should I e worried aout y floor?
 

When I go pick up the new 220 tank and get a stand should I be worried about the weight of it filled with water and rocks on my floor ?
This house is a year old and I don't want it crashing through lol
I'm going to lose sleep I can see it =p

asherah

I would be worried if it isn't on a load bearing wall or on a concrete floor.
Super7

Call an structural engineer to come take a look, I would if I was out there.

just put the tank in the basement and you'll be fine

It's not on a cement floor it's the main floor of the house
I hae no idea if its a load bearing area
Its going to be on the far wall of the livingroom It's the wall that is against the outside

asherah

Go
 

When I had a 170 gal on the main floor that wasn't over a load bearing wall I added two teleposts and a beam under it in the basement based on the advice of a structural engineer.
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DS7

hmm that might be hard since my whole basement is finished but for a small room where the boiler is. =/

I'm a carpenter, I should be able to help you out.

Which way do your floor joists run? Do they run parallel with the length of your tank, or perpendicular with the length of your tank? If the floor joists run parallel to the length of your tank, then your tank will likely only be on two floor joists (assuming you're tight with the outside wall), and that would not be good. A 220 gallon tank filled with water and rock weighs roughly one metric tonne. That is a lot of weight to put on 2 floor joists. In this case, I would get the floor reinforced by a professional.

You want the floor joists to run perpendicular to the length of your tank as your tank's weight will then be over several floor joists. If your floor joists run perpendicular to your tank's length, and your tank is sitting against the outside wall of your (single family) house, then your tank is sitting on the strongest point of the floor joists as the ends of the floor joist will either sit right in the concrete of your house's foundation, or right on top of it. In this case, your floor should (I say this only to protect myself haha) be able to handle the weight.

Btw, concrete is the hard stuff that steps, foundations, side walks, etc are made of. Cement is that powder stuff in a bag. ;)

So, roughly, what tank size would be the maximum you could fit along those floor joists on a second floor without the need to reinforce the floor? 125G? 180G? I'll probably be moving into a 30 year old house soon and just looking for a ballpark. :)

Portland Cement Concrete:lol:


I would use support such as a beam/posts or wall directly under any tank 50gal and up because I can't stand to see the water slushing around when someone walks by.

put some teleposts in the basement under the tank

ok i'm sared now lol
the joists are perpendicular to the tank

ok i'll hae to get someone to one and take a look i guess or get a smaller tank !

All of this makes me glad I live in a concrete construction condo.

Go
 

Prediction: RSM => 35 => 135 => 220 => 35?:wink:
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no2 vaporizer review

lol!

teleposts are only like $50 just get 2... and nail together 2 2x10's and put it across the joists where the tank is.

yes but like I said before my basement is completely finished
I'd have to rip out the drywall and the ceiling

Can you not put the tank in the basement

I suppose I could but not many ppl would see it
ah well i'll have to get the basement set up better I guess lol

ah well, just give the tank to me

I would think that your tank should be for ~you~. If you want people to see the tank you can always take them to it.

If you really want your tank on the main floor do as has been suggested and get an enginner to look at the house. Unless you want to risk thousands of pounds of water/rock/tank/livestock crashing through to the basement.

My two cents at least ...

yeh maybe I will put it in the basement
it'll make a nice accent to the theater thats down there anyway
as long as the light doesn't interfere with it =/

asherah

If the joists are perpendiclar (90°) to the tank's long length you have no concerns and specially none if going against an outside wall. I've got a 145g across a few joists midway between beams and no issues.

Your tank will be just fine with its long side running perpendicular to the floor joists and being against the outside wall of your house. Go back and read what I posted for you again!!!

If you REALLY don't believe me - Home Hardware has people in the contractor's part of the store that use AutoCAD to design joists/beams/etc. Any place that sells joists and beams will have an AutoCAD person. Anyone who knows AutoCAD can tell someone if they need to reinforce their floors. You don't need an engineer.

oh i misunderstood sorry about that lol
*blushes*

thank you =)

asherah

:D No prob. I cleared it up. :p

i live in a house from 1987
and my 120gal is on the inside wall and is doing fine :) nooooo worries

I have a 120g and a 150g on the same outside wall and have not troubles, but then again my joists run the correct way...I do agree with Kari...I wish I had reinforced the floor as I HATE it when people walk by, it does shake the tank slightly....and I really don't like that!

As a side note to freak you out......we recently had a massive reno done on our house because it had "California Stucco" on it with incorrect material underneath...needless to say it was ROTTEN in many places (the house is only 10 years old) so we had all of it stripped off, the rot removed and fixed, and then Barker Board put on instead....the worst wall for the entire very very large 2 story house was the wall the tanks were on!!!! When our builder took off the stucco it was what was holding the wall up! MASSIVE panic then as they had to build supports etc under the tanks so nothing came crashing down....a tense few days as I was sure I would have tanks in my garage!

:eek: WOW I bet that was scary!

scary doesn't quite come close enough...it was a nightmare!