If you can place the tank perpendicular to the floor joists you'll be fine. Would be a bad idea if it is place parrallel with the floor joists. My 180g set up weighs near 3000 lbs, I found through much research that the floor would hold fine. I did however add some extra support, the floor was exposed so $50 bucks and 4 hours work was no big deal.
Will my floor support a 300 gallon tank????
- Thread starter Oooops
- Start date
12 Volt Man;2398022; said:
Great info! I unfortunately, know a bit about construction but, have never seen or heard anything quite like you were able to describe in your article. I have done everything from footing/foundation to to the roof, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural even but, only at a very basic level. My understanding is similar to a contractors level of understanding
I knew I would need to re-enforce the floor but didn't really want to admit it
Question for you though.
The tank will run perpindicular to the floor joists spanning 14' to 15'. The floor below is a finished floor. Will it be safe to triple up the joists and then block them as I cannot add a post below? Will this be enough? My guess is probably for load bearing support; Yes. My floor will eventually sag though is kinda what I am thinking. After all, it is going to nearly 3500lbs on 16 sqft right in the middle of the span.
ewurm;2398466; said:Yeah, but what if they all did a square dance in the kitchen while eating twinkies!
A good host would'a sprinkled twinkies in the upstairs room in question...ewurm;2398466; said:Yeah, but what if they all did a square dance in the kitchen while eating twinkies!
zennzzo;2398490; said:
i have my 125 on the seccond floor of a crappy old appartment and it holds fine not even a creak
my buddy also has a 125 above a bar thats over 100yrs old no problems on his either
my buddy also has a 125 above a bar thats over 100yrs old no problems on his either
Oooops;2398465; said:Great info! I unfortunately, know a bit about construction but, have never seen or heard anything quite like you were able to describe in your article. I have done everything from footing/foundation to to the roof, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural even but, only at a very basic level. My understanding is similar to a contractors level of understanding
I knew I would need to re-enforce the floor but didn't really want to admit it
Question for you though.
The tank will run perpindicular to the floor joists spanning 14' to 15'. The floor below is a finished floor. Will it be safe to triple up the joists and then block them as I cannot add a post below? Will this be enough? My guess is probably for load bearing support; Yes. My floor will eventually sag though is kinda what I am thinking. After all, it is going to nearly 3500lbs on 16 sqft right in the middle of the span.
Bump
Oooops;2397977; said:
Oooops;2398465; said:Question for you though.
The tank will run perpindicular to the floor joists spanning 14' to 15'. The floor below is a finished floor. Will it be safe to triple up the joists and then block them as I cannot add a post below? Will this be enough? My guess is probably for load bearing support; Yes. My floor will eventually sag though is kinda what I am thinking. After all, it is going to nearly 3500lbs on 16 sqft right in the middle of the span.
Your tank sit on 6 floor joist and between 2 others, these will carry most all of the load. Assuming your house was built to modern enginerring and code, your floor is designed to carry 40 pound per sq foot. The area of floor that the 8 floor joist(bearing the tank) is designed to bear 5600 pounds.
9.33'(distance over 8 joists) x 15' (span of joists) x 40 lbs per sq ft = 5598lbs
The question is how much other furniture will be added to the weigh that the floor will need to bear? If you place the tank on the wall near the foundation, you won't see any delection(sag). As for placing in the middle of the span, I am not sure how much deflection you'll experience or if it will increase over time. Realize each 2x12 joist is only carrying 400 to 500 lbs of tank weight.
A couple of links
My tank and the support that I added, that was not really necessary and a good thread on distributing load on your floor joist.
Reenforcing floor for 3000lbs of Aquarium wieght
Second Floor Fish tanks beam loading for the non-engineer
