Will I end up with a hole in my floor? ......

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M

marc88

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 13, 2011
5
0
0
Maryland
I'm in the planning stage for a new tank, thinking in the neighborhood of 150 - 300 gallons. Problem is, I don't have a slab to place it on. My house is built on a crawlspace, cinder block foundation, @24" crawlspace, 16 on center floor joists.

I've had large tanks before but previous homes had basements and they always went on the slab so I'm a little lost trying to figure out a "safe" tank size/weight limit. It would be very helpful if anyone could share their experience with large tanks and this type of home. Let me have it, the good, the bad, the ugly.

What size tank? Did you reinforce the floor and/or joists? Success or disaster?

Thanks for the help.
 
I would think as long as you across multiple floor joists and put in some floor jacks you should be ok
 
A couple things you could do. Place it against an exterior wall or along a wall that's load bearing (You'll have to go underneath the house and see where it's supported all the way to the dirt to be 100% sure). If you do put it parallel with the interior wall, you can support the floor/sub-floor by building shoring system, with a conrete pads that lay on top of the dirt and laterally supports the floor joist from the underside of your floors. (way cheaper than metal jacks!) You can then use wedges and shims to take up the gap til it's completely tight. OH... and lastly, buy acrylic! :)
 
Yea it will be placed on an outside wall and perpendicular to the joists. I did a little more research here and decided to definately reinforce (couldnt find search function here when i posted yesterday, shouldn't post pre coffee...). Just a question now of which type of reinforcment holds up better, post/jack reinorcement or joist reinforcement? I do alot of diy around the house, so I have to tools for either. Anyone have either type of reinforcement up for a few years? pros or cons?

Planning on acrylic :), but if i find a deal too good to pass up on drilled glass I wont count it out. Its pretty out of the way where I live, so beggars cant be choosers. The logistics of transporting a large glass tank 3-5 hours in my PU bed don't thrill me. Debating the used, new, DIY build now, it will probably depend on what, if anything I can find used in the next few weeks. DIY forum here is dangerous, but I love it, lol.

Thanks for the help so far.
 
For me, if ya have access best to go ahead and reinforce it. I did so on my 180g set up that was near 3000 pounds. This even though with my research I had found that the floor would support without issue. Figured for 50 bucks and a half day of work that was cheap reassurance. For my 450g, that was a much different story considering water weight alone is nearing 2 tons. Reinforcement was a must.
 
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