Levelling reefer 250

[Chris'sReef]

Hi guys, I've moved house and got my tank in position but there is a 4-5mm slope from the rear of the tank to the front. My questions are is this enough to worry about? and what is the best way of levelling? I presume shims under all the front feet?

 

[ZoWhat]

Would hammering skims with a rubber mallet damage your floor?

I have a 180 sitting on semi expensive luxury vinyl.... pounding skims not an option with vinyl that tears...plus a spouse that would give me a homemade vasectomy if I tore the luxury vinyl

I was way off level with one of the two overflows receiving 75% of the overflow.

I emptied all but 4in of water to relieve tank weight but to keep fish happy....

Used a 2ton hydraulic CarJack and a long 2by4 with a TON OF TOWELS as working buffer pads.....to raise one side.

Very hard to explain how the Jack and the 2by4 worked for me....and how I set it up. <basically ran a 2by4 thru the stand door.... front to back....where tank rested on the stand. Sorta the mid point of the whole unit tank+stand.....and used the 2by4 and found the Jacks FULCRUM POINT to do the raising. Jack sat on two concrete blocks just outside the stand, everything cover with buffering towels>

But it did work getting the low side up in the air slightly hi enough to work underneath the standwwith my fingers

Once low side up in the air.... I used a bunch of those felt furry pads in long strips to level off. Its not perfect level but at about 1/8th if an inch.That's greatness in my book.

Had to go sloooooooow bc as tank and stand were raising... lots of creeks, crack sounds, pop sounds. The stand was not liking pressure coming from both downward weight and my Jack raising the whole unit.

No damage but sounded like all get out raising it slowly. I had no fears of the tank. BUT! the stand sounded like all heck breaking loose as it slowly raised under the pressure of the Jack. In the end it was all successful.m no damage to anything, stand , tank, flooring.

Good luck. Use common sense. Go slow if using a Jack to raise. Stop and check stand on each single push on the Jack handle






.

 

[Chris'sReef]

No the floor is fine it's an old wood floor so would hammering shims in be ok? I don't really want to mess about too much with Jacks etc for fear of breaking something it's not really noticable to be honest just wondering from a safety standpoint

 

[ZoWhat]

You gotta figure you are trying to hammer a thin shim in btwn the floor and a 2000+ lb tank+stand.

I dont think a wood shim could survive the initial pounding and would either shatter or dig a grove into your wood floor. Possibly a plastic shim. Even then....all that weight. Ugh

Imo. You're gonna have to relieve that weight somehow to make it workable. My solution is making a fulcrum out of a 2by4 and a hydraulic jack..... that's all I got other than a 75% tank tear down to get that weight to a manageable weight

Maybe an engineer out there could chime in



.