How do i reinforce my floor?

[LBFish]

I'm thinking of getting a 65 G saltwater tank, it will be my first. But, my house sits on a raised foundation and i'm not sure it can handle the weight without causing the floor to sag over time. It is also going to be on travertine tile which was floated so obviously I don't want to crack the flooring either.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can reinforce the floor?

Thanks.

 

[shovel]

if the tank is only sitting on one joist you will need to reinforce a little, if it sits on 3 or more no worrys. for the stand dont get an iron stand the four points of contact will destroy the tile get a wood stand that has wood aound the perimeter so the tank will have a larger foot print. then line the tank up on a grout line in tile and cracking issiues will be minumil

 

[pIankton]

If I recall, I thnk anything 75 gallons or less would be generally considered "safe", but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Can't help with the possibility of cracking the tile, but I re-inforced my floor when I upgraded to my 125.

First you need to get under the house and take measurements and assess what you can and can't do under there. My floor happened to be raised off of an existing concrete garage floor by about 16" so I had plenty of bearing support under the house. I went to HD and bought 2 house jacks (in the roofing area for some reason) and a treated 4 x 6 x 8 timber. I went under the house and with some help we placed the 4 x 6 on the jacks and snugged them up to the joists.

In addition, try to make sure that the wall the tank will be up against is a load bearing wall as the joists will be resting on the block or a sill plate or something a little more structural.

Worked for me - tank doesn't wobble or anything even if I jump on the floor next to it.

 

[LBFish]

I agree pIankton, I would rather be safe then sorry. I've been under there and the only place I can put it that it would cross over 2 joists is next to an outside wall. The good news is that it is obviously load bearing, the bad news is there are windows all the way across the top of that wall. Would the direct sunlight from those windows cause issues with maintaining the tank?

And i'm not so lucky, all dirt under my house so I will have to figure out a way to support two house jacks.

Thanks for the replies, keep em coming if anyone has more advice, I can use it!

 

[46FiatYamaha]

if it's dirt underneath, you can use pier blocks http://www.beconstructive.com/consumer/weekend_deck.asp (only pic I could find, but available at Lowes and HD) level them out, measure from block to joist and cut 4 x 4's 1/8" over that and hammer them in. I have two under my 120 and solid as a rock

 

[pIankton]

My tank sits in front of a window, but I keep the blinds closed there so no light in (except for just a very little bit in the morning). As for the light coming in, I wouldn't worry about that as a lot of people are culturing in greenhouses now and using SolaTubes for light sources. I would be more concerned with the temperature fluctuation coming from the windows than anything else.

 

[TAB]

I'm a GC, your fine.

 

[buy_baff]

No need to reinforce.

 

[jubjub]

yeah i would say over 100g reinforce....but im going to be doing that this sat for my 90gal+60gal sump... i'll take pics

 

[jbird69]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14977062#post14977062 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 46FiatYamaha
if it's dirt underneath, you can use pier blocks http://www.beconstructive.com/consumer/weekend_deck.asp (only pic I could find, but available at Lowes and HD) level them out, measure from block to joist and cut 4 x 4's 1/8" over that and hammer them in. I have two under my 120 and solid as a rock

I dont see the need to beef it up, but if you do, the above advise is excellent. I have done this quite a few times for various reasons. I actuall just used 2 pressure treated 2x4s and a peir block. One 2x4 fits snuggly under the joist down to the block, and the second is nailed or screwed to it and is longer, going from the pier, up the side of the joist and fastened to the joist. Super duper strong.

As for the travertine, you can knock on it with your knuckle and listen for hollow spots (youll defeintly hear them) I like to drag a light fixture chain across tile to find the hollow spots. Its quick and the sound is unmistakable. If there arent any hollow spots under the tile, you can really do anything you want, if there are, I would cut a peice of plywood to match the footprint of your stand in order to broadcast the load.

I wouldnt worry too much with that tank size tho.

 

[hhaase]

The house I'm currently in has the floor joists at 24" instead of the normal 16", and the floor was pretty bouncy. So I reinforced it just to take the movement out under my 90g. I also had to deal with a dirt crawlspace. My concern wasn't the floor giving way, it was the tank having to deal with the shifting loads.

Ran a 4x4 across the joists, used a pair of colums, and then made a pad on top of the dirt with another 4x4, on top of a platform of 2x4's. I know it's overkill to some exponential factor, but it made me feel better and more importantly made my landlord feel better.

 

[metalmulisha]

If its against a weight bearing wall your fine. Anything over a 100 then I'd be worried. Plus consider the fact that your tank isn't going to be 75 gallons of water. Taking it that your on reefcentral your going to create a reef tank so overall your going to have about 45-55 gallons of water.