Anyone here at reefcentral have a aquarium larger than 150 gallons on a wood floor ?

[marinerules]

I have had a 240 gallon aquarium for probably 7 or so years now, my parents gave me one of the their old rent houses thats on the property right across the road..

I have the house fixed up now , but its all wood floors, not concrete, and i the 240 gallon is still at my folks house, Dad, is a GOOD professional contracter and he says that we can get under the house and fix it for the 240 gallon to be up at my house. WHILE i do trust him, I explained to him on a large tank like that , that it needs to be solid cause the least stress on it , boom, tidal wave, and he stated again, "we can do it" so, i was just curious to see if anyone else out there has a large aquarium on a wood floor

[Flippers4pups]

Is the floor hard wood laminate? On concrete slab? When I had my 200, it was on concrete in my basement because of the weight. The only tank I've had on a first floor of a house was my 75, we had the floor reinforced and I put steel posts under it in the basement for support.

[marinerules]

its a old house, its old hardwood floors, that i recovered with those 18 inch corsica vinyl stone tiles at lowes.

im not trying to dismiss what my dad says cause he knows his stuff, but im not so sure if he knows aquarium lingo as well with it all lol,. . if it just cant be done , or if its a huge risk I still want the aquarium up there and ill just have a big snake or something it , because i have room to build it in the wall. and have it framed like i do the 75 thats in my bedroom....

ITS an old house, old as in sitting on blocks lol, no concrete foundation ect, sounds terrible, but this place is really shaping up , he told me i could have it if i wanted to fix it up , its been gutted, insulated, sheetrocked, new floors (vinyle armstrong floors) but pretty, if i can find out how , i will post pictures of the 75 gallon thats in the wall thats in my bedroom

[yalpal]

I have my 180 on the second floor of our house. I asked our contractor before putting it in to make sure that the floor would support it, and after a year now it has worked out well. It is only a six year old house, but it is on hardwood. Hope that helps!

[marinerules]

Ok. Thanks for sharing. Dad said we can pour concrete under the house but that we wouldn't have to. The floor joist are running the correct way which is a plus. And pops says all we gotta do is get under each joist and cinder block it up as well as reinforce the existing floor joist.

[Flippers4pups]

Sounds like a plan. Just double up the joists and place those steel posts under them, like three of them the length of the tank. The steel ones are adjustable and can hold up a whole house. Then you can go for a sump in the basement! I plan on at least a 100+ in our living room this coming year and that's my plan!

[marinerules]

Basement? I don't have a basement lol. Maybe I misread your post. I mentioned the pouring concrete under the house. He said we could if I just wanted yo. I told him u was afraid of the weight of the tank sinking the blocks into the dirt below the house but he said withh the weight of the tank sitting in six or eight built up columns of cinder blocks it wouldn't cause the weight would be shared on all of em lol

[Loserland]

Putting a 460 on the main floor tonight. House is 15 years
Old and contractor says it will be know problem with a steel I beam my house has already installed.

[marinerules]

Sweet. Lol. I'd live to have a tank that big. I'm so proud of this old house I fixed up. Plus it's rent free lol Which means more money for fish haha The 240 in the wall in my kitchen will awesome. It's a 13 by 16 room and for the ceiling in the room that has the tank I'm gonna do a strip of corrugated metal. Then a 1x4 board stained. Then repeat this pattern. Then for the trim of the in wall tank I'm gonna use stained 1x4s as well

[keithhays]

I have a little over 300 gallons on red oak tongue & groove wood. It is 6ft by 2ft footprint that run lengthwise to the 8" floor joists which is over a crawl space. I had an engineer out and they designed a wooden beam system which sits on concrete footings dug into the crawl space creating a box of 6" x 6" beams a little bigger than the footprint of the tanks. I live in TN and it took 2 or 3 guys two days solid of actual work not accounting for the concrete time to complete. It cost about $2500 altogether.

[marinerules]

Expensive

[keithhays]

...the 6x6 beams are wood.

[keithhays]

Expensive

True, but my Dad isn't a contractor. And, not nearly as expensive as your own private tidal wave. :)

[mtcoins123]

i have never seen a 250 to 400 on anything other than a wood stand not to be a smart alec but i think the stand is built a lot less sturdy than most floors in modern homes so i would guess if your floor looks more structuraly sound than a stand you should be fine :D

[marinerules]

good point mtcoins123 lol

[Epicreefer]

If your dad knows what he's doing then it shouldn't be a problem, just make sure the new post footers are on solid ground. Spread across 5 beams it's only about 500lb a beam

[Giovanni]

I have a 330 on a wood floor.

