180 Gallon tank

[davidtcb1]

Hello all:

I'm considering the addition of a 180 g freshwater/cichlid tank to my living room in the coming months. Am curious as to what you large tank folks could offer in terms of floor support suggestions. I plan on using floor jacks under the crawl space of my house to help insure the integrity of the construction of the house and prevent any damage, etc. Do you think this will be sufficient?

[trotty]

What are the dimensions of the tank?
I have an 8x2x2, i had a solid base made up that evenly spred the weight. supports are a great idea, how many beams will it pick up( how far apart are the bearers?)? How old is the house? Check condition of the flooring a must! I'm sure you know that though. My base is basically a big rectangle made from 4x2 with 6 4x2' cross runners. 8 Legs sit ontop of that frame to spread the weight.

[BillD]

A stud wall under the floor would not be a bad idea, even if it isn't necessary. It will stiffen the floor to reduce vibration. Is there a concrete floor in the crawl space? If there is the stud wall will have a solid foundation. As trotty said, whether it is necessary depends on the support that is there, but it still would be a good idea.

[PsiPro]

I have no idea how to help ya out... but WELCOME TO AA!

[PauloSilva]

I'm an engineer so I can offer some structural advice. First how far apart are your joists? What is the width of the joist? You will definatly want to postition your tank so that the base runs perpendicular to the joists and in a position where you can encorporate the max amount of joists. Another thing you'll wanna do is to put it in a location where the joists tie into a bearing wall within a ahort distance. Also what is the span of the joist from wall to wall...

Good luck

[davidtcb1]

Thanks....I've looked briefly at the beams under the floor/in the crawl space, but haven't done much detailed measuring. From what I can remember, the beams are about 18 inches apart through out the floor. The dimensions of the tank would be 6 ft. long by 2 ft. wide by 2 ft tall (around 5 ft on the stand). My thought for support was 3 jacks maybe more in the crawl space, with 2X4s between the jacks at the beams to give extra support. The tank would be on a main wall in the house, but I've got to figure out how that wall is supported underneath.

[PauloSilva]

Definatly if in doubt use a couple jack posts.

[trotty]

As mine was also against the main wall with main concretete pillars at the back of the tank, there were 3 that the tank covered, 1 in the middle and 1 either end about a foot further out. 3x9's sat on these pillars and 2x5's ran across at about the same 18 inches apart. they ran approx 12 feet across the room with a center support pillar and 3x9.... I tried to get the tank as close to the wall as possible, i put the HOB on the side of the tank. and 3 canisters. Hope it helps.

P.S. NEVER hurts to go over the top when in comes to support! Im a Welder fabricator so i know a little....

[davidtcb1]

Trotty and Silva, thanks for the advice. I plan on getting back under there in the coming days and will do some more measuring and add to this post when I have some more accurate numbers. The house is only 15 years old so I believe it to have structual integrity left. I would like to get the tank as close to the wall as possible as well.. Am planning on using Eheim canisters below, so this should allow me to get it even closer than say the Emperors I have on my 75g. As a last precaution, I've even considered trying to find a contractor/structural engineer type person in the area to look at it and let me know what he/she thinks. Would be worth it in the long run for sure. Look for my repost soon.

[davidtcb1]

Here are some measurements I took today...

The tank would sit against what I assume is a bearing wall (i.e. the wall is supported by the concrete block pillars). The tank would sit perpendicular to the joists which are about 10 ft apart. The other parallel (to the tank) runners are 1.5" wide and are positioned 15" apart thoughout the crawlspace. It appears that if I place the tank where I am planning to, it would be straddling one joist/concrete pillar, plus the two or three other floor jacks that I would add to either side of the pillar. The joist boards I believe are three 2Xs side by side, for a total of about 6". And, by the way, I've decided to go with a 150 gal instead of a 180. How does this look to you?

Thanks