280g Inwall

[KrazyKuch]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Currently, I'm at a bit of a standstill because the joists have more flex to them than I anticipated. I only have 1/2" of clearance between the framing and the top of the tank, and it appears that if someone walking in the living room directly above, hits the "sweet spot", there is about 1/2" of flex in the whole joists. This means the framing actually can contact the tank. Not good.

I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to solve this. The drywall should take out some of the flex but I'm not sure I want to rely on the drywall to prevent my tank becoming a "load bearing wall."

I might try some cross-bracing, or, I might end up putting a corner post on the right. This second option should work well but it would involve some creativity on the finish to keep it looking good. My main hope is to avoid it looking like an afterthought (even if it IS an afterthought).

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!!

[Delphinus]

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. 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!

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Currently, I'm at a bit of a standstill because the joists have more flex to them than I anticipated. I only have 1/2" of clearance between the framing and the top of the tank, and it appears that if someone walking in the living room directly above, hits the "sweet spot", there is about 1/2" of flex in the whole joists. This means the framing actually can contact the tank. Not good......

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

[MitchM]

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

[danny zubot]

It worked! (inside joke)

Tagging along.

[untamed]

Interesting...the wall above my tank is just a 2x2 frame. I may just have gotten lucky as I've not seen any flexing from people walking directly above the tank.

[Delphinus]

Hi Brad, do you have a gap between the frame and the tank or the frame and the ceiling? I looked specifically at your thread and it looked to me like it's resting on the tank straight to the ceiling? I thought maybe you were able to get away with this because you have an acrylic tank ... Or maybe you just don't have a bouncy flexy joist like I do. I'm starting to suspect these engineered joists that I have are supposed to be bouncy and flexy. Which is great for reducing noise but not so great in this scenario.

Oh well, I have high hopes for the sister-joists method .. I've gone and bought the lumber but just due to the nature of the work I'm unable to put it up by myself. My wife is about 7.5 months pregnant and suffering from every pregnancy related ailment so I've been .. kind of not asking her for help. I have to wait until some poor unsuspecting other person comes along. The next person to ring my doorbell to tell me about Jehovah's Witnesses or sell me a Calgary Herald is in for a surprise.

[untamed]

No, no gap at all to the ceiling. There's a strip of foam door insulation between the frame and the tank. I put that foam there to prevent the wood from sitting directly on top of the tank where it would get wet.

While the frame is connected to walls on the left and right, it isn't connected to the ceiling at all. That means that the weight of the overhead wall/doors is largely resting on the tank. I suppose that an acrylic tank lets me get away with that.

Like I said...I think I just got lucky because I didn't consider ceiling flex at all.

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by untamed

... That means that the weight of the overhead wall/doors is largely resting on the tank. ...

Like I said...I think I just got lucky because I didn't consider ceiling flex at all.

Mitch

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

... The next person to ring my doorbell to tell me about Jehovah's Witnesses or sell me a Calgary Herald is in for a surprise.

Mitch