Perfectly leveled?

[sufunk]

I have a 180g AGA that i'm about to fill. When i check it with a level, the bubble is in the center but not perfectly. The bubble isnt touching either side but the bubble is definitely leaning to the right a tiny bit.

Is this acceptable? or do I have to try and make it perfectly level?

[BurntOutReefer]

is the tank long or tall?
You'll notice this "not level" on one end......
measure the distance from the floor to top of tank on each end....
this will tell you if the floor is not level or the stand/tank is off.....
if the stand/tank is off, then fix it...if floor...then SOL.....IMO

[sufunk]

Its long, 72x24x24.

I'm 99% sure its just a tiny variance in the tile floor.

I tried measuring. The stand and tank is exactly the same measurement. Measuring from the tile, it is literally less than 1 millimeter off(it's such a tiny difference you can barely measure it). Like i said, the bubble is in the middle of the level, just leaning a tiny,tiny bit to the right.

Should I try to somehow fix that 1/2 millimeter difference or is that tiny amount nothing to worry about?

[Jims]

Its not true to say that an unlevel tank will make alot of difference the more it leans the more your stress the tank to one side. I would be more worried if you have a floor or stand that is not strong enough or is not flat as this will concentrate stress in the glass or acrylic. Most tank maufacturers manufacture the tanks with a good safety margin on the glass thickness. Another thing to bear in mind is that i have yet to find a house with a floor that is perfectly level.

[pjf]

I placed my stand and 75-gallon Oceanic tank on a very uneven Mexican tile floor. I obtained a custom-cut rubber mat and 4" wide rubber strips to level the stand. The rubber mat was 1/8" thick. The strips were used as shims and were of the following thicknesses: 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4". Their hardness was 60 durometers. They can be obtained from: http://www.rubberinc.com/.

EDIT:

I believe that it is important to level the tank from front-to-back using long rubber strips that run the length of the stand. I did not attempt to level my tank from left-to-right.

I used rubber shims in order to distribute weight as equally as possible. I did not want pressure points on a tile that will crack the tile.

[Knoxville]

One way to remedy the uneveness is to use wood shimms to level the tank.

Slighty hammer the shimms in on the needed side until the tank is level. Then using a chisel or flat head screwdriver, break off the remaining peices.

This is what I had to do.

[swedish steel]

You can go to a lumber yard and buy plastic shims design for heavy loads. These won't crush like a wood shim will. This is what I used for my stands.

[returnofsid]

I would recommend shimming between the floor and stand instead of between stand and tank though.

[sufunk]

I attempted to use a shim but it was WAY to big, even just the very edge of the smallest ones that I could find. I dont think it's even possible to cut wood as thin as I would need it. With just the tiniest bit of shim under, it shifted the bubble further to the left in the level than it was leaning right without the shim:mad2:

The variance is so small I guess I'm just gonna have to cross my fingers and pray AGA made me a strong tank!

[returnofsid]

Try cedar door shims. They're very tiny at the narrow end!!

[Jims]

when you say thin we use shims at work that are made of peelable aluminuim to pack controls columns on aircraft. They are usally laminated aluminuim sheet the thickness of tin foil for each layer and you peel it back until you reach the correct thickness. I used this when leveling my 180g tank ibought 3 weeks back. You could try strips of foil they should be thin enough from your discription. I would forget wood as its usally soft and will displace over time. I would say if the aquiruim does not rock and the stand sits flat on the floor go for it. Just a quick note the tile floor is concreate underneath ? Only reason I ask is i have a hardwood suspended floor which had to be reinforced with a wall underneath in the foundations to take the weight. From what you are describing it does not sound like you need to worry. A good little test is fill the aquruim with about 1" of water measure at all four corners this will tell you if the aquruim is level much more easily then trying to inteperet the spirit level. If one corner measures 1" and 1/8" you know that the tank is lower at that corner by 1/8" thierfore pack it 1/8" keep going round the corners at least 3 times until its perffectly level.

[sufunk]

Thanks for the responses!

Jims, do you know where i could buy the shims you're describing?

The tile does have concrete underneath so that should be fine. The only reason I know that for a fact is because of a nearly 12 month ordeal having the tile installed. It was done wrong initially and then had to be ripped out and almost the entire floor floated with concrete before retiling and i personally checked every single tile for any hollow spots as they were being relaid. Moral of the story, NEVER hire Home Depot to do tile work no matter how cheap!!