180 gallon tank.. will my floor hold this??

[reefobsessed]

I am looking at a 180 gallon custom tank that someone walked away from. It is 461/2 long, 48 heigh, and 19 deep reef ready acrylic. I like that the size and shape are uncommon and will need to have a custom stand made but my question is, after I looked at the calculators I am looking at 2,500 lbs with the water, sand, and rock... Am I going to need to reinforce my floor to hold that kind of weight??? My house is only 5 years old and the main joyce (sp) will run the length of the tank not under the tank.. I am a little worried.... Any advise??

 

[cj10488]

I would think that your floor should be able to hold it but you can always get a Carpenter or an Engineer to come out and inspect the location and give his "seal of Approval"

HTH,
James

 

[smooth_rivers]

Hope you have some LOOOONG arms kid, lol. You're gonna have to get a snorkle to reach the bottom of the tank!

 

[William]

Well, I've heard of people swimming with the fishes... I guess this time its really true. :?

 

[reefobsessed]

No kidding huh.... I told my son I was going to hold him by the ankles and lower him on down. Hope he can hold his breathe and take hand signals LOL.. I will have to have something designed that will reach the bottom and act like a hand. But you have to admit. It will look awwwsome.......

 

[skys]

180g sweet
i am planning on getting a similar size tank but in the summer time
220g at bigals 8O
how i will clean it? i dont know at the moment

 

[reefobsessed]

That makes two of us... But when there a will...... theres a way. So you will have more weight then I will. Dont you worry about your flooring?? 2,500 lbs 8O 8O

 

[utahcutter]

There is a forum at www.construction-resource.com you can pm a guy named cradmin. I've asked him several questions about building stands, very helpful guy and seems to know his construction. He can probably give you a good guess. (He also will usually answer posts within 24 hours) Keep in mind that most bathtubs have double joists framed around where the fixture is. Though I'm not sure how much a full bathtub would way. I would imagine it would be much more, but it's also spread out over a larger surface area to take the force. HTH.

 

[mrmarine]

wow 4 feet deep thats pretty crazy, sounds like it will be pretty awesome when all set up though. Good luck

Mr. Marine

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Is there anything directly below the tank? If not you should be able to put up some columns in the basment and run beams across the joists to support them without too much trouble. Try searching the forums though, I remember another person who had this problem before.

 

[mrrrkva]

A 6 foot tank would need less floor support than a 4 foot tank with the same "gallonage" Are your joist running perpindicular or parralel to the tank? Can you get under the floor that the tank is on? can you put reinforcement joist under is or possible jacks? Is the wall behind it a weight bearing wall, if it is you have a better chance. If it was a 6 foot tank I would say no problem (less pounds per square inch)

 

[reefobsessed]

Its a four foot (461/2 ) but the wall it would be next to is a weight bearing wall. Then the tank itself would sit over 3 joists running the oppistie way _______________
I I I
Something like this...It sits dirctly below the main beam in my house. I really think it will be ok... I think the hard part is figuring out how to reach the bottom...

 

[sw-addict]

congarts on finding that really deep tank!

I think you had better send that son of yours to scuba school while he's still young enough not to argue about it.

are your floor joists solid wood or is it particle board sandwitced between a couple of 2 by 3's? The latter of the two will hold it but the solid joists will sag and crack the drywall from floor to ceiling on that wall. If it were me I would probably buy a 4 by 4 cut it in half and run them under 4 of the floor joists under that tank and put a couple of those house jacks(only cost about 10$ ea.) under those 4 by 4's and garantee your sucsess.

 

[yaksplat]

I'll run some calculations for you seeing that I am an engineer But I need some more information.

1. under this location what type of beam is it? most likely an I beam. If it is, give me the dimensions, (length, width and thickness)

2. The distance from each edge of the tank to the nearest post
( ||<------------->| TANK |<---------------|| )
the || are posts

3. What is the size of your floor joists? 2 x ?


with this information, I can tell you what to do to keep your walls from cracking and your joists from bending too much.


Jim

 

[reefobsessed]

Jim you are the best... I will run home get your info & send you a PM...