Need Answer Please!HELP

[Awibrandy]

ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need a carpenter ASAP! I may be panicking for nothing, but until a carpenter tells me otherwise I will be in a panic.

I've been fighting to find where the leak is unsuccessfully. I think it is from the sock when I don't get to it fast enough. My sock's rim kinda sits on the lip of my sump so that it don't fall in. And when it gets loaded it starts to bubble up and over.
Anyway, my floor has been taking a beating as well as my basement ceiling and one of the walls.

As if that weren't enough I was just working in the stand, and I noticed a gap between the floor & the bottom edge of the stand.
Now I'm afraid this 155g. tank is going to end up on the floor.:help:
I really feel like quitting. Never had so much trouble with any of my other set ups.
__________________

 

[JHOV2324]

:headache: Quitting is not an option.

 

[scumonkey]

If you have a gap between the floor and the stand your tank could rock!
Get some capenter shims and carefully fill in the gaps.

 

[Awibrandy]

No,no not between the house floor. The floor of the stand & the frame of the stand....

JHov, I think I'm getting to old for all these battles.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I know this is the last thing you want to hear now, but could you take pics?

 

[jhale]

I'll wait to see a photo.
that sounds like a strange place for the stand to come apart.

 

[fritz]

The floor of the stand and the frame of the stand!? This was carefully leveled before you filled it up wasn't it? You had a whole crew of MR peeps over so I assume that they leveled it, filled it with water and checked again to make sure it was dead level.

If the above is the case then your floor must now be off level. That would be odd since the same weight has always been on it. Is there carpet under this tank? How does the ceiling underneath look? Are the beams exposed? Is the tank perpendicular or parallel to the beams? Is there any noticeable stress anywhere?

 

[fritz]

!!!!Oh is this stand made of particle board? I'm thinking of when a bathroom vanity is involved in a flood, the bottom bows out creating a gap.

 

[jhale]

your right Fred if the bottom of a particle board stand gets wet the strength will be compromised over time. sorry Awillda I hope that's not it.
is there any swelling of the tank frame at the gap you mentioned?
does it look like the side of the stand is thicker at the part where the gap is?
this would indicate water damage.

 

[Vic8361]

!!!!Oh is this stand made of particle board? I'm thinking of when a bathroom vanity is involved in a flood, the bottom bows out creating a gap.

I had a stand that the bottom bowed for the same reason. As long as the water in the tank is is still level there shouldn't be a problem.

Vic

 

[Awibrandy]

Well, photogadget won't work for me until I go and pay them a little fee. So as soon as I do that I will put up a pic.
The stand was not leveled because it was thought that because my floor is so not leveled that if the stand was leveled the stand itself would crack. The difference is something like a .25 to .5" off.
It is a AGA pine stand, no particle board. Thank God.
The tank is perpendicullar to the joist, and almost on top of a support beam.
The support beam is wet, I imagine so are the joist. The ceiling under the stand has sheet rock, which is soaked and falling, so is the sheet rock on the wall in the basement. My hardwood floor under the tank is bowing, and you can see the salt creeping out of it.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Awilda upload directly to the site. Go to photo gallery and click on upload pics. Once you get to the upload screen click on browse and attach the photo then select the category you want. Usually Member albums and click ok.

 

[fritz]

Way incorrect about the shimming of the tank. Not having it on a level surface could cause it to crack. When you shim a stand you don't do it in one spot, you do it all along the sides and where ever it is necessary. Not being level places stress not on the stand but on the tank as well. Not being level will cause the tank to eventually fail and leak.

When you can, I'd empty the tank and shim it as much as possible.


Pine is pretty strong and like won't crumble like particle board. I also have the AGA pine stand, My bottom is raised, it's the height of the molding that goes around the bottom. Are the sides apart from the bottom, as in bowing out to the side?

 

[Awibrandy]

pics are in the gallery.

 

[Awibrandy]

Fritz that was a decision made by a few trusted peeps from MR.

Making live a little easier, here are the pics.

 

[fritz]

Well for future reference and the benefit of those reading, you always want your tank on a level surface. Most floors unfortunately are not, so what you have to do is create a level surface on that uneven surface. This is done by placing shims often halfway around the bottom of the stand. For example if the back right corner is half an inch low, you would shim the entire right side and most likely half of the back of the stand. The corner obviously would get half an inch, slowly decreasing to nothing as you move away from the low spot.

Most surfaces won't dip just in one area so you'll probably have to shim more then one spot, and taper away the farther you get. This gives the tank a level surface to sit on, inspite of the floor being uneven. This ensures that no one spot on the stand bears more weight or stress than any other. The reason that this is SO important is that while wood can handle some variation, glass does not. The reason that the tank manufacturers are so nuts about "placed on a level surface" is that the more off level, the greater stress and impending leak.

The worst case scenario is torque, low in the back left and the front right or vice versa. These are the "more than one spot" scenarios that I mentioned.

Back to the case at hand, if you suspect a leak I'd throw down some newspaper to try and detect the source of the water. Often times a bulkhead can be the cause.

 

[Awibrandy]

Well for future reference and the benefit of those reading, you always want your tank on a level surface. Most floors unfortunately are not, so what you have to do is create a level surface on that uneven surface. This is done by placing shims often halfway around the bottom of the stand. For example if the back right corner is half an inch low, you would shim the entire right side and most likely half of the back of the stand. The corner obviously would get half an inch, slowly decreasing to nothing as you move away from the low spot.

Most surfaces won't dip just in one area so you'll probably have to shim more then one spot, and taper away the farther you get. This gives the tank a level surface to sit on, inspite of the floor being uneven. This ensures that no one spot on the stand bears more weight or stress than any other. The reason that this is SO important is that while wood can handle some variation, glass does not. The reason that the tank manufacturers are so nuts about "placed on a level surface" is that the more off level, the greater stress and impending leak.

The worst case scenario is torque, low in the back left and the front right or vice versa. These are the "more than one spot" scenarios that I mentioned.

Back to the case at hand, if you suspect a leak I'd throw down some newspaper to try and detect the source of the water. Often times a bulkhead can be the cause.

I know exactly what you are saying, and I fully understand what you are saying. But when one has to depend on others.

To the case in point, I am almost certain that the cause of the leak is the bubbling over of the micro sock. I have less then 24 hours to change it out, or it starts bubbling over. And since the rim of the sock sits on the edge of the sump water ends up spilling over. I just have to be more deligent in change the sock until a divise is made so the sock doesn't sit on that edge. I will work on that tomorrow. Once that is taken care of, if God forbid I am still getting water then I will move on to the next obvious possible culprits.

 

[jhale]

fritz covered the shimming, but a 1/2" out of level is a huge margin for a tank. that would be the cause of the stand separating. it may stay like that, and not get worse over time.

take the sock off the sump for a day to make sure that's where the leak is from. one day without a filter sock will make no difference to the tank.
your floor boards will probably warp, the joists will be fine, but the sheet rock will need fixing.

 

[Awibrandy]

J, hope your right, and the stand stays as is, the sheet rock is no fixing, it has to be replaced.

What will happen without the sock is the rush of water is going to fill my sump tons of bubbles. You should see what happens when I'm in the middle of changing the socks:bigeyes2:

 

[jhale]

you'll have to live with the bubbles, but it will worth it to find out if it's the sock leaking.

something needs to be tuned in the plumbing, you should not be getting that many bubbles getting to the sump.