New tank wobbling?

[FlyTekk]

So i filled my deep blue 75 rimless. Bought a stand at petsmart. Its seem very stable and strong.

The tank is on carpet which has padding underneath. This is in a room on top floor of a 4th floor 2 fam house. New construction.

Everything seems fine but when i walk by the tank i can see the water moving. If i jump up and down by the tank the water moves much more. If i push or pull the tank it has some give.

Not sure if its the joists. Or the carpet padding. But seems like if the tank isnt 100% stable. Any recomendations on whats causing this and what i should do. Thanks!

 

[fishman1069]

I had a similar situation when i had my 75 setup. Iy was against a load bearing wall on the first floor of my house ( i have a finished basement underneath) . I noticed that when my dogs ran by the tank it shaked. I had it setup for 2 years with no problem. Im in the process of setting up a 125 thats going in the exact same place! Im going to reinforce the main joists by sistering 2 x 8 on them and using 2 x 4 to cat out the joists. Thus should give the ability to handle more weight

 

[Archreefer]

Good I'm not the only one having this problem. My 93 cube shakes terrible when someone walks in front of it.

 

[Awibrandy]

So i filled my deep blue 75 rimless. Bought a stand at petsmart. Its seem very stable and strong.

The tank is on carpet which has padding underneath. This is in a room on top floor of a 4th floor 2 fam house. New construction.

Everything seems fine but when i walk by the tank i can see the water moving. If i jump up and down by the tank the water moves much more. If i push or pull the tank it has some give.

Not sure if its the joists. Or the carpet padding. But seems like if the tank isnt 100% stable. Any recomendations on whats causing this and what i should do. Thanks!

Do you know which direction your floor joist go? Is the tank up against an outer wall? How thick is the carpet & padding? How bad is the water sloshing in the tank?
Not to frighten you, but I would definitely be nervous if the water in my tank sloshes around when I walk by the tank. Another thing; I have never had a tank (55g to 155g) give if I pulled or pushed on it.

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

It is normal, vibrations transfer to the tank... What Awilda asked is also important- you have to be sure that the joists/floor beams should run perpendicular to the tank.

Alfred

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

It also happens to m 57 rimless on a hardwood floor ! It's also on load Bearing wall

 

[FlyTekk]

Its not a outer wall. Not sure which wall is a load bearing wall. Not sure how thick the padding is eight but i assume that 700lbs would straighten it out. Speaking of which the tank was less stable soon after filling and has gotten much better in 2 days. But still never seen water move by walking next to it.

Its it dangerous if its not perpendicular to joists? If so i guess ill have to START ALL OVER and move it. Im not sure if it is or isnt perpindicular now but only way to know i guess is to move to other wall.

 

[Awibrandy]

Its not a outer wall. Not sure which wall is a load bearing wall. Not sure how thick the padding is eight but i assume that 700lbs would straighten it out. Speaking of which the tank was less stable soon after filling and has gotten much better in 2 days. But still never seen water move by walking next to it.

Its it dangerous if its not perpendicular to joists? If so i guess ill have to START ALL OVER and move it. Im not sure if it is or isnt perpindicular now but only way to know i guess is to move to other wall.

Hi, do you have access to the basement? If you do, and it is not a finished basement you can look at the beams to see which way they are going. All the joist should be going in the same direction on all the floors.

Is it if not perpendicular? Could be an issue, but I would think it Depends on how heavy the tank is, and the weight distribution.

I remember being concerned with my tank, and a friend stated the following: If your floor can't handle a few hefty "BIG" men standing on it then neither can it handle your tank. But if it can then it can handle the tank with no problem.

 

[Koyfam16]

If the joists are perpendicular the weight is distributed better. If its parallel then it could very well be sitting in between joists..


Sent from my SGH-T959 using Reefs

 

[FlyTekk]

So when you guys say "Could be an issue", are wa talking about tank ending up on lower floor? By means of the express lane?

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

A 75 gallon tank weighs approximately 800 LBS with the water, rock, sand, tank and equipment. This weight is distributed over 6 sq ft. If the tank is standing between two joists or is only being supported by one joist and it is on one of the edges, the bulk of the weight is going to be distributed over the floor and it will not be very "stable". In either case, the real issue is that vibration will move more in part of the floor that is not directly over the joist.

800LBS is NOT a lot of weight for a floor, but I would still want a glass box holding 700LBS of rock and water to be on a stable surface, thus, be sure that the tank is crossing the joists.

Alfred

 

[FlyTekk]

Great thanks guys. I have no idea how the joists go and cant see from basement as its all sheet rock. Guess ill have to just empty move and start all over and hope new position is stable.

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

I wonder if a stud finder would work to find the joists?

Alfred

 

[FlyTekk]

I have a really good one that can search regular or deep. Whatever that means. Also can find power lines behind the wall. Just wouldnt know what to look for.

 

[edd]

even if you are parallel to the beams, you still have a sub floor and regular flooring. an inch and a half of flooring will spread the weight over more beams then the 2 it is sitting on. you can jump up and down in any house and things will rattle. just give it some time for rug to settle and then see how stable it is. if it was going to end up in the basement i think it would be their all ready.

 

[masterswimmer]

This is one of the best comprehensive web pages explaining the whole load bearing floor for an aquarium I've found. Easy to read and very helpful:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html

 

[FlyTekk]

Good read. The wall its on is def a partition wall cause there is a bloiler room on the other side of that wall. I guess ill have to move it.

 

[FlyTekk]

So one of the walls in my room is an exterior wall. The next house attached to mine is shorter than mine. So there ir nothing on the exterior side of this wall. Does this mean that this wall is load bearing or in any way better then my other 3 walls?

Wall 1 is door and window to patio. Wall 2 is where tank currently sits and is a partition wall to boiler room. Wall 3 i dont know much about but i know that one floor directly below it there is no wall or column because its the middle of the kitchen.

Wall 4 is the end of the house and there is nothing on the other side. If you were to walk past that wall you'd fall on my neighbors roof.

Is wall 4 best?

The funny thing is that wall 4 is opposite the wall the tank is currently by. So joist would be same.... parallel or perpendicular.

 

[masterswimmer]

So one of the walls in my room is an exterior wall. The next house attached to mine is shorter than mine. So there ir nothing on the exterior side of this wall. Does this mean that this wall is load bearing or in any way better then my other 3 walls?

Wall 1 is door and window to patio. Wall 2 is where tank currently sits and is a partition wall to boiler room. Wall 3 i dont know much about but i know that one floor directly below it there is no wall or column because its the middle of the kitchen.

Wall 4 is the end of the house and there is nothing on the other side. If you were to walk past that wall you'd fall on my neighbors roof.

Is wall 4 best?

The funny thing is that wall 4 is opposite the wall the tank is currently by. So joist would be same.... parallel or perpendicular.

Based on your description it's impossible for someone reading it to determine the optimum location for your tank. What I will say is this, every exterior wall is a bearing wall. Exterior walls are designed to transfer the load of your roof to the foundation. The problem with your scenario, we still can't determine the direction of your floor beams Orienting your tank on an exterior wall with the joist running parallel to the tank isn't optimum. Obviously situating the tank on the exterior wall with perpendicular joists is the way you want to go.

In the room with the tank, what type of finish flooring do you have? Wood? Carpet? Tile? Linoleum? Laminate? Marble? Maybe I can help figure it out with some additional information.

Russ

 

[FlyTekk]

It i carpet (brown rug)