New Tank Weight, Support Needed ?

[PlumbersMerchant]

Hello everyone

Im currently running a 90 Litre tank (think its a marine 125 bought from a jollies pet shop). It has been running for about a year now with tropical fish, all is fine so far thank god. Im due a bonus from work in march so am contemplating getting a bigger tank, somewhere around the 240 litre mark. just wondering if i go for something this big will i need to support the floor joists ? I know about building the frames/cabinets from a previous thread on here but dont think ive seen anything about floor supports.

Also, is it just personal prefernece or should you get bigger fish and stingrays in bigger tanks or can you just have loads of smaller ones ?

Any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[Tuxyu3]

Depends on the house. If, for example, you live in a 19th Century shack then i would not recommend trying it but if you live in a house that abides by modern building standards you would probably be alright as long as the tank is spread across a few joists.

What kind of fish you get depends on personal preference, though I'm pretty sure there aren't any Rays that can live in a tank of that size.

 

[elmo666]

The best way forward on a timber floor is work out which way the joists lay, easy enough as normally they are at right angles to the floor boards. On a chipboard floor look for lines of screws to indicate where the joists are. Then its a case of measuring a distance over the joists that is wider than your cabinet, cut a piece of 18mm plywood this length and the width of the cabinet, place your tank centrally on the plywood.

 

[geordiejen]

hi mate find out which way the joists run in the house.to find this out the joists run the opposite way from the floor boards.if the tank is run the same way as the floor boards then it should be fine.1 cubic metre of water =1 ton in weight.

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

Cheers all. Didnt particularily mean a ray or anything but viewing other peoples tanks they tend to go for bit bigger fish. i would love shed loads of schooling fish. have 5 harlequins at the minute and they stay together quite a lot so was thinking like 20 of them ?