Leveling a 120 gallon Tank

[Britrover]

Looking for advice on leveling my 120 (48 Long X 24 W) gallon tank. I put in about 10 gallons of water yesterday and it seems one side is about 1/4 inch higher than the other.

Do I just need to get shims and insert them under the stand on the side where the water level is higher? What kinds of shims are ideal for tank this size and how many should I insert on the 24W side that has the water level higher than the other side.

Thanks for your help

 

[KAS2]

Any kind of shim will do. Placing different thicknesses every foot or so (on all three sides that are not flush with the floor) is plenty. So, the 24" side would have shims at the corners and maybe one more. The 48" side would have a thick shim at the corner and probably two others.

Depending on the age of the house and the condition of the floor, you may want to fill the tank and let it sit for a day or two and recheck the level. In general, a tank that size should span several joists along the longer dimension. In extreme cases, you may need to double the joists or use a lally column.

-Rich

 

[grendel]

What he said... I wanted to add:

Nice to see you back, Raj!

How's it going?

 

[stnmasn]

I found that sturdy short carpet worked well for my wood floor. I cut a thin strip of it one the full length of the void, then another shorter one on top of that to fill the next void. I found wood shims to be tedius and they didn't seem to fill the void as well as I wanted. The carpet worked GREAT. Good luck.

 

[JD46]

They make composite shims that can be used in place of the wood shims. I prefer the composite because you do not have to worry about them getting wet. I think that I got mine at Lowe's.

 

[Behrmon]

They make composite shims that can be used in place of the wood shims. I prefer the composite because you do not have to worry about them getting wet. I think that I got mine at Lowe's.

Ditto, I used the composite shims as well for my 150. I shimmed every 6" & over shimmed a little bit just to have it even out in the end.