Frustrated with tank leveling 40G AIO

[Nomoreammo]

Hiya folks, first post in nearly 3 years! I hope everyone is doing well.

 

Well, my IM20 sprung a leak and I had to move everything into an emergency rimmed 20g. All livestock transferred safe and sound for the past month.

 

I picked up a used C-VUE 40G AIO + pre-assembled cabinet and it's been absolutely frustrating trying to get this tank level and set up.

 

Coles notes:

• It went unnoticed for years (amateur hour) but I finally realized that my IM20 water level was nearly 1/4" higher on the left than it was on the right side. 
• The CVUE is on the cabinet and it's relatively level side-to-side and front-to-back with 5 gallons of test water inside to help compress before placing a box level on the top of the glass.
• However, there are very slight gaps between the levelling mat and the stand itself in 2 places: front left corner and rear right corner. 

 

Questions:

• Is it the stand that needs to be level? Or the water?
• What is the proper way to measure level?
  • Is it using tape measure from my flooring to water level?
  • Measuring the water level itself in the tank? Is
  • Putting the level on the glass and everything takes care of itself?
• Should I get a new leveling mat for the tank? It is at least a couple of years old.

 

I am stumped and I don't want to fill up this 40 gallon until I sort this out lest I face another leak down the road.

[mcarroll]

Is the bottom of the tank actually flat from corner to corner?  I could be wrong but it looks to me like the table isn't (the only thing?) off.....but the tank might be.

 

 

Is the leveling mat actually glued to the tank bottom??

 

Is the table top actually flat from corner to corner?

 

What about styrofoam instead of what is there now?

 

[Nomoreammo]

Hiya!

• I do not know if the bottom of the tank is flat from corner to corner. I haven't flipped it upside down and don't have a long edge to see if it's completely planar. If it isn't, this would be a defect in workmanship, right?
• The levelling mat is adhered to the bottom of the rimless tank.
• I don't know if the table top / stand itself is planar from corner to corner.
• I've read various forums/threads and some are suggesting a thicker mat, others suggest pink insulation styro, and others are saying yoga mats. Suggestions vary so it's hard to know which is the right solution.

Experiencing a bit of buyer's remorse on this used tank, but I actually don't know if I'll have the same problem with a new set up (was initially looking at the IM25 Lagoon + APS stand).

[mcarroll]

On 3/6/2023 at 2:01 PM, Nomoreammo said:

The overall level you can handle with shimming the stand, BTW.

 

The raised tank corners/drooping stand corners is another issue.   Styrofoam is the most common material I've seen used.  But any semi-squishable matierial like that should work to allow the tank to settle flat as needed.  I dunno about yoga mats...they seem to wear out even under normal usage.  Construction styrofoam is easy to come by most places tho.

 

(Contact the tank manufacturer if you want an official recommendation.)

 

Your bubble-levels should also be decent straight edges, BTW.  Do they indicate the same drooping table top edges that the tank seems to indicate?

[Superdave]

If the floor surface is hard (tile, concrete, etc.) I would level from there if at all possible.  

 

I have a double twenty gallon stand in a room with carpet, so I leveled the tank as opposed to the stand.  I knew the weight would compress the carpet and carpet pad once filled so it wasn't really possible to level the stand.  

 

The key is to avoid pressure points on the glass.  I had my top tank (I didn't worry about the bottom one) on a high quality piece of 5/8 inch hardwood plywood (which was sanded, painted and sealed) on the stand.  I used plastic shims between the stand and the plywood to level the tank.  That way the plywood remained in constant contact with the tank (avoiding pressure points) but I could make adjustments.  My fish room is dark and the plywood and stand are both black so it wasn't really noticeable.  

 

Hope that helps in some way.  

[braaap]

Stand is out of wack. I can't imagine the tank is the issue. MAYBE the leveling mat is smooshed some. But not that much. Its likely the front corner of the furniture is too low and needs to be raised up.

 

You have your level across the back and then the left side. And it shows that the left side needs to go up and the front needs to go up. So raise the left front corner of that furniture and it should take the slight twist out. The tank will then sit close to flush and you should have a level tank.

[Nomoreammo]

Hey guys, thanks again for the additional insight. Based on the above, I did a couple more things:

• Without shimming, placed the box level across the width of the stand. There was about 2mm (1/16") of play so it was not completely planar.
• I reached out to Cobalt but didn't mention it was a used setup. They said:

"....with my experience the stand being an assembled stand often needs to settle.  I would just add water slowly and the stand will move accordingly.  To be safe, you may want to add water outside then once it's settled bring it inside.  I wouldn't be to concerned over that 1/16.  The stand will conform."

 

Was surprised to read this as I have not found advice saying that the stand itself should flex to the tank and since no surfaces are perfectly level, that's where a levelling mat and shimming should come in and fill in the gaps/imperfections.

 

@braaap Thank you very much for that suggestion. I shimmed the front left corner of the cabinet and to my surprise, was able to close that gap a little bit! After shimming, I used the box level again and there was no more play.

 

I put some water back in the tank to continue shimming. It remains fairly level side-to-side but with shimming the front left corner, the back-to-front level is out of wack so I guess I will need to put some underneath both rear feet and hope the front gap does not reappear.

 

[growsomething]

One time builder and now a cabinetman here saying worry the most about opposite corners not being the same i.e. front to right rear, and right front to left rear.  One way to check this is if both sides are off level the same.  Being slightly off level in any direction is ok as long as it is off exactly the same amount and in the same direction on the opposite side.  Twisting is what stresses seams.

On another note, I installed expensive cabinets recently with low iron glass shelves 7/16" thick.  If they were a little tippy on their pegs in one orientation, flipping and spinning them would stop the teater-tottering.  That expensive glass was not completely flat or straight.

[braaap]

1 hour ago, Nomoreammo said:

Hey guys, thanks again for the additional insight. Based on the above, I did a couple more things:

• Without shimming, placed the box level across the width of the stand. There was about 2mm (1/16") of play so it was not completely planar.
• I reached out to Cobalt but didn't mention it was a used setup. They said:

"....with my experience the stand being an assembled stand often needs to settle.  I would just add water slowly and the stand will move accordingly.  To be safe, you may want to add water outside then once it's settled bring it inside.  I wouldn't be to concerned over that 1/16.  The stand will conform."

 

Was surprised to read this as I have not found advice saying that the stand itself should flex to the tank and since no surfaces are perfectly level, that's where a levelling mat and shimming should come in and fill in the gaps/imperfections.

 

@braaap Thank you very much for that suggestion. I shimmed the front left corner of the cabinet and to my surprise, was able to close that gap a little bit! After shimming, I used the box level again and there was no more play.

 

I put some water back in the tank to continue shimming. It remains fairly level side-to-side but with shimming the front left corner, the back-to-front level is out of wack so I guess I will need to put some underneath both rear feet and hope the front gap does not reappear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would raise the back up a smidge. But other than that the gap is more than fine. I wouldn't worry about that. I'd be more annoyed that my water level wasn't the same front to back or side to side.