Can my floor hold this?

[kokaneejr]

Anybody with any contracting or previous aquarium experience I need some advice. I want to put a Fish only next to my reef tank. They are almost identical 55 gal tanks. Will the weight be a problem and do you think I have to brace the floor or will the stands spread the weight out?

I am encluding a quick mock up of the floor plan of our house which was built in the 70's. The spot is 10 feet wide and ends with a closet on one side and the outside door on the other.

Thanks for any info. Craig.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t100/kokaneejr/housepattern.jpg

[kookerson]

Is that drawing propartionate? If so, I would think that your joists run parallel with your tanks, judging by my framing experience. I would brace it.

[firemedic0135]

I think u should get under there and just take a look and see which way the joists run.If they are parallel then u may have some sagging.If perpendicular then u should have no problems.

[MrRyanT]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15033787#post15033787 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by firemedic0135
I think u should get under there and just take a look and see which way the joists run.If they are parallel then u may have some sagging.If perpendicular then u should have no problems.
I would definitely agree, assuming of course that the house is built on a crawl space cause if its on a slab then I don't think you'd be asking this question.

[KDDG]

Personally (I hope no one takes offense to this), I would not take advice on this from here. I would hire an engineer to go under your house and look. You might have some weird problem that no one can speculate on without seeing.

[gooyferret]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15034311#post15034311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by KDDG
Personally (I hope no one takes offense to this), I would not take advice on this from here. I would hire an engineer to go under your house and look. You might have some weird problem that no one can speculate on without seeing.

+1 But i would find out what way they run, if they run left to right on your picture then yes i would brace it if they run from top to bottom I wouldnt worry so much. Im guessing from the picture they run left to right and you would wanna support that.

Hiring a structual engineer would be expensive and save your self the money and just support it anyways! :) It would be cheaper

[MrRyanT]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15034311#post15034311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by KDDG
Personally (I hope no one takes offense to this), I would not take advice on this from here. I would hire an engineer to go under your house and look. You might have some weird problem that no one can speculate on without seeing.
This would be the safest option of course, but could be quite costly also. There is definitely enough experience on this forum that if the op gives accurate info from what he/she finds under the location where the tank will sit that hiring an engineer won't be a necessity. And definitely no offense taken. That's what the forums are here, to give your opinion on the situation.

[kokaneejr]

Thanks all,

I am going to look under the house when I get a chance(although it is a bit cramped) and I will let you know what I find. I made the sketch up this morning so it is not official or to scale by any means.

[KDDG]

If the expense is a problem, then I agree to just support it regardless. I hated to pay a guy (we did it ourselves), but for me it was worth every penny for my peace of mind. It turned out, we did need support. But even if we had not, I would not have even been able to sleep without knowing. I'm a natural worry wart..LOL

[dudley moray]

when in doubt go over bored it doesn't hurt to brace the floor "just in case"

[Jackie Blue]

I live in an old house 1914 I think, I had a 75 gallon tank and when ever anybody would walk by it the tank would wobble. We are not talking about wimpy pine here, this is oak that you cannot drive nails into because it is so hard. Brace it, you will be happy that you did and you won't have to look at your tank wobble.

[gabbagabbawill]

I have my tank (120) on the second floor above a full basement. The tank would wobble when you walked in front of it... not only that, but the door frame was starting to warp and not close properly.

It was this way for 1.5 years, but I was very nervous walking around it, so I finally picked up a floor jack from lowes for $45 and braced the floor underneath. I raised the floor jack a quarter turn a day until the door would close freely again, and took the sag out of the floor. It barely wobbles now, and I plan to build a load bearing wall underneath it when I get around to finishing the basement (with my plumbed fish room including mangrove growout tank... heh heh :))

[Jackie Blue]

Ha ha ha, ya a tank should never wobble.