Do I need to reinforce the floor?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Gripenfelter

7 foot 200 gallon tank with stand will weigh about 2500 lbs. It will sit length wise on 2 floor joists that are 16" apart. The tank will sit perpendicular to an exterior wall.

I come from a carpentry background. I wouldn't do this. What is the floor like on the level below? Dirt? Concrete?

Here's the options I would use:

1. Turn the tank the other way to go across several joists.

2. Reinforce the floor with several short beams running perpendicular to the tank under the current floor joists with adjustable steel jack posts holding them up (don't forget to secure the tops and bottoms of the posts). This would be really easy to remove in the future should you move or take the tank down. However, you need a good base to set the jack posts on.