How to safely transport 125 gallon aquarium across town?

[ddang]

Gee that's a lot of stuff in the way. I think you only need to brace 1 joist though. The tank load should be carried by the foundation wall and the next joist over. They should be 16 inches apart. The tank should be about 18 inches wide. Some cross bracing between joists would be good if you could get it in there too.

That is standard construction. In an old house who knows what was built. Got any handyman friends that could take a look at it.
Look especially for improper drilling of the affected joists for utilities like plumbing. Sometimes stupid things have been done and the floor is holding the joist up. It has just never had any real load on it.
You mentioned the floor is sloping downward from the wall now. It probably wasn't built that way.

When you brace a floor you just keep it where it is. Dont try to lift it. That is a very bad idea.

So I think that joist by the foundation wall is quite close to the wall, perhaps within a few inches. If that’s the case and if the joists are 15-16” apart, and if the tank sits a couple inches from the exterior wall, then I think it might reach the 2nd joist.

I don’t know if that foundation wall is in the same vertical plane as the exterior wall, but I do know the foundation is cinder block, and what is exposed in a concrete parge which adds some layer of thickness.

Yeah, I doubt the floors were sloping when it was built. This is quite common in old houses for floors to slope over time due to settling. I have much worse sloping elsewhere in the house.

 

[ddang]

Some solid advice from wvned here for sure.

In addition to past events where someone might have hacked into a joist to run plumbing or electrical, it is also not unheard of for a joist to simply fail over time as a crack propagates through a knot in the lumber or similar. A small, extending, pocket mirror at a slight angle in combination with a bright flashlight should enable you to thoroughly inspect both of those joists.

Provided the joists are solid, I wouldn't personally be too concerned with the slope aside from ensuring the tank is leveled during set up... I've lived in plenty of old homes myself through my years and while they were all structurally sound, there wasn't a square or level surface in any of them any longer; time had taken its toll.

I will inspect the joists this weekend. Do you mean you wouldn't be concerned about having to add structural supports?

 

[Reefing102]

I’m not too much of a structural guy, so I’ll leave that to the others.

With that said, if the tank is staying where it’s at, I wouldn’t be concerned with the vent. In fact that makes a nice area for side viewing, and or additional storage later on if needed.

 

[wvned]

If you look at the bottom of the floor between the joists do you see diagonal planks? An old method of sub flooring.

 

[Jimbob]

N

I will inspect the joists this weekend. Do you mean you wouldn't be concerned about having to add structural supports?

No ... I would not be concerned with adding structural support and shimming the stand to ensure the tank, is level.

I would be concerned only if a structural/material defect was visible in one of the joists and if so, my concern would extend beyond just the tank. At that point, my concern would expand to the structural integrity/safety of the floor and home as a whole for long-term considerations and would recommend getting that addressed before getting the tank established.

 

[ddang]

If you look at the bottom of the floor between the joists do you see diagonal planks? An old method of sub flooring.

Yeah the subfloor is diagonal. Here's a video where you can see it:

https://imgur.com/1JQx73N

 

[ddang]

N

No ... I would not be concerned with adding structural support and shimming the stand to ensure the tank, is level.

I would be concerned only if a structural/material defect was visible in one of the joists and if so, my concern would extend beyond just the tank. At that point, my concern would expand to the structural integrity/safety of the floor and home as a whole for long-term considerations and would recommend getting that addressed before getting the tank established.

I took a look at the joists and some spots on the bottom surface are a bit chipped? Not sure the correct terminology but I feel like the joists may have came like that when the house was originally built.

 

[ddang]

I need to get clever with adding the support under that first joist... there's so much stuff there. I can't simply just put a support beam directly underneath it.

 

[wvned]

It's basically a 4-5 inch diameter tube with pads on both ends and one section has a screw thread to adjust the length. They dont take much room.

 

[Jimbob]

I took a look at the joists and some spots on the bottom surface are a bit chipped? Not sure the correct terminology but I feel like the joists may have came like that when the house was originally built.

Minor chipping would not be a big concern and I agree with you that they could have easily come like that. No floor joist is ever perfect even when new.

 

[ddang]

It's basically a 4-5 inch diameter tube with pads on both ends and one section has a screw thread to adjust the length. They dont take much room.

Yeah I went to Lowes to take a look at some options, but see the video I posted above. There isn't a direct vertical path between that joist and the floor unfortunately. It's partially blocked by electrical, the HVAC duct, and the PVC pipes.

