Anyone have a 300 gallon or larger on unmodified floor?

[WJC05]

Pretty much what I want to know is, have any of you put a 300 gallon or larger tank on a floor without any extra bracing underneath. I know you concrete floor guys do it all the time, but Im talking about floor joists. Did you put braces on them underneath or anything? Or just let it go?

Thinking about buying a big tank but a little scared of the weight....

Thanks

 

[drgnfly829]

hmm ask a builder, there is a load that the joists can take without reinforcement, but i don't know the equation
best if it's accross several joists or maybe over the i beam or against a load bearing wall
basically i bit the bullet and paid someone to reinforce the floor, but i think it's always a bit of a risk

 

[moxxommox]

I have a 1000 ltr tank on a floor, its in my unit...

 

[Bucko]

Unfortunately there isn't a quick answer to this question, allot of it has to do with the construction of the house, heres a link that explains some of what ya want to know http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_weight.php

 

[rottbo]

I have my 180 my 120 and three 55s all siting right next to each other on an unbraced floor I havent seen any sag yet but the joists also only run an 8' span

 

[sweeTang21]

being an experienced builder, joists are not normally put under this type of constant stress. i would consider looking at the floor and see what their is for joist exactly. older houses use doug-fir and newer houses use I beams made from plywood and pine. if its realy new and its using LVL then i would imagine you have a much better chance. LVL is very strong and can take a lot of stress. this type of wood is mainly used as main beams in your house unit. deff. dont take any chances because if your floors collapses just right, it can take the rest of the house with it.

 

[tyl089]

300 gallons of water with just the tank is about 3000+lbs. 1gallon of water=10lbs. so include the stand, and all the rocks and decorations, so say it's about 3500-3700lbs to be conservative. with that in mind, can you be comfortable with that much weight bearing down on your floor? if its solid concrete on the first floor, then i say no problem. however, if its on the second floor, or one of those condo or mobile home types, then i wouldnt be so sure. that's one of the reasons why i haven't even upgraded to a 100g yet because i live in one of those mobile homes and i'm not even sure what 1000+lbs of weight will do to the floor.

 

[Derpeder]

Better to be safe then have X gallons of water and a tank fall through your floor.

Man that would suck.

 

[jasonn]

So usually it's okay if the tanks on marble floor on the 1st floor right?

 

[prophets]

Actually a gal of water is 8lbs.
Anyway...why chance it? If you are worried about the weight, I'd add some support under the floor for some peace of mind.