New Aquarium planning

[lbear]

I plan to upgrade my aquarium from 90 gal bow front tank to 150 gal custom tank and move it to the place closer to the stairway of my house. The problem is I am not sure if the floor in that area can support the weight of the whole system or not. I contact the builder of my house but haven't got any answer yet.

I guess it's concrete under the wooden floor but not sure. I knock on the floor of that area. It seems it's very solid all over the place. Does anybody know how to check it?

 

[magma01]

is there a crawl space under the floor?

 

[dantodd]

If you tap around and there is no sound difference it is probably concrete underneath. If it is built on joists you should be able to hear a different sound between the joists. If it is a joisted floor be sure that your tank is running 90 degrees across the joists.

 

[Nu2SW]

How old is the house and where is it located?

If its a recent build, it should be concrete. I believe you could go down to the city planners office and get the building specs for it... I think not sure.

 

[lbear]

The only thing stops me moving forward is this floor business. The builder (Ponderosa) hasn't give me any feedback yet. The house is in Union City and less than 10 years old. It will be good if I can get some information from the city.

 

[Nu2SW]

Just had a thought, one way to find out is dig along the side or back of the house and see whats just a few inches under dirt line.

Kinda dirty and tedious, but just an idea

 

[fishnfst]

Most of those homes were built on slab.. It is much more work to have to build forms for footings all of the way around the house.. It is much easier to form a box and fill it with concrete.. Not all of them are though.. When you look outside is there any crawlspaces or vents that look like they may lead to a subfloor? Does your house look like it is at ground level on par with the grade outside your home? Most subfloor made out of 1.125 plywood and solid or gluelams will be plenty strong to hold your 150g...

 

[Qwiv]

Um, this should be pretty easy. I am assuming you are on the first floor or this would be a no brainer. Walk around the outside of your house. If the house is on a raised floor, then there will be some sort of access to get under the house, this could be inside as well. There will also be vents around your house just above the ground level. If you don't see these, you are on a concrete slab and can pretty much place a normal size tank anywhere. The second test you can do is to just jump up and down on a wood or tile floor, if it feels like solid concrete below, it is. If you feel a little spring/mushy feeling or things shake in your house, your on a raised floor.

Get back to us if you come to the conclusion you are on a raised floor and we can figure out which way the joists go.