Anyone here at reefcentral have a aquarium larger than 150 gallons on a wood floor ?

[marinerules]

I have had a 240 gallon aquarium for probably 7 or so years now, my parents gave me one of the their old rent houses thats on the property right across the road..

I have the house fixed up now , but its all wood floors, not concrete, and i the 240 gallon is still at my folks house, Dad, is a GOOD professional contracter and he says that we can get under the house and fix it for the 240 gallon to be up at my house. WHILE i do trust him, I explained to him on a large tank like that , that it needs to be solid cause the least stress on it , boom, tidal wave, and he stated again, "we can do it" so, i was just curious to see if anyone else out there has a large aquarium on a wood floor

 

[Flippers4pups]

Is the floor hard wood laminate? On concrete slab? When I had my 200, it was on concrete in my basement because of the weight. The only tank I've had on a first floor of a house was my 75, we had the floor reinforced and I put steel posts under it in the basement for support.

 

[marinerules]

its a old house, its old hardwood floors, that i recovered with those 18 inch corsica vinyl stone tiles at lowes.

im not trying to dismiss what my dad says cause he knows his stuff, but im not so sure if he knows aquarium lingo as well with it all lol,. . if it just cant be done , or if its a huge risk I still want the aquarium up there and ill just have a big snake or something it , because i have room to build it in the wall. and have it framed like i do the 75 thats in my bedroom....

ITS an old house, old as in sitting on blocks lol, no concrete foundation ect, sounds terrible, but this place is really shaping up , he told me i could have it if i wanted to fix it up , its been gutted, insulated, sheetrocked, new floors (vinyle armstrong floors) but pretty, if i can find out how , i will post pictures of the 75 gallon thats in the wall thats in my bedroom

 

[yalpal]

I have my 180 on the second floor of our house. I asked our contractor before putting it in to make sure that the floor would support it, and after a year now it has worked out well. It is only a six year old house, but it is on hardwood. Hope that helps!

 

[marinerules]

Ok. Thanks for sharing. Dad said we can pour concrete under the house but that we wouldn't have to. The floor joist are running the correct way which is a plus. And pops says all we gotta do is get under each joist and cinder block it up as well as reinforce the existing floor joist.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Sounds like a plan. Just double up the joists and place those steel posts under them, like three of them the length of the tank. The steel ones are adjustable and can hold up a whole house. Then you can go for a sump in the basement! I plan on at least a 100+ in our living room this coming year and that's my plan!

 

[marinerules]

Basement? I don't have a basement lol. Maybe I misread your post. I mentioned the pouring concrete under the house. He said we could if I just wanted yo. I told him u was afraid of the weight of the tank sinking the blocks into the dirt below the house but he said withh the weight of the tank sitting in six or eight built up columns of cinder blocks it wouldn't cause the weight would be shared on all of em lol

 

[Loserland]

Putting a 460 on the main floor tonight. House is 15 years
Old and contractor says it will be know problem with a steel I beam my house has already installed.

 

[marinerules]

Sweet. Lol. I'd live to have a tank that big. I'm so proud of this old house I fixed up. Plus it's rent free lol Which means more money for fish haha The 240 in the wall in my kitchen will awesome. It's a 13 by 16 room and for the ceiling in the room that has the tank I'm gonna do a strip of corrugated metal. Then a 1x4 board stained. Then repeat this pattern. Then for the trim of the in wall tank I'm gonna use stained 1x4s as well

 

[keithhays]

I have a little over 300 gallons on red oak tongue & groove wood. It is 6ft by 2ft footprint that run lengthwise to the 8" floor joists which is over a crawl space. I had an engineer out and they designed a wooden beam system which sits on concrete footings dug into the crawl space creating a box of 6" x 6" beams a little bigger than the footprint of the tanks. I live in TN and it took 2 or 3 guys two days solid of actual work not accounting for the concrete time to complete. It cost about $2500 altogether.

 

[marinerules]

Expensive

 

[keithhays]

...the 6x6 beams are wood.

 

[keithhays]

Expensive

True, but my Dad isn't a contractor. And, not nearly as expensive as your own private tidal wave.

 

[mtcoins123]

i have never seen a 250 to 400 on anything other than a wood stand not to be a smart alec but i think the stand is built a lot less sturdy than most floors in modern homes so i would guess if your floor looks more structuraly sound than a stand you should be fine

 

[marinerules]

good point mtcoins123 lol

 

[Epicreefer]

If your dad knows what he's doing then it shouldn't be a problem, just make sure the new post footers are on solid ground. Spread across 5 beams it's only about 500lb a beam

 

[Giovanni]

I have a 330 on a wood floor.

 

[marinerules]

ok... im at my parents house now, the 240 has freshwater in it, with no fish. is it ok to empty the water now even though we wont be moving the the tank for about 2 weeks or so , or will it damage the silicone or something if it all dries out ? just want to make sure, its had water in it since ive bought it lol

 

[keithhays]

It will fine for two weeks, I have had tanks sitting on my back patio for months with no issues.

 

[KBzreef]

Keith, I live in a house built in the 40's. To suuport my 300gal, we went into the crawl place and scabbed onto the existing joists, tied the joists together where the tank would sit front and back, and supported the joists with cap blocks in the front and rear. It is not going anywhere. We are not contractors or engineers, but i know my floor is not a concern.