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Question on supporting the weight of the tanks

men_arell

men_arell

Members
I recently moved out of my parent's place and bought myself a small house. This house does not have a concrete basement like my parent's. I never had to worry about the weight of my tanks until now. I went into the crawlspace to see what room had the most support but everything seems to be floating between pillars of brick and mortar. i don't know much about building a house but i am worried that the house won't be able to support all of my tanks. There is a detached garage in the property that has a concrete floor. however it is not insulated and does not have a sink or electricity.

I want to find a solution that won't brake the bank. I don't want to leave this hobby and I don't want to rent a room in my parent's place just for it. my first plan was to build supports under the house. my second is to insulate and run electricity to the garage. i can always run a hose to it. which option do you think is best and easier on my pocket? My parent's will let me keep all of my tanks there but i don't want to inconvenience them any further. My mother even joked by saying that my hobby will be an excuse for them to see me constantly
 
Becca

Becca

Members
How big are your tanks and how many do you have?

I think 75 gallon or smaller could easily go against a load-bearing wall without problems. Josh (Batfish) has 2 92-corner tanks in his house that aren't sitting on a concrete floor. I have a 55 and a 33 in the same room on opposite walls.
 
men_arell

men_arell

Members
Becca said:
How big are your tanks and how many do you have?

I think 75 gallon or smaller could easily go against a load-bearing wall without problems. Josh (Batfish) has 2 92-corner tanks in his house that aren't sitting on a concrete floor. I have a 55 and a 33 in the same room on opposite walls.
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I have 1-120, 1-55, 2-46 bowfront, 2-20, and 1-29. I also have 4 40 breeders and another 120 from Jon that won't be running.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
I think everything but the 120 would definitely be OK so long as it's against an outside (load bearing) wall and not all crowded together on the same wall.

The 120 would *probably* be ok.

We used to have a 150 in a 2nd floor condo.
 
men_arell

men_arell

Members
Becca said:
I think everything but the 120 would definitely be OK so long as it's against an outside (load bearing) wall and not all crowded together on the same wall.

The 120 would *probably* be ok.

We used to have a 150 in a 2nd floor condo.
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Thank you very much for your input. So, everything in one room is a bad idea, right? I will spread the tanks into different rooms.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
men_arell said:
Thank you very much for your input. So, everything in one room is a bad idea, right? I will spread the tanks into different rooms.
Click to expand...

It may be, particularly if you can't get everything on an outside/load-bearing wall. Plus, having them all in one room can be really taxing on the circuit, depending on how the house is wired.

We had a lot of problems with the tanks in the basement throwing the breaker before I swapped out the power filters in the fishroom for air-driven filters and the T8s for LEDs.
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
A 120-gallon tank, with stand and all, weighs about 1100 pounds. It's spread over, what, eight square feet? (it's either 48 x 24 or 72 x 18, so eight or nine). That's 137 pounds per square foot.

I put more pressure on your floor standing there. I wouldn't worry about it. :)

It's only tanks above 100-gallons that you have to really take any worries into account. Your house should be able to hold the weight of anything else without worries. Once you cross the 100-gallon threshhold, you want to start considering placing the tanks nearer something load-bearing (the outside walls being the most obvious), and making sure that the tank is supported by joists. You want the tank to run perpendicular to the joists. If you have hardwood floors, this typically means parallel to the direction of the boards. Joists also typically run the short way in a house (i.e., if your house is 40 feet wide and twenty feet from front to back, the joists run front to back). Note the use of the word "typically." You can always go in the basements and find them. :)

Once you cross the 250-300 gallon threshhold, then you need to start worrying about whether your structure can handle it or not.

Think of it this way.... you've got three guys sitting on a couch jumping up and down and cheering for their Favourite Local Sports Team's excellent Sportsing during the Big Sports Event. They each weigh 200 pounds, the couch weighs the same, and its foot print isn't that different from your tank. That's 75% of the weight right there, yet you probably don't give a second thought to where you're going to position the couch (and chances are, it's NOT on a load bearing wall). And, the construction company doesn't want to get sued when someone goes through the floor because points were scored. :)
 
men_arell

men_arell

Members
JLW said:
A 120-gallon tank, with stand and all, weighs about 1100 pounds. It's spread over, what, eight square feet? (it's either 48 x 24 or 72 x 18, so eight or nine). That's 137 pounds per square foot.

I put more pressure on your floor standing there. I wouldn't worry about it. :)

It's only tanks above 100-gallons that you have to really take any worries into account. Your house should be able to hold the weight of anything else without worries. Once you cross the 100-gallon threshhold, you want to start considering placing the tanks nearer something load-bearing (the outside walls being the most obvious), and making sure that the tank is supported by joists. You want the tank to run perpendicular to the joists. If you have hardwood floors, this typically means parallel to the direction of the boards. Joists also typically run the short way in a house (i.e., if your house is 40 feet wide and twenty feet from front to back, the joists run front to back). Note the use of the word "typically." You can always go in the basements and find them. :)

Once you cross the 250-300 gallon threshhold, then you need to start worrying about whether your structure can handle it or not.

Think of it this way.... you've got three guys sitting on a couch jumping up and down and cheering for their Favourite Local Sports Team's excellent Sportsing during the Big Sports Event. They each weigh 200 pounds, the couch weighs the same, and its foot print isn't that different from your tank. That's 75% of the weight right there, yet you probably don't give a second thought to where you're going to position the couch (and chances are, it's NOT on a load bearing wall). And, the construction company doesn't want to get sued when someone goes through the floor because points were scored. :)
Click to expand...

Wow! this blew my mind. It makes a lot of sense. Thank you very much.
 
unknown_saint

unknown_saint

Members
i never really gave a whole lot of thought to the issue, but it occurred to me in reading this that i had a 180 gallon tank for years on the floor of my 160+ year old house in pennsylvania, probably not against a load-bearing wall and maybe-maybe not parallel to the floorboards.
that tank is in my basement apartment in virginia now, but in retrospect that could have been a disaster!
but as josh mentioned, the total weight is less of a concern than the distribution of that weight.
 
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