suggestions?

[lil_fishey]

ok so ive been talkin to the old man about settin the tank back up and for those of you that dont remember he had a 75 gallon with a 55 sump, now our problem is... were not sure where to put it. it seems that the main floor is out of the question because of space issues, he dosent think the floor in the house down here can support enough to have it on the second floor (in my room) and he thinks it will be neglected in the basement.... so thats my delema.

now for my questions. do you think that the second floor of a 100 year old house could hold that much weight? or would it maybe be better for me to just aquire a little bit smaller tank and use it... note this would not be easy as my financial situation is not so good rite now... but if that is out of the question then about the only thing left to do would be to set it up in the basement in me and my friends "hang out room" which is not used a TON but still gets used and would provide an "audience" for the tank...

now realize im just looking for opinions but any and all are apreciated. thanks in advance!

(sorry for the spelling and grammer... myspace and msn are not good for the english language)

 

[got2lb]

I have my 100 gal. tank with 55gal. sump on the main floor of my house. No problems. It's a 100 year old house as well. Try to put it on an exterior wall running perpindicular to the floor trusses. That way it's spanning across more than 1 or 2 beams.

 

[acidlittle]

I say be safe and throw it in the basement, if the basement doesn't get much use, now it will....

 

[lil_fishey]

yea i think i can get him talked into the basement... but now it comes down to getting the LR, we have some left but now ill need some to seed the rest of it.

 

[mnballard]

Old Houses

Old Houses

From my personal experience with 100 year old houses, I would be much more comfortable with floors and strength in an old house than in any modern era house.

In my old house which was built in 1901, to start with, the floor joists were actual 2X12's, not 1 1/2. The underlayment was 1"X4" run at a 45 degree angle and then had 1" hardwood flooring on top of that, not only great for strength, but built for weight distribution as well. Look at the old claw foot cast iron bathtubs in those houses, very heavy.

The flooring in modern houses is only 3/4 inch particle board. Don't be afraid just because the house is old. You might want to go in your basement and look up at the floor boards and look for the 45 degree underlayment to see if it's built the same.

 

[phishcrazee]

I would just get a smaller tank, say a 29g, and put it on the main floor or in your room. Less expensive that way as well, as you need less lighting, less live rock, smaller water changes=smaller amount of salt to buy etc. Check out the nano tanks thread and you'll see some of the prettiest tanks in the club That's what I would do if I had limited space and $$$, good luck!

 

[Modemagic]

Re: Old Houses

Re: Old Houses

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9696536#post9696536 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mnballard
From my personal experience with 100 year old houses, I would be much more comfortable with floors and strength in an old house than in any modern era house.

In my old house which was built in 1901, to start with, the floor joists were actual 2X12's, not 1 1/2. The underlayment was 1"X4" run at a 45 degree angle and then had 1" hardwood flooring on top of that, not only great for strength, but built for weight distribution as well. Look at the old claw foot cast iron bathtubs in those houses, very heavy.

The flooring in modern houses is only 3/4 inch particle board. Don't be afraid just because the house is old. You might want to go in your basement and look up at the floor boards and look for the 45 degree underlayment to see if it's built the same.

I'm with him 110%! My house is 105 years old and I'm willing to bet I could park a tank on my floor. A guy down the block actually was rebuilding/restoring a car and assembled it in his dining room, so I know it can hold some weight. Any floor would be fine, IMO.