reef tank 2.0
Member
It has been a year since I have shut my tank down till I could find a home to relocate to. That time has finally come, as of July 25th. Now that I am settled in, and have figured out where I'd like this tank to go, I now need some structural knowledge about the floor.
I started reaching out to a structural engineer to get exact numbers, but I'm trying to steer away from that, due to the expense for a quick yes or no response. I figured I asked this same question in the past, with success, so why not ask again. :fun4:
Little run down on the house. The home is 70 years old. Has plaster walls :facepalm:, has a full basement, and has hard wood floors.
Where I'd like the tank to go, is in the corner of exterior walls. (On two sides of the tank). Below the tank, in the basement, is 2x10 floor joists, and they span roughly 16" on center. I don't think it matters with the location of the tank, but you'll see a red line in the image I am attaching. That represents a steel beam that runs perpendicular to the floor joists. It's a ways away from the tank, so I don;t think it helps me any.
I am not sure how far away from the wall I want the back of the tank. I don't recall ever needing to go back there for any reason, so having it tight against the wall might not be a bad thing. But obviously, If I ever have to get a fish that escaped or if I drop something behind it, I would definitely need access to it. But the clearance on the ends of the tank will be rather minimal, so I couldn't even walk behind it anyways. There's always access through the back of the stand. I will be redoing the skin of the stand that has 2x4 construction, so I can make this access hole as large/small as I need. But I am still tinkering with that. I could always shove the tank over to the left as far as it would go, then that would also buy me some room on the right of the tank and possibly allow me to bring it forward a tad without interfering with access to the kitchen.
For the purpose of this thread, can anyone look at the layout I'm attaching, and tell me if I would have anything to worry about with the floor joists not being able to support the tank?
I will have other threads created once I determine where this tank can go. I am limited on walls, but will also consider downsizing if need be. But I'd certainly like to avoid that since I have everything to get this back up and running.
I started reaching out to a structural engineer to get exact numbers, but I'm trying to steer away from that, due to the expense for a quick yes or no response. I figured I asked this same question in the past, with success, so why not ask again. :fun4:
Little run down on the house. The home is 70 years old. Has plaster walls :facepalm:, has a full basement, and has hard wood floors.
Where I'd like the tank to go, is in the corner of exterior walls. (On two sides of the tank). Below the tank, in the basement, is 2x10 floor joists, and they span roughly 16" on center. I don't think it matters with the location of the tank, but you'll see a red line in the image I am attaching. That represents a steel beam that runs perpendicular to the floor joists. It's a ways away from the tank, so I don;t think it helps me any.
I am not sure how far away from the wall I want the back of the tank. I don't recall ever needing to go back there for any reason, so having it tight against the wall might not be a bad thing. But obviously, If I ever have to get a fish that escaped or if I drop something behind it, I would definitely need access to it. But the clearance on the ends of the tank will be rather minimal, so I couldn't even walk behind it anyways. There's always access through the back of the stand. I will be redoing the skin of the stand that has 2x4 construction, so I can make this access hole as large/small as I need. But I am still tinkering with that. I could always shove the tank over to the left as far as it would go, then that would also buy me some room on the right of the tank and possibly allow me to bring it forward a tad without interfering with access to the kitchen.
For the purpose of this thread, can anyone look at the layout I'm attaching, and tell me if I would have anything to worry about with the floor joists not being able to support the tank?
I will have other threads created once I determine where this tank can go. I am limited on walls, but will also consider downsizing if need be. But I'd certainly like to avoid that since I have everything to get this back up and running.
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