Yah I'm building my tank in wall right now to. Just saw how you did yours, now I want to change it and build it like you did. Seeing down the sides is a really cool feature, especially on in wall tanks.

Did you ever consider having access from the front of the tank? With that depth and height it is going to be fun reaching from the back.

Take a look at the results of a google search on "sister joist". This additional joist support may help remove the flex.

Looks good! Good luck on solving your "sweet spot" problem. It was cool to have seen it with water this past week (skanky or otherwise).

hey tony your best bet for that flex is to put another joist right beside it...in other words to double it up, that should stop it from flexing and will still look the way you want it to in the end!!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions so far! Yeah, I haven't ruled anything out. I did get started on the cross-bracing but ran into a couple of problems ... mostly, the joists aren't sitting perfectly square so a 2x10 cut to the right length doesn't fit right! I end up with gaps on the diagonals. :neutral: Well, and, well, I guess I didn't do enough cross braces because it didn't seem like it was helping at all.

@ Gools - I did consider front access but (for better for for worse) I have decided against it for now. I'm thinking of trying to make this along the same lines as untamed's tank or Superfudge's tank - on the viewing side there is only viewing. If you've ever been in my basement you know that it's a howling sensation of fan noise, pump noise, overflow sloshing .... in this project I want to be able to hear the tank as little as possible in the main room. I'm even thinking of putting in sound insulation into the framing to this end.

I guess I haven't shown much details about the stand - so I guess that's the next few things I'll try to take pictures of. There is a catwalk along the back edge so that I can stand with my feet at the same level as the bottom of the tank - which should help some. I'm only 5'9" (or thereabouts) so reaching into a 30" tall tank is a challenge anyhow. :)

@wickedfrags - yeah, it may only be a temporary thing anyhow. The main thing though is that it will work to get me going - down the road I can look at building a proper sump. The costs associated with a tank this size are more than I'd like, so to compensate, I'm phasing in purchases for some things, and making do with what I have for other things in the meantime.

Anyhow thanks all for the comments! Hopefully having this thread open will be a motivation to show progress in a more timely manner from this point forward! :)

Well I'll be damned, you're way farther along than I thought. You might even get it finished this year!!! :razz:

:biggrin: <--this is me, note I'm not holding my breath :wink: Just kidding.

Hi Tony,

If the crossbracing isn't working out, and the joist spaces have mechanicals running through them that would prevent sistering of the joists,I have a couple of other suggestions:

-It looks like your door frame wall is extending into the floor joist space above. The best way to frame and attach a wall to a ceiling is to first place blocks between the joist space above where you want the wall, then build and attach the wall to that height. Usually you place blocks every 24" for drywall backing, but the structure of the door wall will also add some stiffness to the floor above.
Glue and screw the blocks to help even more.
Maybe use that 2 x 10 for the blocks and place them every 16" or even 12".

or

-re-frame the bulkhead above the aquarium to allow for the flex and cover the space with moulding trim.

Mitch

When I think about it...

If that door wall is actually extending into the floor joist space above,you will have to re-frame it anyways, because you will have flexing at the ceiling-wall joint.
That will give you constant drywall cracks.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news....

Mitch

Maybe not entirely reframe the wall with the door. To save reinstalling the door maybe try cutting the studs in place and install the upper plate as Carpentersreef noted.

Thanks guys. I haven't ruled anything out at this point, seems like there are plenty of options.

The amount of flex shows up the most on the corner of the bulkhead. The door wall doesn't really extend upwards into the joist space as much as it looks like it does in the photos. Well, it does extend up into there, but only in that it the top piece is resting on the exterior wall (same shelf that the joists sit on). I have 2x4's flanking this piece holding firm to the adjacent joists. There is some flex but it seems like only about 0.5cm? I wasn't worried about it until you mentioned it.

(Having said that, I'm not sure I'm still terribly worried because I was hoping to go with a drop ceiling instead of drywall ceiling.) Nevertheless I can put some more studs in place as you describe. Unfortunately I don't see this solving the bulkhead bounce issue, but I think I'll try the joist-sistering and see how it goes. I was thinking maybe sistering the one joist in question that seems to be giving the most bounce, and then cross bracing after that right at the spot. (Disclaimer: I'm still reading up on that method so if I say anything here that doesn't make sense, it's because I haven't finished my homework on that one.)