Is the floor strong enough???

[creep]

I am going to be putting a 180g in my house and was doing some math to figure out how much weight the floor will actually need to hold. According to my math everything will weigh about 3500lbs. the tank is 72X24X24. thats 12 square feet right? so if the tank is 3500lbs over 12 square feet, thats just over 291lbs per square foot. Considering I regularly have friends over that are over the 300lb mark and their feet aren't much larger than a foot total, I shouldn't have a problem with the floor supporting the tank right? Is my math right? I'm not on a slab, i'm on a raised foundation with wooden floor joists.

 

[GuOD]

I think 3500 is a high estimate.

Your friends don't stand in a single spot for months/years on end though

I'd get someone to check it out before risking it!

 

[Bathel]

If your tank is going to weight 3500 pounds... then I would be scared. However, I'm not sure what math you're using to get to that 3500 number. 180 gal's of water only weighs 1440 pounds.

 

[creep]

I know I over estimated the total weight of the tank. but i'm going to have a 75 tank for a sump, home made stand, and i'm not sure how much the tank weighs. I wanted to make sure i was on the hight end rather than the low end. It will more likely be around 3000lbs I think.

 

[Bebo77]

reinforce it... check out my thread(redhouse) to see how to do it....

 

[creep]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I will definitely reinforce the floor. I can't add a cement slab like Bebo did, but should using the cement pillers supporting boards that run perpendicular to the floor joists work?

 

[emoore]

Where is the tank going? GuOD is right. The tank will be a static load while your friends are a dynamic load. I would get a structural engineer to look at it.

 

[Bathel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11986724#post11986724 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by creep
I know I over estimated the total weight of the tank. but i'm going to have a 75 tank for a sump, home made stand, and i'm not sure how much the tank weighs. I wanted to make sure i was on the hight end rather than the low end. It will more likely be around 3000lbs I think.

If you decide to go for it, I'd recommend making sure you place the tank across the joist instead of running with the joist.

To be honest, I would consult an engineer first before you do it.

 

[creep]

The tank will be up against a load bearing wall going against the joists. Because of everyone's suggestions, i will be adding 3 pillars for each joist spanning the 6ftX2ft of the tank that will support 2X6's running perpendicular to the joists. In essence creating a stand under the floor. It seems like this should be more than enough to carry the load.

 

[MCary]

Your joists and floor will easy hold the weight. The forces are sheer forces and crush forces. The tank will not fall through the floor. However, it could force things out of square, causing doors to stick or plaster and taped joints to crack.

You can buy steel telescoping support posts at the BORG (Big orange retail giant, includes lowes even though its blue). They cost about $25 ea and can support 16,000 pounds.

Mike