Unlevel Floor And What To Do

[ginaekdal]

Hi,
 
I certainly seem to be putting this forum to good use before getting fish in the house.
 
I took a photo of my tank after fitting the new heater yesterday, and upon looking at it I have discovered my floor (and therefore my stand and my tank) is slightly unlevel.
 
https/www.dropbox.com/s/0u57rwucxme2xkb/20160131_145808.png?dl=0
 
I do not have a spirit level to put in a photo for comparison right now, but looking at the wall panel going parallel to the tank you can see it is gently sloping downwards towards the picture left.
 
Sure enough, inspecting the floor there is a small gap where it meets the wall. This is also present where my TV stand is, and indeed along most edges of the room, I simply hadn't noticed it was sloping this much before. It seems to "dent" slightly under the weight of any furniture!
 
I live on the ground level of the house, so there shouldn't be much besides the foundation for the house under my floor which is what has left me stumped. The inner portion of my flat is in fact built into the ground, like a basement, and the outside ground slopes down along the house and flattens out before it. I will be talking to my landlord about what is going on with the floor (he said nothing to give cause for concern when I asked about bringing a tank in). The tank is a 63-litre Juwel, I have quite a bit of gravel in at the moment that I hope to swap for sand when I can get some in a few weeks. I don't know how this affects weight, but in any case with the stand and all I can't imagine the whole setup is more than a hundred kilos at most.
 
As far as I can tell the tank itself is sitting as it should on the accompanying stand (both are Juwel and go together).
 
How should I go about fixing this? Do I need to empty the tank and wait until a fix is possible? I cannot see my landlord agreeing to redo the floor, so I don't know what can be done. I have been looking into sturdier stands eg. where you use thick Leca concrete blocks with a thick plate on top for the tank, but again I don't know what this would do to the floor if it is already buckling?! Presumably the slope would still be present? What does concern me is of course that the Juwel stand is narrower than the tank, and therefore I imagine having more weight on one side is a bigger problem than if the tank was placed on an equally wide stand.
 
On the positive side I don't have fish in the tank so it is not an emergency as such, but I could use some advice on how to proceed...

 

[Gruntle]

Judging by your photo and the fact your tank is 63 litres, I wouldn't see this as too much of an issue. The slope is not extreme, and the weight of the tank should not cause any issues.
 
However I would keep an eye on it just in case it becomes more pronounced.

 

[ginaekdal]

Thanks for your input!
 
I am ashamed I didn't notice it before looking at the photo, it really doesn't stand out immediately in real life. However I have made a mental note to always use a spirit level after this.
 
Do you reckon I will get by with this until I can possibly get a wider stand in place? I am tentatively thinking of doing a block stand as mentioned in my OP, placing it lower towards the floor, and distributing weight a bit more evenly just in case. I think with blocks I will have a better chance to attempt evening it out, the cabinet is a little too tall and narrow to start balancing out for my liking.
 
I will empty it if necessary, but I was hoping to start cycling before a new stand is in the house. Of course I won't do this if I am risking the integrity of my tank in the meantime.
 
I am already thinking of using my current stand as a stand for a smaller quarantine tank that doesn't sit outside the cabinet edge... any excuse to get another one.

 

[Far_King]

If it's only just been put in place and is cycling with no livestock I'd consider sorting out the levelling now.  Without a spirit level it's difficult to tell how many degrees out you are.
 
And you know it makes sense to get more tanks

 

[Fishmanic]

Judging by your photo and the fact your tank is 63 litres, I wouldn't see this as too much of an issue. The slope is not extreme, and the weight of the tank should not cause any issues.
 
However I would keep an eye on it just in case it becomes more pronounced.

There are phone /tablet apps for a level. Works very well on my ipad

 

[ginaekdal]

If it's only just been put in place and is cycling with no livestock I'd consider sorting out the levelling now.  Without a spirit level it's difficult to tell how many degrees out you are.
 
And you know it makes sense to get more tanks

 
You know I think for my own peace of mind I will have to.
 
I think I will have to see what poor unsuspecting man soul I can rope in to fix it for me; I did some reading and all these technical considerations have sent my female head into a spin. I need lifting power as it were.
 
Maybe I should be concerned that even with no up and running tank I am already envisioning a new one? I hear this is how it starts... I didn't quite believe it at the time.

 

[Far_King]

I've always wanted to visit Norway!  Not sure I can pop over just to level a tank though lol.
 
This is how it starts.....what will happen is you'll wander into your local fish shop and find that there are tanks on sale.  Or fish you see that you really want but your tank is already stocked or they're not compatible....this is how it starts.  Embrace it!
 
I have six.

 

[PepperjacksMama]

Shims should do the trick for leveling. Not too hard. Ran into the same problem.
As for more tanks. As Far_King says, embrace it, just pace yourself. Tanks multiply like Guppies. One becomes two...then nine.

 

[ginaekdal]

I've always wanted to visit Norway!  Not sure I can pop over just to level a tank though lol.
 
This is how it starts.....what will happen is you'll wander into your local fish shop and find that there are tanks on sale.  Or fish you see that you really want but your tank is already stocked or they're not compatible....this is how it starts.  Embrace it!
 
I have six.

 

Shims should do the trick for leveling. Not too hard. Ran into the same problem.
As for more tanks. As Far_King says, embrace it, just pace yourself. Tanks multiply like Guppies. One becomes two...then nine.

 
So much for someone talking some sense into me regarding multiple tanks.

 
Norway is... cold. Hence me bringing tropical fish into my house. I am hoping for a placebo effect; cheaper than plane tickets to somewhere warm several times a year anyway, or at least it was in theory...