Leveling a Tank

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by rastaangel

Im not wrong, Im a glazier I know how glass works and cracks when its torqued out of level.
But im not gonna continue to argue with you, thats not the point of this thread

Actually it is the point of the thread, to determine how much it matters for tank to be off level. That said I'm also glad you polish glass for living, I'm a professional stress engineer, I design tanks and vessels among other things and on top of that I even use to build aquariums.

The simple fact is if a tank is built and supported properly then there are no pressure points. The only stress is created from the pressure from the water and that doesn't change if the tank is not level, running a wave would have a much higher affect and even that isn't enough to over-stress a tank. These pressure points your talking about are result from uneven glass edges contacting one another, this will cause issues even if the tank is perfectly level. Also shimming a tank isn't a good idea, the stand should be shimmed and the tank receives even support. This is why foam is often used and recommended to provide even support the base of the tank. This is what is critical, not the level.