Yo im in the market for a big tank, like 180 or 200, and I'm wondering about how much weight my floor can take. i live in a big house about 100 years old with little to no sagging in floors or walls. joists are 1 5/8" wide. it would be on the first floor above the basement by an outside wall. Unfortunatly the place I picked for it runs parallel to the joist below. it is however supported on one side by a 5"x7" beam running the length of the house perpendicular to the tank, supported by 2 poles evenly spaced, so its technically in a corner. So THE BIG QUESTION IS, is 200 gallons too much weight for a "corner" by an outside wall? I know a waterbed can be 250 gals, which is more spread out, but is also farther away from the wall and usually upstairs so it seems like a tank by the wall downstairs would be less stress yet I see many sites with people supporting their floors for much less gallons.
big tank, floor support?
- Thread starter slick Nic the Ruls
- Start date
I put a 210 in that was also parallel to the floor joists. At one end It was on the central beam of the house and already had a pole under it. I put a pole under the other end. See picture. Along its back wall it was on a double joist as that was the cross beam in the center of the house, I installed a second double beam along the front of the tank.
Old double beam is on the right, newly double beam is on the left. The white wall is the outside wall of the house.
Like I said, I already had a pole at one end of the tank, and I installed this one at the other end.
A close up of the reinforced beam and cross brace for the pole.
I have since upgraded the 210 to a 450 in the same spot and have added a 3rd "double beam" but no additional poles.
Old double beam is on the right, newly double beam is on the left. The white wall is the outside wall of the house.
Like I said, I already had a pole at one end of the tank, and I installed this one at the other end.
A close up of the reinforced beam and cross brace for the pole.
I have since upgraded the 210 to a 450 in the same spot and have added a 3rd "double beam" but no additional poles.
Karen, you had the adjustable jack post up-side-down for wood structure - I guess you didn't read the instructions eh! 
The bigger section is supposed to be up against the wood. Good illustrative pics there - a picture means a thousand words. I don't have any camera left at home with me or I'd snap some to share.
I've posted on other threads here about my situation for a 180g, which also was running parallel to the 16" spaced joists. BOTH side ends of of the tank were resting on bearing walls but the whole tank length-wise sat on only one single joist. Obviously not cool, so I added another 6' joist under the tank right before filling it up. My best friend, who is a steel building designer/engineer in another state, said it was fine the way it was (although he didn't see it in person). However, I was still being a little paranoid about the floor support so last Sunday I added one more 5' joist on the other side using the adjustable floor jack to support one end (instead of using the 2x4 wall as I already did for the other new joist on the other side), while the other end is resting on a masonry 8" thick bearing internal wall. So now my tank is resting on an area of a total of 72"x32" with support of 5 joists that are 8" evenly spaced with one outer most joists being quadruple 2x10's support under second floor's stairs. I can sleep soundly at night now.
OP, I hope you could use these posts as references. A couple of notes:
- Add joists when the tank is empty to allow the new joists to be snuggly fit when added to take on some loads.
- Use adjustable floor jacks (mono post would be even better but bigger in size and more expensive) to help with this work.
Good luck.
edit: After all it's your house so only you could make the ultimate decision on adding more support or not. That's how I looked at it. Only use the info as reference/guide to help make your wise decision. I thought doing what I did was not possible due to very tight space available to do the work (big furnace and its ducts are right under the tank!), but I managed it!
The bigger section is supposed to be up against the wood. Good illustrative pics there - a picture means a thousand words. I don't have any camera left at home with me or I'd snap some to share.I've posted on other threads here about my situation for a 180g, which also was running parallel to the 16" spaced joists. BOTH side ends of of the tank were resting on bearing walls but the whole tank length-wise sat on only one single joist. Obviously not cool, so I added another 6' joist under the tank right before filling it up. My best friend, who is a steel building designer/engineer in another state, said it was fine the way it was (although he didn't see it in person). However, I was still being a little paranoid about the floor support so last Sunday I added one more 5' joist on the other side using the adjustable floor jack to support one end (instead of using the 2x4 wall as I already did for the other new joist on the other side), while the other end is resting on a masonry 8" thick bearing internal wall. So now my tank is resting on an area of a total of 72"x32" with support of 5 joists that are 8" evenly spaced with one outer most joists being quadruple 2x10's support under second floor's stairs. I can sleep soundly at night now.
OP, I hope you could use these posts as references. A couple of notes:
- Add joists when the tank is empty to allow the new joists to be snuggly fit when added to take on some loads.
- Use adjustable floor jacks (mono post would be even better but bigger in size and more expensive) to help with this work.
Good luck.
edit: After all it's your house so only you could make the ultimate decision on adding more support or not. That's how I looked at it. Only use the info as reference/guide to help make your wise decision. I thought doing what I did was not possible due to very tight space available to do the work (big furnace and its ducts are right under the tank!), but I managed it!
Karen, you had the adjustable jack post up-side-down for wood structure - I guess you didn't read the instructions eh!
Well its got a 450 gallon tank on it now, I am thinking upside down will have to do.
Its really upside down eh? I am surprised there is a difference.