800 Gallon L-Shaped tank- Will my floor support it ?

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audifusion

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 28, 2011
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toronto,on,canada
I have an 800 gallon custom built tank which I have aquired recently ( desmantled and moved piece by piece from its previous location which was in a basement).

I am planning to set up the tank in the reception area of my physical therapy business which is on the main floor of a bungalow.

The joists are 2x10 (old school 2x10 so actually 2x10) and are spaced at 12 inches apart (12 inch centres).

when filled, the tank will weigh almost 10,000lbs !

I dont know if the floor needs to be re-inforced or not.

I am not sure if anyone here has done anything like this, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Pics of the tank can be seen in my tank dis-assembly thread

thanks in advance for your help
 
You need to reinforce the floor. Whats under the floor? Basement,crawlspace? Double or triple up some 2x12s and run them across the floor joists below where the tank will go. Get some lally columns and support the 2x12s. If its a dirt floor then you will need to pour a few footings.
 
You'll have to add a beam and post on the bottom of the floor running on center of the tank. Ex: 48" the beam will have to be on center 24".
You'll need a contractor to verify since it's a L shape
 

Hello; (RECYCLEDPOST some words will run together, this happens when I copy and pasteto the forum)) Here are some webaddresses about floor capacity. The first address is a new one from a post byanother Monster Fish forum member a while back. Here are the addresses againwith the first being new to the list. Floor capacity depends on a lot of criteria,there is not a simple answer to the question.

This web address is added to the list http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_weight.php It is perhaps the easiest to follow.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7485788_calculate-floor-load-capacity.html

The web address above is a site about calculating loadcapacities of floor joists. They use a formula for the strength of a beam: maximum load in pounds = FBd^2 / 9L.

The width of the woodjoist in inches is B (1.5 inches forstandard 2 by dimensional lumber.)

The depth in inches is d (7.25 in for a standard 2x8.)(9.25 in for a2x10)

The distance (span) in feet is L (Unsupported distance)

F is somethingcalled the fiber stress when wood bends. It varies with the type of wood butgraded lumber will be at least a 1,000 number, some are higher.

They use an example of 2x10 floor joists with a span of 14feet on 16 inch centers and come up with 1,019 pd for each joist. They figure the area supported by each joistas 18.7 sq ft. They get 54.5 pd per square foot of floor area. I think this includes the weight of theflooring and anything else that is supported by the joists.

I looked at some other sites (Addresses listed below) andfound a discussion of static loads and live loads. Two sites describe how to measurethe deflection of flooring due to weight loads.

http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/deflecto.pl



http://www.awc.org/calculators/span/calc/timbercalcstyle.asp?species=Douglas+Fir-South&size=2x8&grade=Select+Structural&member=Floor+Joists&deflectionlimit=L%2F480&spacing=16&wet=No&incised=No&liveload=80&snowload=-1&deadload=10&submit=Calculate+Maximum+Horizontal+Span

I found these sites interesting but hard to pin down for ageneral rule of thumb. Too many variables involved; Type of wood, condition ofwood, dimensional lumber or engineered truss, age of wood and on and on.

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=62845&page=10
 
Had a structural engineer come in today,

He said that because the weight will be distributed over 9 joists, that the 10,000lbs will be fine.

Good to hear ! Now time to plan out filtration/sump
 
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