Who has a Shimmed Tank - Page 2

slammer3166 · 01/31/2008, 12:15 PM

Great thread I just realized I have no shims under my tank-saw the water epvaorate over time-wow my tank is unlevel, can I still try to put shims under the stand or do I have to empty the tank.,

ACBlinky · 01/31/2008, 06:36 PM

When we moved to our current apartment, I discovered like others here that not all concrete slabs are level! Our old building's floors were dead-on, but these ones vary by room. In the bedroom, the backs of our 30g and 21g are shimmed up (all the way across, no holes) because the floor is about 1/8" lower on the wall side, and in the living room it's the opposite -- the 90g is shimmed all the way across the front to compensate for the floor being ~1/4" lower towards the inside of the room.

I used wooden shims, and wish I'd known about plastic ones. It's been about six months, and I can see that the tanks are all slightly off-level; not enough to keep me up at night or make me want to empty them and re-shim, just enough to be frustrating.

slammer3166 - I'd empty the tank before leveling it, personally. Sloshing water around in a tank is just asking for a busted seam or broken pane, and I wouldn't want to be lifting a tank up/adjusting it with rock inside either -- all you need is one rock to move, and you've got a rockslide and broken tank on your hands. Just not worth the risk IMO.

siwelk · 01/31/2008, 06:59 PM

i work in a machine shop so im having some custom shimms machined out of steel to level my tank.

01/31/2008, 06:36 PM	#27
ACBlinky Premium Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Peterborough, ON, Canada Posts: 4,954 Blog Entries: 20	When we moved to our current apartment, I discovered like others here that not all concrete slabs are level! Our old building's floors were dead-on, but these ones vary by room. In the bedroom, the backs of our 30g and 21g are shimmed up (all the way across, no holes) because the floor is about 1/8" lower on the wall side, and in the living room it's the opposite -- the 90g is shimmed all the way across the front to compensate for the floor being ~1/4" lower towards the inside of the room. I used wooden shims, and wish I'd known about plastic ones. It's been about six months, and I can see that the tanks are all slightly off-level; not enough to keep me up at night or make me want to empty them and re-shim, just enough to be frustrating. slammer3166 - I'd empty the tank before leveling it, personally. Sloshing water around in a tank is just asking for a busted seam or broken pane, and I wouldn't want to be lifting a tank up/adjusting it with rock inside either -- all you need is one rock to move, and you've got a rockslide and broken tank on your hands. Just not worth the risk IMO. __________________ "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea." - Isak Dinesen Current Tank Info: 150g mixed reef, 30g sump/refugium, LED lighting, 100lbs LR, coral beauty, flame angel, blue & yellow tangs, gobies, damsels, 6-line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, dottyback, clown pair, rabbitfish, shrimp, crabs, CUC.

01/31/2008, 12:15 PM	#26
slammer3166 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Bridgeview,Il Posts: 453	Great thread I just realized I have no shims under my tank-saw the water epvaorate over time-wow my tank is unlevel, can I still try to put shims under the stand or do I have to empty the tank.,

01/31/2008, 06:59 PM	#28
siwelk Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 422	i work in a machine shop so im having some custom shimms machined out of steel to level my tank.