the mat? Or was the tank tilted onto the stand? I know when we moved in my 180gal tank, it took several lifts of the tank to work out all the folds and such - and that was with 1/4" neoprene...

 

[Josh Kraft]

Is that 80/20 extrusion?

I'm curious about the legs. Are those threaded and adjustable? If so, can the threads support the weight of everything?

 

[ReefSlice]

Yes they are threaded leveling feet and they hold the weight well, they're threaded about 5" into the leg, which is why I'm so confused here, as the top of the stand should be perfectly flat, and the leveling feet were used to make up for the uneven concrete floor. So why is the tank still uneven on top? SCA says it's fine, but Im still very worried. 150 gallons is a lot of water!
Anyone know how to fix this?

 

[DLHDesign]

I would suggest checking the levelness of the stand top with the tank filled on it. If that is level, then I wouldn't worry about it myself.
I noticed that after filling my 180g tank with water, what was a perfectly level stand ended up off some. I corrected it and then did my aquascape, and noticed that the stand was off again. Not a lot either time - a few partial turns of various feet and it was all good again. The top lip of my tank ended up off a bit, but that doesn't bother me - nothing I know of says that the glass must be perfectly square for the tank to safely hold water. The seams are good and it's on a flat and level surface - that's all that matters to me, really.

 

[ReefSlice]

Well, I inquired about warranty and was told I am still under 3 year warranty on this stand, so that makes me feel a little better. I am going to go out and buy a 6' level just to make sure I can span the whole tank, check to see if anything is off and then try to stop thinking about it.
Still open to anyone who has more experience on this if anyone thinks it's an issue.

 

[jtl]

Based on what you have said about the stand and checking the level it sounds like there is a problem with the tank not being square. Did you check this both vertically and horizontally? Suffice it to say having corners that are not making contact is not good. There is a lot of weight on the bottom. The fix might be to shim the corners so the downward pressure is carried to the stand. Another option might be replace the mat with a thicker one. The purpose of the mat is to eliminate any high or low spots between the bottom panel and the top of the stand. Glass is usually very flat but stands can vary. Is is possible but not likely the bottom glass panel is slightly bowed upwards. If you decide to drain the tank it will be easier for you to diagnose the problem without the mat under it. When I built tanks I used a thicker glass on the bottom and raised it up about a 1/4". That way the bottom is not under any pressure from high spots. If the side panels are slightly off it doesn't make any difference although I never had that happen.

 

[ReefSlice]

Well, corner to corner (diagonal) across both sets of corners is dead on even with a 6 ft level.

 

[Mjrenz]

Well, corner to corner (diagonal) across both sets of corners is dead on even with a 6 ft level.

You'll probably be fine, if you want you can try to adjust the leveling feet under the two low corners and see if that brings them up but it could throw the whole tank out of level

 

[ReefSlice]

Yea that's my last attempt to correct it. I will be draining it down to 1/3 full or less and then trying to bring up those corners a bit. I just can't see how this will do anything as the stands very rigid and will probably just throw the whole thing out of whack. If that's the case it's going up as is. Got some leak detectors on the way from Amazon