 

[ddang]

Had some time to orient myself a bit more this afternoon, and I found out that the HVAC duct between those 2 joists is the one corresponding to my vent in the living room. I would have to move the tank more than 7-8" from the living room for it make it to the 2nd joist. I unfortunately don't have that much space to work with so it's going to have to just sit on the single joist.

I ordered a jack post that'll arrive early next week. I'm not confident it's going to be able to fit due to the stuff that's in the way, but I'll see if I can finagle it a bit once it gets here

 

[Reefing102]

While it may not be the most 100% secure option, you may be able to lay 2x4 or 2x6 flat on the jack post then secure a 2x4 on its edge (creating an upside down T to the flat 2x4 or 2x6) to fit it between the duct/plumbing and reach the joist.

Something like this:

Again, I’m not a structural engineer so I have no idea if this will actually work.

 

[ddang]

I will look into that thanks.


A couple other questions nonrelated to the joist:

1) I'm going to get a waterproof mat to put under the frame. I plan to put the shims in between the mat and the frame, as opposed to putting the shims under the mat. Will the mat help protect the hardwood floor from the shims? I'm worried about the shims creating too much small point loads on the floor -- some of the plastic ones I saw at home depot looked like they could dent the floor.

2) So I think the bottom surface of the frame may not be fully flush with the floor. At one end it seems to be 1-2 mm from the floor. This appears to be an issue with the frame and not the floor since my level can lie flush with the floor. Is this something I should be concerned with?

 

[wvned]

I would put the mat down and level on top of it. The same as if you were putting the tank on carpet.

Can you shove a piece pf paper under the end. That will tell you if it is touching the floor. You could put some shims under the end too if necessary.

Some tanks come with stands that have adjustable feet. The entire load is placed on 6 or 8 small feet. I think the one Griss is doing now is a 150 gallon with 6 feet on the bottom.
Floors are much tougher than most people think.
If you sit 3 big people on a couch you have 700-1000 pounds and it might only have 4-6 feet. What about a grand piano. Upright pianos typically weigh between 200 to 1,000 pounds. Grand pianos typically weigh between 500 to 1,200 pounds.

 

[ddang]

I would put the mat down and level on top of it. The same as if you were putting the tank on carpet.

Can you shove a piece pf paper under the end. That will tell you if it is touching the floor. You could put some shims under the end too if necessary.

Some tanks come with stands that have adjustable feet. The entire load is placed on 6 or 8 small feet. I think the one Griss is doing now is a 150 gallon with 6 feet on the bottom.
Floors are much tougher than most people think.
If you sit 3 big people on a couch you have 700-1000 pounds and it might only have 4-6 feet. What about a grand piano. Upright pianos typically weigh between 200 to 1,000 pounds. Grand pianos typically weigh between 500 to 1,200 pounds.

Yeah so I looked around the 3 sides (can't really get to the backside). The front side is OK. the right side is quite a bit worse than the right which is not something I noticed yesterday. see

https://imgur.com/1VR3TRy

you can see the gap increases towards the wall. haven't measured how large the gap is but I can shove at least a few sheets of paper with no resistance

i'm going to call marineland about it tomorrow, but i don't think this warrants a return/replacement. It looks like I just have more shimming to do unfortunately

 

[ddang]

also regarding the waterproof mat, what have you guys used? lots of options on amazon

 

[ddang]

now i'm wondering how flush the bottom of the tank is with the frame. i'll have to address the frame & floor flushness first before checking the tank & frame flushness

 

[wvned]

1st. It is called a stand and not a frame.

I think you are chasing ghosts. When you place the tank on the stand and fill it the weight settles it and it becomes square and flat.
You want to level the tank while it is on the stand. It is not a two step process. You do not have to level the stand by itself first. Put the level on top and the shims under the stand until it is level both front to back and left to right.

With no load one or 2 opposite corners may be high. Placing the the tank on there flattens it out. The minimum amount of materials are used to make these and they are only strong in the direction they need to be.

 

[ddang]

maybe I am overthinking it, and I do understand settling will occur when weight is added. I just called marineland and the person I spoke to didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. he told me the stand is intentionally manufactured to not be flush with the floor and the reason is so that when "water shifts, the stand needs room to adjust for that." I asked him to clarify, and he kept repeating "it's just physics".

It's a rigid body, and some amount of deflection i'm sure is allowed, but at some point you'll see cracks and failure if it deflects/shifts too much.

He also mentioned I shouldn't be shimming anything or this'll void the warranty