will my floor support a 125g?

[leeweber85]

I'm upgrading to a 125g and it doesn't fit very well on the walls that the floor joists run perpendicular. Will it be alright to run it parallel with the floor joists?


oh yeah, standard 125: 6' x 18" approximately 1500lbs

 

[xroads]

I would say yes. You wouldnt worry about 7 grown men standing in a small area like that. About same weight, and spread out more evenly.

 

[dl1030]

keep it close to the wall, or major joint, and you will be golden. the futher you streatch something out over a gap the more stress you will put on the joint. like holding 5lbs next to your chest is easy for 20 minutes, do it with outstretched arms and you will have a problem.

 

[mwood]

You may bug the guys in the DIY forum. You'll need to know details about your floor joists. 2*8, 2*10, 2*12? Space between? Will the tank be over 1 or 2 joists? Interior or exterior wall? Length of joists the tank will be on?

 

[leeweber85]

good idea marcus.

 

[got2lb]

Not sure how your lower floor is setup but if it's in a utility room or something you could always put Floor jacks under the joists to help support the weight. IT might not sag at first but over a period of time I bet it will. The Seven grown men don't stand in the same spot for years at a time!

 

[Coralfreak]

Hi Lee,

I saw your post in the DIY forum, I may be able to help you out. Can you recheck your measurements, as mentioned in the DIY forum, a 23ft span is way to much for a 2x8 to handle. Is there a beam running down the center of your house that the joists go over? This would be fairly typical and make much more sense.

Allen

 

[leeweber85]

haha yeah, there is a beam running down the middle, triple 2x12" I believe.

 

[glaspie69]

If it were me and I had to run the tank parallel with the floor joists I would definitely make sure that it would run on two joists. I've seen two floors now that have started to sink because they were titering on one floor joist. Maybe you could put some 3/4" ply under the stand to spread the weight.

 

[mwood]

I see you got a bit of a hard time on the DIY forum. I think you have a couple options given the responses.

Go with an exterior wall running perpendicular to your floor joists. That should work good for sure. You'd have 4 or 5 joists supported by the foundation.

If your really want to run parallel, I'd get a contractor in there to add extra support. You'd have to drop that drop ceiling and add some extra 2x8's or other support.

You may get away with it as is, but you may not long term.

Good luck Lee.

 

[Coralfreak]

I am going to agree with Marcus, you should really get someone in there to look this over.

 

[leeweber85]

I guess I could always put it in the basement (barn/farming theme with a big *** fish tank haha).

 

[Atticus]

Another big problem with parallel floor joists is tank tilt. You will notice the tank wobble a lot when anyone stands near the tank or on the same joist. If you have kids this is a huge problem as the tank can really start swaying. Odds of tipping it over are slim, but torque on tank seals, stand joints, and floor joists is never good. Floor jacks might work or if you can get to the joists maybe you could tie two or three together under the tank by nailing in a few perpendicular boards/cross braces.