Support For So Much Water?!

[AngelFishFan]

How do you support a 120 gallon aquarium whenever you live in an older house?! The weight of the water, stand, glass itself, sand, rock, and everything else will SURELY not hold on my house, even on the first floor! How do I support the weight underneath? Any Tips from anyone is greatly apreciated! Anyone have any experiences with this sort of problem? Thanks!

 

[ohio reefer]

the weight of your aquarium will be aprox. 1,400 lbs. do you have a basement? depending on the age of your house, i would put it on an outside wall. this will be the strongest part of you house. my father is a carpenter and he told me the same thing. I'm setting up 120gal also.

HTH
mark

 

[reefrunner69]

You could make concrete block pillars under the area the tank is going to go on. Also if you spread the weight across the floor joists it may not be as bad as you think, it will be distributed over 4 ft.

 

[AngelFishFan]

What about some sort of floor jack, etc.? Any ideas will help, or even a combination of the ideas. I really am stuck here. Maybe even alot of 2x4's nailed to the floor joists and then cemented into the floor on the basement? Thanks

 

[reefrunner69]

If the room is over a basement, you could use 4X4s to make a support, or even 2 2X4s nailed together.

 

[AngelFishFan]

Would you then suggest a cement footer? to hold the 4x4 in place?

 

[ohio reefer]

you can go to any hardware store and buy metal brackets (used for decks) and lag bolt or hammer drill them into place you will need a masonry bit. it might be a little more expensive this way, but it doesn't have to be as permenant as cement. IMO i would go with a 4x4. if your aquarium is by an outside wall though and it is evenly distributed (meaning the ends are perpendicular on the joists) it should be fine without. but a brace placed in the middle of the tank in the basement wouldn't hurt. it's all about peace of mind.

HTH
mark

 

[ohio reefer]

you can go to any hardware store and buy metal brackets (used for decks) and lag bolt or hammer drill them into place you will need a masonry bit. it might be a little more expensive this way, but it doesn't have to be as permenant as cement. IMO i would go with a 4x4. if your aquarium is by an outside wall though and it is evenly distributed (meaning the ends are perpendicular on the joists) it should be fine without. but a brace placed in the middle of the tank in the basement wouldn't hurt. it's all about peace of mind.

HTH
mark

 

[AngelFishFan]

So no experience with floor jacks?

 

[ohio reefer]

those would be fine, and easier. pretty expensive though, do you have one. i only used them a couple times when i helped my father with room additions. we always rented them.

mark

 

[AngelFishFan]

How much? Would you have a rough idea of how much they would cost? It may be more expensive, but much easier in the long run, and less damage to the permanent structure of the house.

 

[ohio reefer]

I'm not exactly sure of price. i would call around to your localrental places and see if anyone sells used ones. cost will depend on the amount of weight you need to hold.

the ones i am used to are the type you turn and the body of the brace goes up, kinda like a car jack. very easy.

mark

 

[two11devan]

I wouldn't spend the money on the floor jacks...It would be the exact same thing to brace the floor with a 4x4 or two 2x4's nailed together as Kevin said. If the weight is distributed over the joists and it is on an outside wall as was mentioned, all you would need to do would be to wedge the 4x4 support between the floor and the basement. You might even want to get a 2x6 and cut it so it will fit between the joists (nailed in place) snug against the underside of the subfloor, and wedge that 4x4 in the middle of the span, that way it will support the entire span. If you bought a floor jack, you wouldn't be cementing it to the ground, the 4x4 would be doing the same thing just as well and it won't cost more than a few bucks! Good luck

 

[AngelFishFan]

Thank you! I will surely try that out! Thanks all for help in this topic!

 

[alarmguy66]

I dont want to seem overly optimistic here, but look at it this way. A 1400 lb load spread evenly over 4 feet will rest on 4 floor joists (assuming 16" centers). That spreads the weight over those joists to roughly 350 lb per joist, based on the reasoning that youre stand has a flat bottom roughly the same size os the tank, and not 4 legs. Would you worry about a 300 lb person walking into youre house? To get more dramatic, how about that person bouncing up and down on one foot? That would certainly be more damaging. What you CANNOT do is put the tank lengthwise over one floor joist. this would certainly create a sag in the floor at best.

That being said, I would still recommend building a load bearing wall (better yet a room, Hint) under the floor joists that will be bearing the weights, but its not a high tech structure. Nail a pressure treated 2x4 to the floor nail a header up and toe nail your 2x4's in tight. Nail a firestop in between each vertical 2x4 to prevent them from bowing and you are done.

Personally, this seems like the best reason Ive ever heard for having a room in the basement for your filtration and a sump.

I'd be glad to get more detailed if you think it would help.