Support, should I worry about this?

[Japola44]

So, after a lot of debating with my parents we decided to put my 50gal and 55gal in my room. I orginally wanted to put them in the unfinished part of our basement that has cement floors so support wasnt that big of a deal. My dad didn't want to put them somewhere we cant see them, and the rest of our house is getting painted and recarpeted. So now we are going to have them both against one wall of my room. My room is on our main floor above the basement. Both tanks will wheigh around 490lb so thats almost 1 thousand pounds. Should i consider moving one of the tanks? My house is was built in around 96 or 97 so its not that old...TIA

 

[PauloSilva]

IMO you will not have to move them. Seeing as they run perpendicular to the floor joists. Contact the engineer or archetect that designed the home. Ask them specifically how much live load the room was designed for

Paul

 

[shaunakadub]

I agree with Paulo. If its running with the joists there shouldn't be a problem.

Hell, my living room floor holds WELL over 1000lbs, i know this because on football sundays with everyone, it has to hold atleast 2000 =p

 

[Japola44]

wait... should it be parralel or perpindicular to the floor joist? My room is right above the unfinished part of the basement so its pretty east to figure out whats holding up my room.

 

[Guest]

I had my fish tank in the basement. Don't do it. It was really dark(even with the tank light on) and it made water changes unBEARABLE...try carrying a 1 gallon pitcher down and up the stairs about 10 times...EW.

 

[DepotFish]

I don't think you'll have a problem. If the floors can hold a bathtub with a person in then a big tank or two should be no problem.

 

[Japola44]

we have a sink in the basment, because it used to be a workshop for my dad. Who knows why he wanted on in our basement but yah. Lots of lights just no carpets or ceilings or dry walls. Just a lot of junk my parents keep down there hence its second name "the storage room" Thats the main reason my parents didn't want them in there cause they are too lazy to move the stuff...oy vea

 

[willowthepoet]

sorry if this is hijacking the thread, but i didn't want to stary another one about architecture when there are already two around...

i have a question out of sheer curiosity. how big of a tank can you have in your average house before you have to start worrying about the floor supporting it? 50 gallons? 100? i'm not looking for anything technical, just a ballpark average.

(sorry if this is dumb... i'm in no way an engineer)

 

[trotty]

sorry if this is hijacking the thread, but i didn't want to stary another one about architecture when there are already two around...

i have a question out of sheer curiosity. how big of a tank can you have in your average house before you have to start worrying about the floor supporting it? 50 gallons? 100? i'm not looking for anything technical, just a ballpark average.

(sorry if this is dumb... i'm in no way an engineer)

refer to 180gallon tank!

 

[Zagz]

I have a 125 gal tank on the main floor, the joists run perpendicular to the tank. My 75 gal tank in the same room runs parallel to the joists. In neither case have I had a problem. IMO more weight should be perpendicular to the floor joists.

 

[PauloSilva]

sorry if this is hijacking the thread, but i didn't want to stary another one about architecture when there are already two around...

i have a question out of sheer curiosity. how big of a tank can you have in your average house before you have to start worrying about the floor supporting it? 50 gallons? 100? i'm not looking for anything technical, just a ballpark average.

(sorry if this is dumb... i'm in no way an engineer)

It's not dumb, and if u worry about it you should ask questions. There is no clear cut answer. There are many factors. Things like thickness of subfloor, cross sectional area of the joist. Span of the joists from wall to wall. But IMHO on average you shouldnt worry about much up to about 120g. Anything over that and there will be a need for some research.