Best Place for Custom tanks?

[Magma]

good to know but would 14" compared to 16" really make that much difference?

[globaldesigns]

Just for a reference:

My house is 11 years old, with silent floor system. Basically the engineered floor.

My tank is a 180G, with a steal stand and a 105G sump.

It is in my bonus room, above the garage. No extra supports. Basically I was told that I am on 2 supporting walls, and that the strength of the area I am in is one of the strongest points in the house.

FYI, Tank has never moved. I keep a level with out, and regularily check it.

So, what I am getting at is check out what you have for flooring, which way the joices are running and do you have any supporting walls. You may be good to go for the larger tank!

[Magma]

well I have a 7foot area along an outside wall in the living room which I would love to put the tank along, its right next to our stairs leading into our house and I cant figure out which was the supports run because in the basement suite below us the roof is finished. (I know because I used to live there.)

So 72x18x18 would be awesome to throw into that space just dont know if I would trust it...the house is older as well...

[RDNanoGuy]

A 72x18 on a proper weight distributing stand will put less than 150 lbs. pressure per square foot on the whole area... You put more pressure than that just standing on the floor. Just put the tank against a load bearing wall and you'll be fine.

[abcha0s]

For sure I would buy the tank from ZoaElite. However, if you do want a custom tank I wouldnt go with any of the builders suggested in this thread. Having gone through the process of building a large custom tank, I know a fair bit about this aspect of the hobby. If you want my opinion, take a look at my build thread or PM me.

- Brad

[sphelps]

Using reason like a tank puts less lbs/sqft than a person or other house hold items isn't good. By the same reasoning you could say a floor can easily support 200lb/sqft since my buddy is 200lbs and can stand on a single tile meaning you could install a swimming pool without problems. However it obviously doesn't work that way and residential buildings are typically rated at a minimum of 40lb/sqft.

Without knowing the exact details of the floor support you can calculate how much weight you can put in a room using the standard residential minimum of 40 lbs/sqft.

For example if your room is 20'x10' that's 200 sqft meaning that room has to be able to support 8000 lbs total. Next apply some reason as the tank won't be distributed over the entire floor. Say for example the tank runs perpendicular to the floor joists and you manage to get the tank to sit on 6 of the 10 joists in the room, therefore using about 60% of the support. So you don't want to exceed 60% of 8000lbs or 4800lbs. That of course is max so you'll want to subtract for other furniture and live weight such as yourself and other people.

If you do know details you can play around with this

[lastlight]

Difference between a room full of people at a party (who aren't there 24-7 for years) and a tank as well. Gradual sagging of the joists etc under constant load which can then mess with other things.

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by RDNanoGuy

A 72x18 on a proper weight distributing stand will put less than 150 lbs. pressure per square foot on the whole area... You put more pressure than that just standing on the floor. Just put the tank against a load bearing wall and you'll be fine.

How many stands have 12"x12" legs? Mine has 1"x1" feet on the stand. So if you factor that.... we as people spread out over a more equal and larger space... so comparing a persons weight to a tanks weight does not seem like apples to apples.... now if someone out there has small feet......


Be careful. I agree with other statements... if you can't confirm 100%, its not a good idea. No matter what advice and knowledge people may have, they don't know YOUR house.

Older houses have problems just like new houses. The age does not mean it is more stable. You may have had termites in the house years before (bad example I am sure) but you need to be 100%. A 90 gallon tank water filled is about 720 pounds... not counting glass weight/rock/sump... etc.

Use caution.... make the best choice for you. If you really want to go large... I would recommend talking to your land lord or someone qualified to tell you whether or not you need additional supports.

[Mandosh]

Originally Posted by paddyob

A 90 gallon tank water filled is about 720 pounds

With salt its over 780 pounds of water.