New Tank > Foundation?

[xmike24]

So, I'm planning on buying a house in a couple months and was wondering if there would be a way I could test the foundation to see how big of a tank I would be able to put on the first floor. I know theres support beams in the basement where it looks like they lifted it a little so I'm not sure if I should go too large.

Did everyone just jump right into their big tank for their house and just hope for the best?

 

[gone fishin]

I moved last spring. so when house hunting I looked for finished basements or ones that could be finished. I would only trust what an engineer had to say.

 

[pascal32]

I moved last spring. so when house hunting I looked for finished basements or ones that could be finished. I would only trust what an engineer had to say.

that or overbuild it I have 4 support poles and two 4x4s under my 120. floor in that room has never felt so solid

picture from the original build. you can see the supply and drain lines along with the electrical, RKE and control lines for switches in the ceiling:

 

[NirvanaFan]

So, I'm planning on buying a house in a couple months and was wondering if there would be a way I could test the foundation to see how big of a tank I would be able to put on the first floor. I know theres support beams in the basement where it looks like they lifted it a little so I'm not sure if I should go too large.

Did everyone just jump right into their big tank for their house and just hope for the best?

How big of a tank are you thinking? Are you talking 75 or 180 gallons? Different people have different ideas on what a big tank is.

Your home inspector may be able to give you a good idea, but he will probably tell you to call an engineer in. I wouldn't have a problem setting up a 75 pretty much anywhere, but if you go over that, consult a pro to come in. It will be money well spent.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Did everyone just jump right into their big tank for their house and just hope for the best?

I doubt it but you never know
:facepalm:

key questions: how large is the aquarium... what kind of weight ?

how old is the house.... what do the joists look like?

 

[logansreef]

are you gonna put it next to an exterior wall so it will have the support of the foundation? That plays a big part compared to a tank that is towards the middle of a house.

If its in the middle i would def get two support posts sitting on 8"-12" poured concrete slabs and make a beam down the middle of the tank to be safe. Better to spend a couple hours and $200-$300 than have a devestating lose from the floor giving out....that would be no good!!!

 

[magdelan]

Are there any reports/stories of people's floors actually giving out? I know that we all take precautions, but I have never even heard of a "ghost story" where this has happened.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Are there any reports/stories of people's floors actually giving out? I know that we all take precautions, but I have never even heard of a "ghost story" where this has happened.

USUALLY ... a floor will not fail catastrophically "out of the blue".

What happens.... and I've seen it happen.... is that the floor starts to buckle.

This is very common when people don't do their homework and place a heavy aquarium parallel to floor joists with no reinforcing supports.

People tend not to realize how heavy an aquarium is.

 

[Jacwil]

All I know is when I began filling our 150g for the first time with for a fw leak chk, the entire time I skipped from one joist to the next and measure from floor to joist in the basement lol.

I installed ours directly over the center of our center bearing wall in the house. It isn't a steel I-beam that is in most current house but rather a big 2x8 header x4, over-lapped and sitting on steel posts every 8' the length of the house.

When we remodeled our kitchen last Fall, we opened up the area from kitchen to living room that would house our aquarium. I went overkill above and installed a double 12" LVL Microlam header, (had these leftover from a project), in the 10' space. This is obviously carrying the load from above, so I'm no engineer but I figured the basement beam is now primarily carrying our DT's load.

If you have any questions DO consult an engineer or at least chat with a buddy that might be in the construction field and ask their opinion. Don't take any chances.

IMO a floor wouldn't just all of a sudden fail and everything ends up in the basement. I believe during initial fill up you would notice all kinds of red-flags such as loud creaking and some noticeable bow-age/deflection...if ignored and continued to fill then maybe things might become a touch more dramatic .

One thing I DO sometimes get weirded out a bit about is when I have a ton of people hovering around the DT at once LOL. I find myself sometimes counting "Hmmm...1, 2, 3...10, 11...ok x 125-200lbs each..ooookkkk" lol.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, floors don't fail spectacularly. It's more of a slow, bowing/buckling/separating/craciking sort of thing. I'm no engineer, but when in doubt... Steel. It's cheap and effective. In some cases, just a couple posts are all that's needed, in others, maybe some extra beams and posts. A couple thoughts, if you are planning on a really big tank (say over 180) and are looking to install jack posts in the middle of the floor, you might need to pour some extra concrete where you want to install those posts. We're talking BIG tanks of course and not-the-best basement floors.

Another consideration with really any tank is if you've got real hardwood flooring (especially thinner-board stuff) that's not the most-level and you find yourself needing significant corner shimms, do more than just the corner. Stick some under other parts of the length so that you don't stress/flex just a single board. It's more an issue for folks with older houses that have that old 1" board flooring. The framing underneath is often really beefy, but the subflooring gets flexy ove the years and the floorboards themselves can flex/push/move with the point-force of a shim.

 

[xmike24]

Awesome! Thanks everyone.
In the long run I don't think I'll be going the 180 route. 75 - 100 sounds more reasonable to me.

 

[SkiFletch]

Then you shouldn't have much problem worrying about major foundation issues mike. If you're perpendicular to your joists I wouldn't worry about it. If you're parallel, you might want to consider tacking an extra 2xwhatever to the floor joists.