How much weight can each joist hold? I live on a slab now, but plan to move. Depending on the house, I would like to have the tank on the 1st floor. I estimate the tank to be around 2000lbs. My brother just bought a 150gal and he was wondering the same thing. He put it in the basement to be safe.
Weight Limit on 1st floor
- Thread starter d_hartke
- Start date
vonodie1
New member
I am certainly not qualified to answer your question, but can tell you what the fish maintenance guy that I talked to told me about my 2nd floor aquarium....
He told me that he has put 400 gallon glass tanks on 2nd floors, so I don't see any problem with you having one on the first floor.
HTH
He told me that he has put 400 gallon glass tanks on 2nd floors, so I don't see any problem with you having one on the first floor.
HTH
I highly recommend getting the advice of a structural engineer. Although the floor may hold the tank initially, over time is where the problems will arise. It is just good peace of mind, IMHO. I have a 240g on the second floor of my house and after consulting with an engineer, we doubled all the joists under the tank and I have 2x10's.
The size of the floor joists and the direction they run are what is significant. Having just completed the building of my house and talking to engineers, I found this out. The tank should be placed perpendicular to the joists. My house has 10" joists on the first floor and I was told it would hold up just about anything.
anjhof
Member
It also depends on the span of the joists - if they are spanning 10 feet or more between your main supports - I beam, concrete, etc - you are starting to stretch the limits. I am adding a 210 to a 1st floor room above a basement. The tank runs perpendicular to the 10" floor joists, and the span between the I beam and the concrete is about 7 1/2 feet. I talked to an architect and he said it wouldn't hurt to double up the joists. He said you may see some flexing or bouncyness to the floor overtime if you don't.
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html
This is what made me sure that I could have my 80 gallon upstairs, HTH.
This is what made me sure that I could have my 80 gallon upstairs, HTH.
