New house, new worries

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R

rudy

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2006
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calgary
I am moving to a 2 story house built in 1957. It is a very well made old house. Floor joists are 2x10 16 inches apart. I am wanting to put a 6x3 marineland deepflo tank on the main floor. Will I have any issues with this? Beams run against the tank so there will be 5 supporting it.
 
I agree with the floor jacks. That is a lot of weight.
 
I had a 125g tank sitting parallel with and on top of just 2 joists, against an non-structural wall, in a 110 year old house. Didn't so much as drop the floor a mm. But if you can, I'd add supports (they provide a LOT of peace of mind, and a 6x3 is twice the weight of a 6x1.5).
 
I used a couple floor jacks for my 150 g tank, I placed a 6"x6" timber under the floor joists on top on the floor jacks. Less than $50 peace of mind.....priceless. You don't ever want to flirt with disaster.
 
I would definitely beef up the floor supports. or use jacks as suggested.

even older well built houses may have trouble supporting a 300g tank for a long period of time with running into sagging/warping issues.

its probably going to weigh around 3500 pounds when full:WHOA:.

congrats on your new house and post pics of your new awesome tank!
 
"Error on the side of caution" is a wonderful approach to life when possible/practical...

But if you are the "take a ride on the wild side" kind, then I would highly suggest:

Put a nail in the beam beneath the tank...
Hand a weighted fishing line from the string...
Mark/Measure exactly how high off the floor the weight is...
If that weght drops at all, drain the tank and add floor jacks...

Do note, you must use a string that will not stretch, fishing line will work wonderful, cotton and many other strings will stretch...
 
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