Stand leveling recommendations

[ryewalk84]

Looking for input on how to level an aquarium stand. I have an 8 foot tank and the floor drops about 1/16-3/32 per foot. From one end to the other it drops about 3/4 inch in total.

Aquarium is acrylic, stand is made from 2x4 and I have 3/4 inch ply on the bottom and top. 8 legs so I could shim under each but not sure how I would properly do the back due to it being against a wall.

What are everyone’s recommendations?

 

[W31Olds]

Leveling the Tank is the easy part. My main concern is can your out of level floor support an 8 Ft Tank. 3/4" drop in an 8FT. Span is quite a lot.

 

[ryewalk84]

Really hope so at this point. Where I wanted to put it is needing to change. It’s going in a basement with concrete subfloor.

 

[UncommonSense]

Assuming it's going directly on concrete, the stand can definitely be shimmed!

— it could be worth considering something like strips of 1/8” thick plastic (I’ve been using HIPS, recently… >=250psi in compression) under the 3/4” low side prior to shimming, just so you don’t have to stack multiple shims!

— I try to only use composite or plastic shims; wood is porous and will eventually rot after enough water splashes and spills!

— ensure that you shim as much surface area of each leg’s “foot” as possible, thus reducing PSI on any one shim/foot!

 

[Rob A]

Ridged foam board it will self level depending on the type of stand and it waterproof. Also edpm works well if you can find it in the right size. I used that on my 2 x 4 stand for a 180. I just bought 1.5 inch wide insulation rubber and it self stuck on. Worked like a charm .

 

[me & my baby]

If it is on concrete, you can use self leveling grout or if your good at floating use some high strength no shrink grout.

 

[Lee belk]

I’m needing to shim the front side of my tank 10mm my floor is that bad but I have an aluminium frame with four feet on it what would be best to use to shim it metal penny washers or composite shims I don’t like the thought of both because I’m afraid it will slide off them if knocked I could always use the penny washers by taking each foot off placing them on top of the rubber foot and use a longer bolt to secure them but the bolt is only 4mm thick and the penny washers are 30mm wide with an m10 hole would it matter when the weight of the tank is sat on them
With the skinny bolt having that much play inside the hole size so the penny washers will be 10mm high 30mm wide m10 hole with a longish 4mm bolt into the stand

 

[Dom]

Looking for input on how to level an aquarium stand. I have an 8 foot tank and the floor drops about 1/16-3/32 per foot. From one end to the other it drops about 3/4 inch in total.

Aquarium is acrylic, stand is made from 2x4 and I have 3/4 inch ply on the bottom and top. 8 legs so I could shim under each but not sure how I would properly do the back due to it being against a wall.

What are everyone’s recommendations?

You could level the stand by itself.

This would give you access to the back of the stand near the wall. Once leveled, place the aquarium on top.

I would also suggest composite shims. I used wood. Over time, they became compressed from the weight of the tank. The tank became slightly off-level. I live with it.

 

[UncommonSense]

I’m needing to shim the front side of my tank 10mm my floor is that bad but I have an aluminium frame with four feet on it what would be best to use to shim it metal penny washers or composite shims I don’t like the thought of both because I’m afraid it will slide off them if knocked I could always use the penny washers by taking each foot off placing them on top of the rubber foot and use a longer bolt to secure them but the bolt is only 4mm thick and the penny washers are 30mm wide with an m10 hole would it matter when the weight of the tank is sat on them
With the skinny bolt having that much play inside the hole size so the penny washers will be 10mm high 30mm wide m10 hole with a longish 4mm bolt into the stand

I’d be more worried about how many PSI (or KG/cm2) a small footprint leveling shim like a washer will create on your flooring!

— unless you’re on a concrete pad or similar, you do actually need to worry about how a few small contact patches interfacing with flooring… potentially indenting wood, or cracking tile!

— the best bet I’ve found is increasing the “foot” diameter where it interfaces with the floor, usually using something like 3mm+ thick discs of aluminum under each stand contact patch with the floor! (Decreasing the number of PSI [or kg/cm2] on the flooring material!)

— adding adhesive backed felt pads to the bottom of these aluminum “foot” discs will further reduce the risk of indenting wood flooring, or causing scratches if the tank/stand are slid along the flooring!