Large tank on first floor???

[jwoyshnar]

Hello all. Ill be setting up a 180 gallon reef here shortly. I have a concern on putting it on my main floor of my ranch home. It is a newer home but all of that weight scares me. The tank stand and just water weigh 1800 lbs. Does anyone have one on their first floor and what steps if any did you do to support the floor?

 

[Jdbrine]

If its on the first floor and the floors are built right you'll be fine. You have to consider how the weight is dispursed out. When you break it down by square inch that 1800 lbs is greatly reduced......

 

[billdogg]

If you can put it on a load bearing wall you will be fine. That means either against an outside wall or on one of the steel cross beams that go across in your basement. If that is not an option, HD/Lowes have floor jacks for about $30 that will give you all the support you need. Use one and a couple 3 2x6's laminated together as a cross member.

 

[steelhead77]

Well, if you wouldn't put it on the first floor, what floor would you put it on? Any house that was built in the last half century, should be able to handle this just fine.

 

[PGUY1]

For a six foot 180, just make sure you have five or six floor joists running perpendicular to the aquarium, instead of having a couple running parallel to it. It's all about picking the right wall to put it against. I have a four foot 120 on my second floor and was worried. So I had the architect come out and he said my joists sat on top of my first floor load bearing wall running perpendicular to the aquarium; so I should be fine. Still, I get some floor shake that is a little scary. Like when my young son starts jumping around... STOP THAT!...RIGHT NOW!

 

[funkejj]

I have my 180 with sump on the main floor of my house. I have it sitting over 5 joists. The span worked out for me as it is over my utility room so the span on the joists are only 3 feet. I worried about the first week then have pretty much stopped worrying. It will be fine as long as it is next to a load bearing wall.

 

[travis32]

I'm going to be setting up a 125 (6ft) on first floor, but I have a 4ft crawl space underneith. So, I'm going to set it up as others have advised, floor joises running perpendicular to the aquarium just to be safe. My dad whom, has down carpentry and framing, and sheetrocking, and another person we had talked to about insulating our crawl space indicated that he was surprised they used large 12" floor joices. Meaning we needed more than normal insulation to fill in between the floor joices.

For the aqurium though, I know that I have good sturdy floor joices, and around 3 or 4 of them running perpendicular to the aquarium. So, the weight will be nicely distributed.

 

[tkeracer619]

I have a 360 with a 120 sump on the first floor.

I wouldn't worry at all about a 180

I did brace the floor in the crawl space with floor jacks but it held just fine without the bracing.

 

[jwoyshnar]

Thanks for all the replies. The problem I have is the only place I can put it is parallel with the floor joists. It will be directly over the center beam in the basement. I have been thinking of putting up a small support wall right under the beam for support. I just wanted to see what everyone else does. I thought about waiting til my basement was done but I am too impatient for that. 180 gallon in my basement just sitting there now is driving me nuts. Thanks again.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

1,800 pounds isn't much in the realm of floor support. Before the sheetrock was put on the walls, it sat on the same floor, and it weighs considerably more.

Jeff

 

[Alex T.]

+1 with PGUY1. Just put it perpendicular to the floor joists and you'll be fine. I do flooring for a living, and have even piled more weight than that in hardwood flooring on jobsites in that small of a footprint.

Unless your house was built by the first two little pigs you're good to go.

 

[JPMagyar]

My house was built in 1999. I placed my 240 against a load bearing wall and still had a 1/8/ to 1/4 inch sag develop in the flooring. Since then I have employed four columns under the tank floor in my basement similar to the picture shown below which came from ReefBum's TOTM spread last year. I'm sure 99% of floors can take a 180 with no trouble, but if your are in anyway concerned the cost of a few columns is very minimal.

 

[trueperc]

I have a 210 on the first floor of a townhouse. No issue.

 

[fishgutz]

I have installed and maintained a 180 in a mobile home back when I used to do aquarium maintenance. Nuff said!

 

[Lynnmw1208]

depends on who built it. If it's a Ryan home then I'd say support the floor. I actually asked the builder to find out how much weight the floor could hold and he said I could get about a 150g and be ok. Any more than that and I should support.

also consider whether the floor boards run parallel or perpendicular. you definitely want them running perpendicular to the tank for more support.