Tank became unlevel over time

[skjl47]

Hello; Appears to me the main aspect of the thread is not being addressed and has been replaced with a discussion mostly focused on the slight amount of "out of level". I do agree the slight out of level is not in itself a concern. I have run tanks with worse. To me the issue is that the stance of the tank is reported to have changed.
The amount of out of level has changed for some reason. That reason may be inconsequential or may be an indicator of a problem which can become worse. At this point I do not have a good guess as to what may be happening. One comment caught my attention. That being the tank is in a 3rd floor apartment. Several times over the 13 years or so I have been on this forum threads pop up about big aquariums in apartments on the upper floors of old homes.
Would be of value to know the size of the tank for one thing. For example, I have an older house with 16 inch on center floor joists over a basement. I decided to limit the size of any one tank to 55 gallons. Even at that I found the tank water sloshing a bit as I walked thru the room in which the tank sits. I was able to brace the floor slightly to stop that.

One point i intend is to suggest the OP consider "renters insurance" if the apartment is indeed rented. Especially if the tank is over 75 gallons. The OP might be liable for damage to his apartment if the floor is beginning to sag. Even if the floor is sturdy enough a big tank which dumps a lot of water can do serious damage even to apartments below.

Again I ask if pictures of the setup from a distance can be had.

 

[Toby_H]

It doesn't matter at all if a tank is "level" or not.
It does matter that the tank sit "flat" on it's stand.
The danger to the aquarium is when we apply torque to the glass. Its the twist that gets ya.

That said... What Skjl47 said...
Many apartments have clauses about aquariums. Check your lease.
Even in well built modern homes, with larger aquariums we suggest you place them on a wall that crosses floor joists perpendicularly, and not on a wall where it runs parallel with/to them. I'd suggest the same for your apartment.

 

[cannedham]

After reading this feedback... the tank's corners all seem to be touching the stand evenly. Doesn't seem to be much torque in one direction over another.
I posted a while back (maybe September), about understanding the joists beneath the flooring. The tank currently sits on an exterior wall. From my understanding, the joists would most likely be perpendicular to this wall allowing that weight to be more evenly distributed.

Let me know if you see anything I'm missing from the pictures below.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Tank looks fine in the photos. I mostly wanted to know what sort of stand you have. Looks like the composite "wood" sort. Same as under my 55 gallon. Nothing wrong with them as long as they do not stay wet a long time. A common sort of stand.
I like the floor as the tank is not on carpet.

Only small red flag I see is the one stack of rocks at one end. Never have been a fan of rocks on a glass bottom tank. Even less of stacked rocks. Lots of folks apparently get away with such.

The substrate looks to be sand. Also looks to not be very deep which is good if it is sand. If you do not have fish which churn up the sand, then a good idea is to stir it up every week or so. That breaks up any potential anerobic pockets which can form in deep sand.
I do not know what fish you have but after using sand I eventually gave it up. Two reasons. One is i like a dark substrate. That way the fish show better colors over a dark bottom. Second being I like to have live plants which do not do so well, for me, in sand.

 

[Something Fishy Here]

Tank looks awesome man. My tank tilts at least that much. I wouldn't worry about it if it's stable but like the others said keep an eye on it, if it's changing you may have issues with the floor or stand or something. I'd turn off the filter, powerhead, bubbler, etc and have still water and mark the difference somewhere discrete with tape. Check it again every so often to see if it changes. If not your golden.

 

[cannedham]

Thanks Fellas!

Love the idea regarding a small indicator to monitor the tilt over time. Definitely doing that during the water change today.

S skjl47 - Appreciate the insights! Currently, I'm having "Do I re-scape the entire tank" syndrome (i.e. move to a darker substrate and move away from sand)
The sand looks phenomenal, but I'm not having as much luck with my wavemaker and filters keeping it clear (as some on YouTube indicated would be the case) of detritus and other debris.
I don't have species that turn up the sand, so thanks for that tip.
The plants took a while to get established, but the amazon sword and melon sword took off. Root tabs helped so long as the GT didn't know where I put them (bastard digs them up if he sees where I put them). Anubias congensis took a while to establish but are now beginning to really grow.

The coolest part is I planted a very small dwarf aquarium lily, without any hopes of growth, and it one day just erupted and continues to shoot up new pads. Very rewarding believe it or not. All the cichlids seem to leave them alone as well which is a major plus for having a GT, JD, Convict, & Oscar (growing out for a buddy with BIG boys).

 

[Something Fishy Here]

You gotta do what makes you happy man. Personally i love sand and will always have it in my tank. It's easier to keep clean than gravel, looks better than gravel or bare bottom, and I'm not ambitious enough to try dirt. But you can blend darker sand with it, you can put up a black or dark background, you can add dark driftwood, all of which will help your fish colors if they are faded.

 

[Something Fishy Here]

Oh, you already have a dark background, good job. It takes some tinkering to get things right but there's no maintenance free substrate choice IMO. I keep my wavemaker fairly low in the tank blowing lengthwise and it's on a timer, kicks on once a day for an hour or 2, and i have no debris issues. Also i don't have plants in the substrate which i would like but i went with hanging baskets of bamboo instead.

 

[cannedham]

I'm going to try moving the wavemaker closer to the substrate and see if that helps the debris issue! Haven't seen anyone do that at this point. Worth a shot!

 

[HUKIT]

You have to do something with that rat’s nest of wires, Lol. Kidding aside it’s a lovely set up and scape.