I need advice!

[jmay33]

Hey guys, I think it's been about 6 months since I created a thread or posted on this forum. However, I am in need in some advice. I want a larger tank (120 gallons or so) to put some larger fish in. I moved across Texas recently and had to tear down and sell ALL of my aquariums. At this time, I just have a 20 gallon planted tropical community tank. (That's tough for crazy fish lady over here )

Okay, so here's the question:

The floors in the house that I rent absolutely cannot hold an aquarium over 20 gallons. At least I don't trust them to. It's an older(almost a century!!) pier and beam house. However, it does have an awesome detached garage that has a slab. I want to put said larger tank in this garage. The issue is that it is not well insulated or climate controlled. Being in Central Texas, the winters will not be a big issue but the summers will be. I'm wanting to stock it with either goldfish and/or koi (gross, I know) or African cichlids. This is a new idea, so definitely in the planning stages.

Any advice or information? Particularly on temperature control!

Thank you in advance!!!


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[treemanone2003]

I would suggest adding a chiller for that purpose. There are many applications available for both marine and freshwater as well as inline and drop in styles. Here is one link to help you research it.

http://www.marinedepot.com/chillers__index-ap.html


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[adbostock]

i need some advice

hello, ive recently aquired a 6ft tank which is 4 inch wide and 10 inch tall im after some idea how to filer the tank properly

 

[dalto]

The floors in the house that I rent absolutely cannot hold an aquarium over 20 gallons. At least I don't trust them to. It's an older(almost a century!!) pier and beam house. However, it does have an awesome detached garage that has a slab. I want to put said larger tank in this garage. The issue is that it is not well insulated or climate controlled. Being in Central Texas, the winters will not be a big issue but the summers will be. I'm wanting to stock it with either goldfish and/or koi (gross, I know) or African cichlids. This is a new idea, so definitely in the planning stages.

Any advice or information? Particularly on temperature control!

Your floors can probably hold more than you think.

That being said, I think cold water fish are not going to be a great choice for a garage tank. Lots of people in Texas keep african cichlids in their garages here. The trick is to heat them to the mid-70's in winter and make sure you don't put them near the edge of the garage where they will get direct sunlight in the summer. I keep my RODI storage containers in the garage and the water never actually gets above 85 in the peak of the summer.

hello, ive recently aquired a 6ft tank which is 4 inch wide and 10 inch tall im after some idea how to filer the tank properly

 

[Mebbid]

Hey guys, I think it's been about 6 months since I created a thread or posted on this forum. However, I am in need in some advice. I want a larger tank (120 gallons or so) to put some larger fish in. I moved across Texas recently and had to tear down and sell ALL of my aquariums. At this time, I just have a 20 gallon planted tropical community tank. (That's tough for crazy fish lady over here )

Okay, so here's the question:

The floors in the house that I rent absolutely cannot hold an aquarium over 20 gallons. At least I don't trust them to. It's an older(almost a century!!) pier and beam house. However, it does have an awesome detached garage that has a slab. I want to put said larger tank in this garage. The issue is that it is not well insulated or climate controlled. Being in Central Texas, the winters will not be a big issue but the summers will be. I'm wanting to stock it with either goldfish and/or koi (gross, I know) or African cichlids. This is a new idea, so definitely in the planning stages.

Any advice or information? Particularly on temperature control!

Thank you in advance!!!


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I thought I was in the same boat as you with the weight my floors can hold. I tenatively put in a 55g tank worrying constantly about the floor bowing from its weight and checked it constantly. There was no change in my floor. I then switched that 55g with a 90g and the same thing happened. My house is also over a century old.

Just run it perpendicular to the floor joists and you should be perfectly fine.

That being said, if you're still worried you can either use 4x4s under the floor joists where the tank will be or a couple of these

Shop Tapco 4-ft 8-in to 8-ft 4-in Steel Floor Jack at Lowes.com

 

[RussSerio]

Do the floors in your house hold up your refrigerator? If so, they will hold a 300 gal tank.
Same weight per square inch. If you have concerns about the area of flooring, look for signs of rotting. If none and the floor does not sag when walked on, you are probably good to go.

 

[treemanone2003]

Do the floors in your house hold up your refrigerator? If so, they will hold a 300 gal tank.
Same weight per square inch. If you have concerns about the area of flooring, look for signs of rotting. If none and the floor does not sag when walked on, you are probably good to go.

Are you high ?????? A 300 gallon tank alone weighs 500 pounds. The water will be just under 2500 pounds. Total is gonna push over 3300 including substrate, filter, tops, and so on !!!!


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[aqua_holic]

Now hold on a minute they said the same weight per square inch, which is a proportion. The 3000+ lbs from the tank are spread out over a larger surface area than the weight of the fridge is, so they needn't be close to the same weight to exert the same force because of the significantly smaller surface area. Same thing as the force exerted on the floor by a big fat guy versus a woman in high heels.

I don't know if the floor holding a fridge means it can support the weight of the tank though.

 

[RussSerio]

I did say "per square inch". And the stand, depending on the feet, has a lot to do with it also. It is just a rule of thumb. If the floor is STRUCTURALLY SOUND it was built to hold even more weight than that by almost any state law. If there is any doubt, have it checked out by a pro first.

 

[Mebbid]

The only number that matters is the pounds per linear inch. That is, the number of pounds distributed across what number of floor joists.

