want to buy a 200 gallon or bigger tank
- Thread starter gator996
- Start date
Thanks, I would need to find out if the floor in my house could hold that kind of weight, the house i bought is rather new, a few years old and is built off the ground, i have never owned a house off the ground so this is a first for me, the house seems solid enough, but can anyone tell me if i should worry about the weight as long as it is in my downstairs part of the house? I know it sounds crazy but I just really dont know.
doodoobrown
New member
just a stab but i would imagine you would need some sort of additional support to go under the tank esp 500 gal. even 200 or 300 is alot of weight when you factor in the volume of water not including substrate and sump volume since you talking rr and any rock you add. you are very quickly going to pass 2000lb with the smallest of your choices. i think i would feel much better with some additional support.
PhoenixINX
New member
When you say built off the ground... Are you describing what I would think of as a crawl space?
If so, what I had planned on doing was pouring a concrete pad under the crawl space where I was going to put the tank. Then use home jacks (identical to what they use for sagging foundations) to give extra support to the beams. Fairly inexpensive project... just labor intensive.
My 500g has plenty of space under the tank in its stand for fuges, etc. as the overflows dump straight down.
Let me know if you are interested. I'll admit I got a GREAT deal on it years ago, and I'd pass that along to you!
Phoenix, would you send me your info on how to get in touch with you? And yes i am talking about the crawl space i guess you would say, theres no way to pour concrete under the house though that i can see, but who knows, im sure anythng is possible , i would love to see some pics of the tank if you could send me some that would be great, thanks.
EvilMel
is a serious goby fanatic
We just braced the floor under our house for the 240g tank. It was pretty easy once we actually got into it.
We put these concrete block thingies (they have like a plus sign in the top, maybe pilons?) under where the tank would go, then braced the house with these really fat square pieces of wood (possibly 4x4s or 6x6s). Then we thought we were going to have to add shims to make it the right height but we didn't. They cut the wood really close in size.
Obviously I didn't have a big role in actually getting this done, plus I have no clue what any of this stuff is called, but anyways...there's my description.
We had talked about pouring a concrete base and putting the wood into that, but we had a friend who is an architect come over and he said we didn't need to do that at all. Luckily where I put it, one end sits over the center joist of the house.
We put these concrete block thingies (they have like a plus sign in the top, maybe pilons?) under where the tank would go, then braced the house with these really fat square pieces of wood (possibly 4x4s or 6x6s). Then we thought we were going to have to add shims to make it the right height but we didn't. They cut the wood really close in size.
Obviously I didn't have a big role in actually getting this done, plus I have no clue what any of this stuff is called, but anyways...there's my description.
We had talked about pouring a concrete base and putting the wood into that, but we had a friend who is an architect come over and he said we didn't need to do that at all. Luckily where I put it, one end sits over the center joist of the house.
gflat65
New member
I had to brace under my house before adding a 55 to the 40... It is relatively new (well, ten years old now) and has crawl space. I still get some motion, but have a 120 and a 125 with a 10 and top off water in a 15 gallon tub all along the same wall). I used cinderblocks and wood. The cinderblocks got me close and the 2x4's got me the rest of the way. I was told that I should have put plastic sheeting between the wood and the wood from the house to prevent termites... All of the existing block supports had it, but I missed that detail. As for pouring cement, you can make your own and pour it into a form, if you wanted to go that route. Would be labor intensive, but doable.
EvilMel
is a serious goby fanatic
I suppose it also depends on a couple of things:
a) how tall the crawl space is inside (mine is only about 2.5 feet)
b) how far into the crawl space the spot you need to brace is.
I totally and completely lucked out because my spot that I had to brace was like about 6 inches from the door to the crawl space. Man...LUUUUCKY.
a) how tall the crawl space is inside (mine is only about 2.5 feet)
b) how far into the crawl space the spot you need to brace is.
I totally and completely lucked out because my spot that I had to brace was like about 6 inches from the door to the crawl space. Man...LUUUUCKY.
gflat65
New member
I crawled around like Gollum with cinderblaock in each hand as I lizarded (I love making up words) my way to the front of the house. The rear section of the house is braced perpendicular to the front part... It took may hours on several days to get it all in place. The crawlspace starts about 4' high and drop to ~18" in the very front. Needless to say, my big butt was moving cinderblocks while laying flat on my belly with arms outstretched over my head. I hurt for days after that
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.PhoenixINX
New member
Best way is either email, or cell phone...
Email - Chris_Vazquez@Comcast.net which through that I'll reply with my cell.
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