Michigan Cichlid Association
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: thebbqguy on August 27, 2015, 09:17:31 PM
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Now that I am seriously considering where to place a 120 gallon aquarium in our house I am beginning to think about whether the floor will support 1,300 - 1,400 lbs in weight. Has anyone had trouble placing an aquarium of this size near a load bearing wall in a modern built home?
I have a basement, but it's not a walk out and getting the aquarium downstairs would not be easy.
I prefer a 4 foot footprint vs. 6 foot although I know a 6 foot is actually probably a little easier on the floor.
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Do you have a blueprint? I do estimating for a large lumber company and could have a floor estimator take a look for you. My 125 came in around 1550-1600 lbs and I wasn't comfortable putting anything on my main floor as the home is built in the 90s when they got away from using solid lumber for floor joists. I'm sure it would be fine, but better safe than sorry.
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I had a 150 gallon 3rd floor up. Had it on outside wall with no problem.
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You could put a metal support post underneath the tank area pushing against a 2x4 that is underneath the support joist or joists to give you piece of mind. Lowes or home depot have them.
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Check this site, www.african-cichlid.com click article about aquarium weight and wood framed floors..
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Wow. The question doesn't seem to have an easy answer other than to be totally comfortable the basement is the best option. But a 125 would likely be OK if proper location is identified on the main floor. I didn't realize it was a loaded question.
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some years ago i lived upstairs in a rickety old house..in the front room i had a 150 wide..2 75s...2 20 highs..2 20 longs..a 29...6 10s..a 40 long and a 50...
no problemo..
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I had a 55 gallon, 2 29 gals, 40 breeder and a 30 long all up in my bes room on the second floor for a year or 2 and it was fine.
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I have two 165's and a 135g on a triple stand on an interior wall in my home over a crawl space. So, 465 gallons and totaling approximately 2.5 tons on a 6'x2' footprint. The home was built in 1938 and I massively reinforced the floor joints and added 6 new footings. I have had no problems and it has been set up for over a year.
Years ago, I had a 90g and a 200g next to each other on the main floor of a different house, over a basement and on an outside load-bearing wall. I did not reinforce anything and had no problems with that either.
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Do you have a blueprint? I do estimating for a large lumber company and could have a floor estimator take a look for you. My 125 came in around 1550-1600 lbs and I wasn't comfortable putting anything on my main floor as the home is built in the 90s when they got away from using solid lumber for floor joists. I'm sure it would be fine, but better safe than sorry.
Most of the homes I framed in the 90's (over 95%) used 2 x 10's as floor joists, the ones that didn't used engineered floor joists that I would've trusted more than 2 x 10's.
Unless you're putting up a tank larger than 240, you shouldn't have anything to worry about in a modern home.
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it mostly depends on what is underneath the load to support it. the thing you want to look for is long spans and possible joints or missing parts in the beams (holes from air ducts or plumbing). the critical areas on a beam are the top and bottom 2 inches or so. so if you have cut notches in the floor joist you just cut the 2x10 to say a 2x8.
in short if you dont put your tank in the center of your house, your probably ok.