Equipment & Supplies • sump not level

[Hoover]

hello everyone,
i have a 210g tank with a 4ft sump underneath. the stand is the store bought one, the sump sits on the plywood shelf on bottom. the plywood has sunk way down in the middle, now the sump isnt level, a gap throgh the middle, and i am finding little cracks in the sump at the bottom side. i cant raise the sump higher than where the plywwod is to put some wood across cause of the plubming. is the plywwod there neccessary? could i just cut around the perimeter of the sump so it would drop and sit level on the floor underneath? would some of that dense foam board work under the sump? i dont know what to do and dont want my sump to give out. thank you for any help.

here are some pics, you really cant see how much in sinks in the pictures. i put a pvc across and you can knida see how much it sinks down, the sump is putting all the weight on the sides and corners

[Hoover]

any advice?? before my sump breaks

[13razorbackfan]

Yes...you could use the foam insulation pad under the sump. Is there any way you could remove the plywood and replace with new plywood plus the insulation pad?

[Hoover]

no not really, the sump had to go in through the top before the tank was placed on the stand. i cant remove the sump without removing the tank.

[13razorbackfan]

no not really, the sump had to go in through the top before the tank was placed on the stand. i cant remove the sump without removing the tank.

How do you plan on putting in the insulation? I think you mentioned it was a pretty tight fit from top to bottom.

Is the tank itself level? If so then it is just the plywood sinking that is causing your sump to lean?

One way or another it is going to have to be fixed and the only way I would feel comfortable is to rebuild the bottom of the stand. Hard to tell from the pics but if you were just guessing how bad are the cracks?

Also...with most glass tanks they need to be supported all the way around the trim. I am not sure the structural integrity of a acrylic sump. If there is any way to jack up the sump and put a insulation pad under it I would go that route. You would definitely need to keep an eye on it. However you should know that once a tank glass or acrylic starts to crack it is never a good situation. If the cracking is bad enough you may have to replace it.

If I am misunderstanding your current situation please let me know. I am really tired and worn down so I didn't go back and re-read the original post again.

[Hoover]

thank you 13razorbackfan for your help
the sump was level when placed in there sometime ago and belive to still look level, the plywood is bowing down to where the sump is not supported throghout the middle, just sides. i can raise the sump up and put styrofoam underneath. i tried 3/4 solid wood planks that i cut and laid them across the width of stand to be supported by the base of stand but that was to high and couldnt connect plumbing back.
is the plywood structuraly needed?

[13razorbackfan]

thank you 13razorbackfan for your help
the sump was level when placed in there sometime ago and belive to still look level, the plywood is bowing down to where the sump is not supported throghout the middle, just sides. i can raise the sump up and put styrofoam underneath. i tried 3/4 solid wood planks that i cut and laid them across the width of stand to be supported by the base of stand but that was to high and couldnt connect plumbing back.
is the plywood structuraly needed?

It is hard to say for sure if the insulation pad will work on its own. One of the problems you face now is the cracking that has already occurred and I have no idea if it will continue to hold even if it were properly supported.

With that being said lets assume that the sump will hold together if some fixes are made to the support structure. Is there any possible way to reduce the overall height of the plumbing connections? If so I would definitely recommend making a firm flat bottom using plywood or other such material and then using the insulation pad. If I had to choose between using the pad and the plywood, being there may not be enough room to use both, I would probably opt for the plywood although both together would be better. I am just not sure using the pad on top of the bowing plywood bottom is really going to make a whole lot of difference as the pad is not made for rigid support. In this application it is used more for forgiveness if there are any uneven supports such as a bit of a bow or gap. In your case the bowing appears to be so bad that it is actually causing the acrylic to crack.