An average refrigerator stocked with food should weigh somewhere in the vicinity of 300lbs on the heavy side and around 35 x 30 inches in footprint. That's around 8.5 pounds per linear inch. Going with square inches it would be approximately .29lbs per square inch.

A 300g tank runs on average 96 x 30 footprint guesstimating at 3500lbs gives you 36.5lbs per linear inch and 1.25 pounds per sq. inch.

So basically, a 300g tank would eat an entire refrigerator and go back for seconds.

 

[RussSerio]

I won't argue. even if the math is correct as to per sq. inch (we still dont know about the stand or how the weight is distributed) if the floor wont hold 1.25 lb/sq. in. you are already looking up at it.!!!!

 

[trennamw]

Mebbid needs some prize for the funniest remark posted in a long time.

Call for a quote on renters insurance and mention the tank. See if they freak. They're the experts on this sort of thing going badly.

You'll need renters insurance anyway.

My dad is a home builder and I've been on several renovations of antique homes ... I'd trust a century old post and beam over modern crap any day. If it has passed inspections since it was built, which would be the case if it's been sold, it was built correctly. And built correctly a long time ago is almost always stronger than built now.

Knowing how far apart the joists are can help. I'm sure google has calculators for how much weight a floor can take. Of course a pro (or the landlord) is the best bet.


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[Mebbid]

It's not really a problem of the floor being able to hold that much weight. But rather it's how long the floor can handle that much weight. Factor the floor joists being constantly under that amount of weight and it's a problem not to mention all the other weight that rests on the same floor joists.

 

[RussSerio]

Really!!!!!

This person is looking for real advice. When exactly was the last time you heard of a, lets say 500 gal tank falling through the floor of a house. You just want to scare this person. Get off it. The tank will be fine and the fish in it safer than in a detached garage.

 

[Mebbid]

This person is looking for real advice. When exactly was the last time you heard of a, lets say 500 gal tank falling through the floor of a house. You just want to scare this person. Get off it. The tank will be fine and the fish in it safer than in a detached garage.

If you will see my below post that I quoted, you will see I did EXACTLY that. Moreover I gave suggestions on ways to reinforce her floors. What I didn't do was blow off the weight of the tank like you've been trying to do. Also, youre right. 500g tanks don't go crashing through floors. Because their owners take steps to shore up their flooring.

I thought I was in the same boat as you with the weight my floors can hold. I tenatively put in a 55g tank worrying constantly about the floor bowing from its weight and checked it constantly. There was no change in my floor. I then switched that 55g with a 90g and the same thing happened. My house is also over a century old.

Just run it perpendicular to the floor joists and you should be perfectly fine.

That being said, if you're still worried you can either use 4x4s under the floor joists where the tank will be or a couple of these

Shop Tapco 4-ft 8-in to 8-ft 4-in Steel Floor Jack at Lowes.com

 

[treemanone2003]

This person is looking for real advice. When exactly was the last time you heard of a, lets say 500 gal tank falling through the floor of a house. You just want to scare this person. Get off it. The tank will be fine and the fish in it safer than in a detached garage.

Yes they're looking for real advice. And as pointed out previously, your comparison of a refrigerator (roughly 250 lbs empty) and a 300 gallon tank (empty at 550 pounds, and minimally stocked at 3000 pounds total weight, not including a 75 gallon, 600 pound sump) is not only quite poor, but extremely flawed IMO. No I'm not an engineer but I do know the difference between linear, square, and cubic inches as well as psi and displacement. Some things you're missing are structure fatigue and compression displacement ( due to a stationary object ) which over a prolonged period unsupported, will result in catastrophic failure.

Since you want proof of this being able to exist, follow this link and you will see that it's possible. http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/a...s/131384-75-gallon-aquarium-second-floor.html


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[Ricky 1]

Rather than worry about this, just take some floor boards up and put bricks under the joists from the sub ground, this way you know it will be safe.........long term

 

[RussSerio]

Exactly. Mebbid seems to be ignoring the fact that we recommended flooring support and having a pro check the floors out. What I have not heard is ANYONE suggesting that the tank will be safer in a non climate controlled environment. Fish safety is also an issue.

 

[Mebbid]

Exactly. Mebbid seems to be ignoring the fact that we recommended flooring support and having a pro check the floors out. What I have not heard is ANYONE suggesting that the tank will be safer in a non climate controlled environment. Fish safety is also an issue.

I suggested reinforcing the floors in post 5 and restated it in post 15.

 

[treemanone2003]

Exactly. Mebbid seems to be ignoring the fact that we recommended flooring support and having a pro check the floors out. What I have not heard is ANYONE suggesting that the tank will be safer in a non climate controlled environment. Fish safety is also an issue.

I thought I was in the same boat as you with the weight my floors can hold. I tenatively put in a 55g tank worrying constantly about the floor bowing from its weight and checked it constantly. There was no change in my floor. I then switched that 55g with a 90g and the same thing happened. My house is also over a century old.



Just run it perpendicular to the floor joists and you should be perfectly fine.



That being said, if you're still worried you can either use 4x4s under the floor joists where the tank will be or a couple of these



Shop Tapco 4-ft 8-in to 8-ft 4-in Steel Floor Jack at Lowes.com

Perhaps you should read the posts THOROUGHLY !!!! It was covered with a link included pertaining to structural support.


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