Tank Weight

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

Hi im getting a new tank of either 3' x 2' x 2' or 4' x 2' x2' and was checking out theweight of those tank with water in and the smaller one would weigh in at 750lbs (340kg) and the larger at 1000lbs (450kg) and i was concerned that these tanks would fall through the ceiling just because of the sheer weight.
i am especially concerned about the fact that iwill be building the stand myself.

Is there any way that i can tell whether or not either of these tanks would be too heavy???

Thanks

 

[jenny6165]

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[SkiFletch]

Agreed, you'll have to figure out what timbers are used in the floor and how far apart they are. This can be approximated with a stud finder, but nowhere near as effective at getting your house blueprints or finding an engineer. How old ist the house?

For big tanks, you want them so their length is perpendicular to the floor joists and you want them where they meet the load bearing wall to prevent sagging.

 

[Tolak]

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

Agreed, you'll have to figure out what timbers are used in the floor and how far apart they are. This can be approximated with a stud finder, but nowhere near as effective at getting your house blueprints or finding an engineer. How old ist the house?

For big tanks, you want them so their length is perpendicular to the floor joists and you want them where they meet the load bearing wall to prevent sagging.

Thanks SkiFletch - I live in England and the house in 1940s/50s i think. The timbers are about 3 inches wide and about a foot apart if this helps???

gonna have a search for the blueprints

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow, 3" wide timbers 12" apart . That could hold a LOT of weight

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

Wow, 3" wide timbers 12" apart . That could hold a LOT of weight

Maybe i misunderstood what you said. I went upstairs and looks under the floor boards in my room as there is no flooring at the mo and what i saw were 2 beams of about 1.5inches wide next to each other and then was a gap of 12 inches and then 2 more 1.5inch beams next to each other??Am i making any sense?

Thanks for your help

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh, so originally it was made with 1.5" wide beams 12" apart and was later re-inforced with extra beams for added support? You're positive that there are only 12" between the centers and not 16"?. How tall are the beams and do they enter the wall as a double?

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

Oh, so originally it was made with 1.5" wide beams 12" apart and was later re-inforced with extra beams for added support? You're positive that there are only 12" between the centers and not 16"?. How tall are the beams and do they enter the wall as a double?

Actually they are 16inches apart and by tall i would say 6-7 inches. It hasnt been reinforced thats just the way its always been. Im not sure what you mean by "do they enter the wall as a double" ohh and whats a center.

thanks

 

[Matt Gleadow]

He means what centres are they at. From the centre of the joist to centre of the next joist. You'll get the same measurement if you measure from one edge to the same edge on the next joist providing the joists are the same width.

e.g.

measuring from the left hand face of joist 1 to the left hand face of joist 2 will give you the centres that you're joists are at.

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

I have just had a look and the first beam you come to in the room is two 1.5inches beams side by side, the next beam or joist is 16inches apart and is two inches wide, and the one after that is 16 inches apart and 2inches wide and so on does this help??

thanks

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh ok so they only doubled up the beams on the outer edges of the flooring, that makes sense. So what you have is an actual 2x8 16" on center beam construction. If you read through that entire article Tolak sent, you'd see that you're floor will support anything that's 55g and smaller no problem. If you want to go larger, say up to a 90 or 120, you'll have to have the tank set against the outside wall that the beams come out of. You'll want the length of the tank perpendicular to the floor beams.

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

Ok thanks skifletch ive drawn a naff pic of my bedroom to make sure ive understood what you said. So is this the side the tank should go on?

thanks

 

[SkiFletch]

That's exactly right Michael . Last trick, is to make sure the tank is level. On most hard flooring surfaces the floor is usually level by itself and will require little effort to level. On some carpeted flooring, the tank may tend to lean forward as there is often a glue strip nearest the wall that raises that end up a little higher . Sometimes when dealing with carpet, pulling the tank say 4-6" away from the wall will fix any levelling problems.

 

[jenny6165]

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