Adjusting levelling feel with water in tank?

[radav88]

I bought a 250 gallon aquarium a while back. The stand is t alot aluminum that I purchased from alufab. I very meticulously got the stand to what I thought was level with the tank sitting on it. I plumbed the tank. Then went to do a leak test started filling the tank and checking the level. Making sure each lege is staying 90 and everything stays level. Now that I'm about 80% full it appears I need to raise one corner ever so slightly. I'll get pics once the lights come on in the tank I'm upgrading from in a couple hours. Is it a big no no to try to adjust the leveling feet with the water in it?

 

[*GAREEF*]

I bought a 250 gallon aquarium a while back. The stand is t alot aluminum that I purchased from alufab. I very meticulously got the stand to what I thought was level with the tank sitting on it. I plumbed the tank. Then went to do a leak test started filling the tank and checking the level. Making sure each lege is staying 90 and everything stays level. Now that I'm about 80% full it appears I need to raise one corner ever so slightly. I'll get pics once the lights come on in the tank I'm upgrading from in a couple hours. Is it a big no no to try to adjust the leveling feet with the water in it?

 

[*GAREEF*]

For 250 gallons I would say so.
What is structurally supporting your tank under the floor? I’d look at that before filling up a 250.

 

[radav88]

For 250 gallons I would say so.
What is structurally supporting your tank under the floor? I’d look at that before filling up a 250.

It is in my basement on my concrete slab. The concrete slopes a bit unfortunately.

I took some measurements of the water level with a framing square. It looks like I'm off a little less than 1/8th inches left to right. Front to back it's off 1/16th. I ended up measuring because the level isn't agreeing if I place it on the top of the aquarium versus on the plywood panel where the sump sits. I need to bring it up just a tad on the left side I guess.

 

[*GAREEF*]

It is in my basement on my concrete slab. The concrete slopes a bit unfortunately.

I took some measurements of the water level with a framing square. It looks like I'm off a little less than 1/8th inches left to right. Front to back it's off 1/16th. I ended up measuring because the level isn't agreeing if I place it on the top of the aquarium versus on the plywood panel where the sump sits. I need to bring it up just a tad on the left side I guess.

I would say it’s best to record your measurements and make adjustments with it empty as it will be difficult to adjust the legs with close to 2000lbs of weight on them.
But if you’re able to make them adjust without difficulty it should be fine.
I’ve made adjustments on smaller tanks under 100 gallons with stands that had adjustable feet.

 

[radav88]

I would say it’s best to record your measurements and make adjustments with it empty as it will be difficult to adjust the legs with close to 2000lbs of weight on them.
But if you’re able to make them adjust without difficulty it should be fine.
I’ve made adjustments on smaller tanks under 100 gallons with stands that had adjustable feet.

Thank you! Yeah I'm going to drain it and then adjust and refill. I agree trying to adjust with that much weight seems like a bad idea.

 

[Jimbo327]

Use a high lift jack. Use wood on the floor and jacking point, and lift right under the stand bar where the tank sits. Draining some water would help.

 

[REEFRIED!]

I agree. You could use some type of jack. But it may be easier to just drain most of the water.

 

[Jimbo327]

I agree. You could use some type of jack. But it may be easier to just drain most of the water.

Yeah, if you have a friend that goes offroading in a jeep, he probably has one you can borrow.

 

[radav88]

Hmm, interesting. I didn't think of using a jack. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see if any of my friends has one.

 

[vic5hands]

don't dump get a storage bin and then put it back

 

[radav88]

Okay, so I have a sort of confusing situation I am confused about. I emptied the water and adjusted the levelling feet so that when I measure the height of the water at the corners it is near perfect. When I put the level on top of the aquarium everything agrees with the measurements. If I put the level on the plywood panel the sump sits on, it appears out of level. If I put the level against the legs it also appears that they are just slightly not perfectly 90 degrees left to right. If I were to make things level so the bottom panel is level and legs are 90 that's where I was at yesterday before I drained it.

 

[Rolliad]

Is it possible that the plywood isn't true which is throwing the sump off?

Also, do you have adjustable feet on the stand so that you can keep the uprights level or are you just using shims?

 

[radav88]

Is it possible that the plywood isn't true which is throwing the sump off?

Also, do you have adjustable feet on the stand so that you can keep the uprights level or are you just using shims?

This is a t slot aluminum stand with leveling feet. So I have been adjusting that way. The plywood is just a plywood sheet from home Depot so I guess it's possible it's not perfectly level.

 

[Rolliad]

I've never leveled a tank that big (yet), but I've leveled dozens of tanks over the years up to 70gal. I always do the same thing with multiple leveling stages. Empty, 25%, 50%, 75%, Full. That said, leveling a 50% full tank is a bear even on a small tank. But I've never had to level anything past that either with the leveling staying true the rest of the fill.

Maybe level the tank first up to a 25% fill to put some good weight on the frame and then get the sump level with some shims between the plywood and aluminum? That's how I'd approach it.

 

[radav88]

I've never leveled a tank that big (yet), but I've leveled dozens of tanks over the years up to 70gal. I always do the same thing with multiple leveling stages. Empty, 25%, 50%, 75%, Full. That said, leveling a 50% full tank is a bear even on a small tank. But I've never had to level anything past that either with the leveling staying true the rest of the fill.

Maybe level the tank first up to a 25% fill to put some good weight on the frame and then get the sump level with some shims between the plywood and aluminum? That's how I'd approach it.

That was my plan. I didn't completely drain it, it is about 25% full and I'm doing adjustments with some weight. I think I'm going to try and refill slowly and just like you said keep an eye on things and keep measuring the water level to confirm that things are still good. I didn't do that the two times I tried this before.

 

[radav88]

Okay, new twist to add to this saga. I was refilling the tank and noticed that there appeared to be a slight gap between the top of the aluminum stand and the plywood at one end near the corners. Its small but I can slip a piece of paper into the gap and move it a decent distance in either direction. How could that be possible? It has over 1000 lbs of water in it now, shouldn't that be pushing down with enough force that it shouldn't be doing that? Is this going to settle as it sits and that gap will go away?

 

[radav88]

A couple pics to illustrate what I'm saying.

 

[edd59]

i adjusted my 120 leveling feet with no problems with it full. thats the benefit of leveling feet.

 

[Brisk]

Same, I adjusted my 150 with tank full. No issues.