Is my floor gonna cave in?!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
HungDang, your English is wonderful! Could not have explained that in an easier way.:D It's just like when you have 4 ppl trying to lift like 100lbs, which is 25lbs each person is bearing, = But for 10 ppl lifting same exact object, each person is only lifting about 10 pounds worth of the objects weight. That's why I really love stands made from metals or wood, as long as the design spreads out the weight load. *And I always put at least a 1" sheet of plywood under the tank before putting it onto the stand, to make sure the center of the tank can be properly supported too. I cut 2" X 2"s and put 3 to 5 of these inside the stand, to help support center section of the tanks.......I use lots of 'heavy' decorating stuff, and would hate it if the bottom of the tank were to crack!!!
 
A 180 -240 gallon tank is roughly 72" W x 24" D with beams 16" on center you should be able to rest the tank on 4 beams. Honestly it should hold with no problems at all but there are quite a few variables.Which I'll explain.

1. What are the dimensions of the beams (2x8, 2x10, 2x12) because obviously larger beams can hold more load.
2. Are the beams structuraly sound ? Meaning nobody went and drilled holes through them to run plumbing or electrical. (if you have a 2 x 10 beam but some guy cut a 4" hole in it you pretty much have a 2 x 6)
3. What is the span of the beams? The longer the span the less load you can carry.
4. What is the total load on the floor? (one tank would hold with no problem but if you are like one of those hoarders or you also have a waterbed all the weight adds up)
5. It doesnt matter if the tank is next to a wall (all that does is give less beam sag) the beam will still break if the load is too great.
 
Being on the second floor is there any way in which I can find out what kind of boards are under the floor? i.e. 2x12 or 2x8? Also would I be able to use a stud finder to find out which ways the boards are running?
 
you guys need to live in australia where multistory apartment buildings must have concrete floors (reinforced with Rebar no less),

OH Yeah baby my 175g loves sitting in the corner of the loungeroom in my 3rd floor apartment, lookin pretty!
 
RowDogg;5061316; said:
you guys need to live in australia where multistory apartment buildings must have concrete floors (reinforced with Rebar no less),

OH Yeah baby my 175g loves sitting in the corner of the loungeroom in my 3rd floor apartment, lookin pretty!
Click to expand...
hehe, same thing to most of Asian country, especially in Japan with super floor to stand earthquakes!
American apartments do have the floor in 2nd floor and up really sucks, I can even sleep sometime when people on top of me having sex:D
 
RowDogg;5061316; said:
you guys need to live in australia where multistory apartment buildings must have concrete floors (reinforced with Rebar no less),

OH Yeah baby my 175g loves sitting in the corner of the loungeroom in my 3rd floor apartment, lookin pretty!
Click to expand...

Most of Asia is like that.. in Hong Kong its a guarantee it will be done like that... heck, i have my 200G on the 7th floor of an apartment, and my dad used to have a 400G+ tank on the 15th floor...

All just depends on how the building was built whether its a good idea to try and place such a large tank in a flat...
 
Fat Homer;5061615; said:
... heck, i have my 200G on the 7th floor of an apartment, and my dad used to have a 400G+ tank on the 15th floor...
Click to expand...

holy cow, that makes me feel heaps better about my tank.... sure hope you had an elevator to get that beast up there, sadly i had to lug my tank up 6 flights of stairs to my flat.
 
Hahahaha, yeah i was lucky enough to have a lift, but i have to say my tank literally just fit in... they had to put it on its end and slide the tank into the lift on top of a piece of carpet which almost gave me a heart-attack... as there was maybe less than an inch of space between the tank and the lift door...

Then trying to get it into my flat was another close call... but now that its in place, i definitely can't complain...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom