Habitat - Indoor :: Help! My floor isn't level.

[J0NATHAN85]

I'm in a new house, with my turtle living in a temporary set up for far too long. To that point, I have a spot picked out in the basement for my new 55 gallon tank (purchased for $55 at Petco - thanks for the heads up), as it didn't fit on the main floor. The issue however, is that the basement has a cheap laminant floor over the slab, and it's all sorts of warped. It has slants, peaks, valleys, and is unusually soft in some areas. To the naked eye the floor looks fine, but I can feel how uneven it is under my feet.

I bought a Aquatic Fundamentals 55 gal stand for the new tank, and was wondering if anyone had any experience in this area, and could lend some advice as how to prep the floor before setting up the tank. I'd like to fill the tank, but 500 lbs on an uneven for makes me nervous...

Thanks in advance!

[steve]

Just how uneven? Could you just shim it?

[ljapa]

I have almost the same floor. I don't have soft areas, but I have a 40+ year old house with a very uneven basement floor with cheap laminate.

I shimmed the heck out of my stand. Because I didn't have soft spots, I epwas able to shim an empty tank, and it's held for a year and a half. I bought a pack of plastic shims rated to 2000 pounds, and used a ton all over the bottom of the stand.

I too have a 55 gallon. Luckily my stand is designed so that the entire bottom meets the floor. I don't know what I'd do if it just met at corners, maybe cut a piece of thick plywood and shim that.

[J0NATHAN85]

I've never shimmed anything before, but I'm sure I could figure it out. While the stand is pressed wood as opposed to real wood, it does have a flat bottom. I'll see if I can get to the hardware store tonight and try it out. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes and if I run into any additional issues. Thank you!

[J0NATHAN85]

I'm also thinking that to prevent specific areas of undue stress on the bottom of the stand, maybe I could just lay some plywood down, use the shims to fill gaps and level it, then just place the tank stand on top of that as previously recommended. I don't really want the stand on a platform of other materials, but it seems like making everything level is even more important..

[steve]

Since the tank is on the stand, I think you need to just shim the stand. If it were a tank on the floor, then plywood is needed. Theres no harm in using it though and shimming is pretty easy. Make sure you pick up a level and torpedo level.

So put the plywood down, the stand, then the tank. Check the levels and see how off it is, then shim. Add some water (I think about 25%) check the level and shim as needed.

[ljapa]

Pretty much what Steve said. I shimmed with a level on the tank, then added some water. I did not need to change anything.

Since your tank is not wood, I would go the plywood route. Make sure you get a piece that is not warped.

[J0NATHAN85]

Awesome. Thanks for the follow up guys. I haven't gotten to it yet, but thankfully I'm on vacation next week!

[J0NATHAN85]

Busy weekend but I've made some progress tonight. I have two shims in the front right corner, one in front left, one in back right. To provide the level base for the stand, I went with 3/4 inch paneling, sanded and painted to match the stand. Pros: the stands is level. Cons: the panel under the stand is basically floating on the shims. That being said, I have the tank roughly 60% full with no visible issues so far. I may just gently slide the extra shims in the gaps between the bottom panel and the floor in anticipation of any warping or settling that may occur over time.

I swear i'll upload some pictures at some point. I took them on my phone but dont have photobucket or anything like that. For 28 yrs old, ive fallen behind the tech curve a bit. Eventually I'd like to start a build thread documenting the current project so hopefully I'll figure out an easy way to share photos.

The goal is to get Charlie in his new home by Wednesday, so if it sounds like I'm doing anything crazy just post to stop me.

[ljapa]

Yep. Extra shims is what I did. Once I had it level with less water than you have, I just used all I could.