[marinerules]

ok... im at my parents house now, the 240 has freshwater in it, with no fish. is it ok to empty the water now even though we wont be moving the the tank for about 2 weeks or so , or will it damage the silicone or something if it all dries out ? just want to make sure, its had water in it since ive bought it lol

[keithhays]

It will fine for two weeks, I have had tanks sitting on my back patio for months with no issues.

[KBzreef]

Keith, I live in a house built in the 40's. To suuport my 300gal, we went into the crawl place and scabbed onto the existing joists, tied the joists together where the tank would sit front and back, and supported the joists with cap blocks in the front and rear. It is not going anywhere. We are not contractors or engineers, but i know my floor is not a concern.

[gbru316]

A contractor does not equal structural engineer. If there are any doubts whatsoever, hire someone who understands the math/physics of the problem and who can give you a definite answer. In hiring a structural engineer, the engineer assumes the liability in case of an accident. I'm not doubting the abilities of your father, but he simply does not have the background to properly address this issue.


We removed a wall in our house, paid $125 for a legal document stating the house wouldn't collapse after the wall was removed. I already knew it wasn't a load bearing wall, but $125 is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

GBRU is correct....it may cost you 300...but it buys insurance for peace of mind...your father can do the work...

With the above said...LOL.... I have a 900# safe going in on the third floor and a 10,000# aquarium going in on the 2nd floor all in the next 2 months...So I have spent some considerable time on this... The safe is HEAVIER than the tank is.....why?, because the safe is 152# per sq foot and the tank is 124# per sq foot..... you can google how to figure these numbers out...very easy to do, basically foot print in inches or feet divided by weight.

some random thoughts...

Wood floors or any floor isnt really part of the consideration...if you are going to put a tank on carpet, tile, etc... they are going to have plywood underneath them so technically they are also wood floors.... and there are ways to keeping the stand from scratching the nice wood floors but different topic...

What I would suspect you will end up doing....is sistering DEMONTIONIAL LUMBER (not plywood) against the joists underneath and then boxing them in...look up sistering and boxing....you father should be able to do both rather easily if he has access...I would also make the sisters as long as possible not just under the tank..... THEN google beam calculator and put your numbers in.... So you may end up say putting a 2x8 or 2x10 underneath the tank with concrete footers...as long as the footers are poured correctly I think you will be fine.

also remember when working with wood....Width of the wood may be more important than thickness..... 2 doubled up 2x4s are not nearly as strong as 1 2x8 for deflection......

Not to say anything about posts here or anywhere else...but just because someone else did something does not mean anything to your situation.... they may have tanks against load bearing walls, in apartment that were built with concrete floors on all levels...etc, etc, etc.... My situations are even different, I have a "shear" issue on the safe but a deflection issue for the tank....I have to tackle them differently... also the old "2 of my 200# friends standing close together on a floor has not caused a problem" thought doesnt work either....they will not be standing there group hugging for 20 years as a live load....

[keithhays]

It will fine for two weeks, I have had tanks sitting on my back patio for months with no issues.

I just wanted to be clear on this since I didn't quote the original question. This response was related to the drying out of silicone not the floor issue. :)

[marinerules]

Yea. I guess I'll be ok. If dad can draw up 800 grand homes from scratch and build them I think I'm worrying too much haha. Thanks everyone for your replies

[iced98lx]

Easy to discuss with him without him knowing the specifics of fish keeping. Just calculate the weight, and describe the dispersion, let him do the rest. Sounds like you're in good shape.

[Flippers4pups]

Basement? I don't have a basement lol. Maybe I misread your post. I mentioned the pouring concrete under the house. He said we could if I just wanted yo. I told him u was afraid of the weight of the tank sinking the blocks into the dirt below the house but he said withh the weight of the tank sitting in six or eight built up columns of cinder blocks it wouldn't cause the weight would be shared on all of em lol

Sorry, you said concrete block foundation, nothing about a crawl space with no floor. Just envisioned concrete cinder block foundation with concrete slab floor. my bad. With the right pierring for supports for the floor, you should have no problems. Good luck!

