600 gallon tank upstairs on hardwood floor with no additional support

[pclausen]

So I'm planning my new tank (glass) which will be around 600 gallons with dimensions of about 130 x 34 x 34. That comes to about 7000 lbs once filled with water and rocks, etc.

Here's a sketch of what the support infrastructure looks like (the tank itself is the blue outline):

The 3 horizontal rectangles are I-beams. They are 10 feet apart and massive (14" tall by 8" wide made out of 1/2" steel).

The vertical rectangles represents the floor joist, they are also beefy (12" by 2") and on 16" centers.

The subfloor is 3/4" plywood and the floor itself is oak.

Right now I have a 150 gallon tank where the new tank is going, and a 180 gallon above the bottom I-beam. Floor is completely solid and there is no bounce to it at all when walking, running, jumping, etc.

The basement below is finished, so I have no real option of adding additional support.

Here's a pick of the room as it is right now:

So the new tank would take the place of the 150g and the surrounding book shelves.

I think I'm ok, but figured I'd get you guys opinion before proceeding.

 

[Lightsluvr]

It might be worth investing in a structural engineer to look at the numbers.

Just a thought.

LL

 

[zkirby]

Beautiful tanks

Beautiful tanks

I have nothing to add to your post other than you have a bautiful home and beautiful tanks. I like the clean lines throughout the room to include the tanks. I currently only hae a Biocube30 but am seriously planning a much bigger tank (at least 180gal) in the near future. The problem I'm having is I'm a neat freak and do not want any exposed wires, filters, etc around my tank and you sir, just provd to me that it can be done. Thank you.

zkirby

 

[EleganceMan]

you will be 100% ok with that structure....that would hold a 2000 gallon tank right there!!!

 

[seashark]

i would defiantly consult with engineer just to be on the safe side .

 

[am3gross]

and just think if it does not hold you will have a great big hole in the middle of that nice looking house! like said before i think i would invest in an engineer to come out to help me sleep at night.

 

[am3gross]

and it may hold it now but what will it do to the structure long term? another good reason to get that engineer in there!

 

[pclausen]

I'll seek some advice from a structural engineer, thanks.

In the meantime, I found a utility online that calculates deflection, and for 2x12 joists on 16" centers, the deflections comes to 0.078 inches over a 9.5 foot span. My span between the I-beams is slightly less at 9' 4". This translates to a deflection of L / 1459, which is way above the code standard of L / 360. This is for the standard 30# sq. ft. live load and 10# sq. ft. dead load.

My tank stand will have a footprint of 30.7 sq. ft., so with a weight of 7000#, that comes to 228#/sq. ft or 5.7 times as much as the standard 40#/sq. ft. I don't know if that implies that I can expect deflection of 0.078 * 5.7 = 0.44" if I sat the tank parallel with the beams in the center? I doubt it.

Anyway, I don't think those span tables really apply in my situation since the center of the tank will be directly above an I-beam. I think that as long as my stand (metal) is strong enough, it will provide the tank with a stable surface that won't sag along the ends.

But I will seek some advice, just to make sure.

 

[premilove]

you will be 100% ok with that structure....that would hold a 2000 gallon tank right there!!!

110% guaranteed, i showed my brother who's in civil engineering and from your pic/drawing, he says you won't have any problems(ceterus parabus)!

 

[Sardaukar]

Seconding the 'you could park a dump truck on one of those i-beams', but by all means, I would drop the coin on running it by a structural/civil engineer.

 

[mm949]

the beam in the middle does help but if u need to shim up the ends to make it level your gonna have issues....u will need to at least double up the floor joists...drywall is easy enough to fix

if not, if u can incorporate (2) steal beams into the base of the stand stretching from one support beam to the other under the tank u should be ok

 

[albano]

Although I see no problem with that setup, a visit by an engineer would be well worth the nominal cost. BTW, where is the 150g sump?, just wondering if that weight was also on the beams.

 

[pclausen]

Unfortunately, it would take a lot of work to access the floor from below to strengthen it. The room below is my home theater and I got these 45 degree ceilings where they meet the walls and I-beams. The tank would be immediately above the bar.

A couple of pics showing the challenge:

Half my basement is unfinished, so here's a pic showing one of the massive I-beams and floor joists. I added a 12oz can of coke for reference:

I would need to shim for sure. My current 6 ft tank is shimmed 1" at one end as seen here:

But if I shim evenly along the stand, would that not distribute the load across the entire base?

If worse comes to worse, I would cut out the floor from above and re-inforce and the put down a tile apron around the base. That would also prevent saltwater spills from messing up the surrounding hardwood.