been watching my aquarium after a leak a few months ago and ive noticed its moved sibnce instalation. ins on the first floor in a victorian house and roughly 500 litres of water with a fair amount of live rock. the back is bolted to the wall and the front is supported by a a 2x4 frame work witha cabinent sanwhiched between. which is made from chipboard and there are three uprights which are about 2"thick the main display which is just over 330 litres is definatly leaning forward more than it used to and increasing slowy around 1mm over a month. i cant decide though wether its the floor or the stand being crushed anyone got any ideas of how to determine this???

thats a lot of weight but sure the floor would take it... unless its damp it shouldnt affect it... but what do I know lol

Mmm....well you have over half a ton of water there based on 1 litre of water weighing in at 1 kilo 500 kilo = 0.551 ton, might consider checking out he floor and the wall fixings.

 

Jeff TT

try putting a spirit level on the tanks one the cabinet and one one the floor mark each one and see which moves hope this helps

Totally agree with Jeff, that's a lot of weight on joists that are probably not up to 1/2 ton+.

 

Maybe take a few pictures and post them to show exactly how it's supported but I thought possibly some gallows brackets so the wall takes more of the weight

seriously dude that is far too much for the joists to handle ...to top it off the insurance wont pay out if it does come through the roof as they will say you have been negligent

we put a metal frame under my sons tank twice the foot print of the tank stand and cross braced it then we put the tank on that ......not a problem and our builder friend has said we will have no issues at all ....you need to spread the weight over a larger area as when it goes it will go rapidly ...and you will loose the lot ...tank , fish , floor ,ceiling and all the carpets and re decorating ........dont want to be a fear monger but i wouldnt be hanging about asking ....

the tank has been in place for three years and has a foot print of 12 square feet and is supprted by 7 floor joists so each one supports 70kg approx each with a percentage held into the wall by some serious bolts. but what i need to determine is what is the causative issue to remidie it. moving the tank is a big operation as theres alot of delicate livestock in there thats taken years to grow. ive put alevel across the floor and it doesnt appear to be dipping infact its dang near spot on level. but there is a lean on the tank front to back witha 10mm height difference which has occured. i just dont know if this has been since the leak or ive only noticed since the leak. thanks for teh input guys

If any of the joists got wet, then its possible that the wood has become more supple and is assuming a new position. As long as the floor/ceiling is dry then it should settle down. The joists should easily be able to support that weight, no doubt about it. Most houses are continually moving in very small amounts - most people don't notice until a crack appears in some plaster somewhere. Nothing to worry about, as long as the mortar doesn't crack.

 

I would get a professional opinion though AND make sure the insurance are happy with the setup, before any incident occurs.

Have a look to see if theres a gap appearing between the floor & skirtings.

As you say, its an old victorian house, the floor joists are going to be

very skinny compared to modern houses, and probably only just being

supported in the inner wall, if at all!

Any evidence of movement in the ceiling beneath?

Sounds like the cabinet is giving up! After the leak it probably soaked upnsome salt water & is now rotting especially if there is chipboard in there that turns to mush! Did u phons polerstirine sheet between the tank & the stand? Cos if it is moving a lot u could end up with the glass cracking if no polostirine used to take up any movement! ....

sounds like the floor and load spread isnt an issue ..and its more structual to the cabinet

you can strengthen teh cabinet by bracing with dry hard wood , gently jacking to the correct level and putting more supports in ....got any pics so we can have a better look ?

found the issue, where its eyyled over time its ended up sat a little front heavy, the front and rear supports being different. as such the front support has started to dig into the chip board sandwhich under the tank and crush it like a stileto on laminate flooring. so its time to drain down jack it up and chock it level. il also inset a sheet of steel or the like to stop this happening again. while im at this the middle section of the stand is gonna recive a angle iron steel internal structure, which will be bolted further to the chimmeny. hopefully this will be pretty bomb proof. and last me the next 2 years or so allowing me to get through the next 18 months when my habitation issue changes and the tank can be moved to a ground floor location with a concrete base and brick/steel frame. cheers for the input guys il post some pics or the process. cant really post anything tam cos all you would see is wood as its all concelled and i dont want to further weaken it by unnecessarily pissing about with it.