[marinerules]

Thanks

[marinerules]

213722Hope this works

[StevieD]

I had a 150 on the main floor of my split level house, built in 1970,over top of a crawl space. 2 cinder blocks, 1 4x4x6, and 2 small screw jacks...floor bounced a little when I walked by without the screw jacks, installed screw jacks and no more bounce...I had to literally jump up and down to get the water to move, and with my 230 pound frame, that was alot of jumping lol

[tobyte1]

It's not a problem at all. We have a 210g AND a 150g in a mobile home. I built a 'grid' out of treated 4 x 4's. This grid supported three joists(which run parallel to the length of the tank).
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p126/tobyte1/210%20gallon%20Saltwater%20Aquarium%20Build/CornerGussets.jpg
Under the grid, we built concrete block 'pilings' like this.
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p126/tobyte1/210%20gallon%20Saltwater%20Aquarium%20Build/Concretepilings.jpg
Between the pilings and the grids, I hammered wooden wedges to preload the joists before the tank was set up. Used this for the 210 and the 150. Both are rock solid and dead level.....Im doing a 400g next!

[Tickle]

Sistering boards to the joists and then supporting them with the above pylons would be more than sufficient, I mean your entire house is on the same setup. I just started my 125 in the house we just bought, it was originally built in the 40s, suprisingly has a poured foundation, the room im putting the tank in has the original hardwood floors in it. I have a addition that was added to the house in the 80s where my 40 currently sits and that floor shakes and shimmies like no tomorrow, my original 70 some odd year old floor....rock solid.

[marinerules]

Yea I'm gonna make sure dad knows that I want it solid lol. I don't want the floor shaking when I walk on it lol. I'm sure when it gets done ill tiptoe forever in the kitchen lol.

[marinerules]

I'm looking at different ideas for the aquarium. I'm planning on using my existing stand as part of a new wall for another in the wall aquarium. I don't know though yet if I wanna do Sheetrock, Stained 1x4s. Or this 4x8 sheet stuff at lowes that looks like stone or the one that looks like red bricks All kinds of things I could do

[Reef junky 305]

im on a 3rd floor with a 6"concrete floor should i be fine putting a 175gall bowfront im worried and have asked many ppl and some say yes and ive had 1 person tell me no

[Reef junky 305]

does anyone know or maybe should i get in contact with an architect ?

[keithhays]

does anyone know or maybe should i get in contact with an architect ?

Most builders will have an engineer on staff, they will generally be less expensive than an architect.

[sbleile]

I have a 335 gallon DT, with 700 TWV in my fish room sitting on the first floor over a crawlspace. I installed two concrete slabs and 4 concrete block pillars to the joists. All the the load from the tanks transfers straight through the joist onto the concrete block pillars. No problems, and absolutely no sound or change in level when I filled the tanks.

[marinerules]

Emptied the tank. Floor was sturdy but if u jumped I could make the water move. And I could grab the tank and push forward or back and make it move to so I'm going to build it up even more. I was paranoid

[marinerules]

UPDATE. Tank is doing fine and had livestock for awhile now

I'm wanting to put a 12x8x4 foot aquarium in my living room.

I'm assuming that if I build the floor up and support it a wood floor could handle this the same as my 250

I'm gonna scissor more 2x8s on my existing ones and box them all and have either jacks or concrete blocks under each one on several places

Gonna be a 4x8 foot acrylic window

Gonna build a plywood aquarium. Plans are to start this in 2 months

[dave.m]

You might want to build up the basement floor under the jacks. Most are only 4" thick and a jack might punch through depending on your soil type. Even if you are lucky enough to have 6" thick I wouldn't trust it with that much weight. This would be a really good time to consult a structural engineer.

Dave.M

[marinerules]

No. There's no basement. Just wood floor and under that dirt

[marinerules]

If I HAVE to I can pull up the plwood flooring in the house and pour a concrete footing. But wanted to avoid that if I could just need up the joists and block everything up

[anbosu]

If you're going to put over a thousand gallons of water in your house I would think a concrete footer would be a smart investment.

[marinerules]

Agreed concrete it is !!!

It won't be that big of a problem to get under tere and form up a form for the concrete. Just pull up that flooring in the living room that way I'm not crawling under the house more than I have to lol. I hate crawl spaces

[dave.m]

Make sure the spiders don't get you! :o

Dave.M