Precautions When Siting Heavy Tank Downstairs?

[ellena]

In the very long term future, I'd love to have a huge community tank downstairs. I know from having the floorboards up in the past that there is a cavity beneath our floors. So would I need to take the same precautions as I would if I was putting the tank upstairs?
The space I have in mind would mean it running across the floorboards, so in parallel with a joist.

 

[bae1994]

your best bet would to lay bricks under the bit of floor were the tank is going

although yeah id say same precautions as up stairs

 

[razer121]

sorry to sort of "hi-jak" this thread but if a tank is put upstairs why must you be carefull? i thought house's were built to take alot of weight? or is there something that has to be taken into account?

 

[arobinson1984]

Razer, it depends on how big tanks are that are going upstairs. A 200L tank would weigh somewhere in the region of 1/4 of a tonne.

Yes houses are build to withstand weight, but with a tank it is a prolonged weight on the same spot for a long time that can cause damage, so structurual reassurance should be seeked before putting large tanks upstairs in a house.

Andy

 

[meguro]

Yes houses are build to withstand weight, but with a tank it is a prolonged weight on the same spot for a long time that can cause damage, so structurual reassurance should be seeked before putting large tanks upstairs in a house.

And pianos.

 

[OldMan47]

A 'typical' house in the US is built to carry a 'live load' of 15 to 20 pounds per square foot. A live load is defined as anything that exists in the space except the things directly attached. The floor boards and carpet are not part of the live load but people, furniture, fish tanks, pianos and so forth are. When you think about the fish tank that weighs about 10 pounds per gallon on average, none of them can be supported by just the square footage on which they rest. Instead you go back to the definition and find that the rating is based on a load evenly distributed over the floor. A 10 by 12 foot room with a 15 pounds per square foot live load rating can theoretically hold a total of 15x12x10 or 1800 pounds. That value is only correct if the load is even distributed though. It would give a rough idea of the total weight that could be placed in the room without damage, which would be about 180 gallons. If you were to start lining up fish tanks in the room, it would quickly exceed that weight limit, so yes, there is a definite limit to what can be placed in a room. An even more important factor is the location of the tanks. A single 180 gallon tank in the middle of the room would probably be in danger of ending up at least one floor down fairly quickly. The weight that a floor can hold depends more on where that weight is located than how much it is. In the middle of the span of a floor joist, the weight that can be supported is at its minimum. Nearer the ends of a joist, it is higher. If you can spread the weight among several joists, the maximum weight without any damage is greater.
The original poster was talking about placing a tank parallel to the joists so the weight would only be carried by one or two of them which is riskier than running the tank in the other direction. If the space under the floor is accessible, it would be best to brace the floor joists that will be carrying the weight directly under where the tank will be placed. That way, the weight could be transmitted to whatever stable structure exists below the joist rather than being taken up by the joist itself.

 

[llamalord305]

I found this article written by a structual engineer fishkeeper very helpful.

http/www.african-cichlid.com/Structure.htm

 

[ellena]

The original poster was talking about placing a tank parallel to the joists so the weight would only be carried by one or two of them which is riskier than running the tank in the other direction. If the space under the floor is accessible, it would be best to brace the floor joists that will be carrying the weight directly under where the tank will be placed. That way, the weight could be transmitted to whatever stable structure exists below the joist rather than being taken up by the joist itself.

Hmmm, fairly sure it was just soil?
Thanks everyone So basically, I'd be best to get some sort of reinforcement under the floorboards before proceeding

 

[Nick16]

i wouldnt have a tank of more than 120L upstairs.
Make sure your downstairs tank, goes acrross the joists and not running with them.

 

[OldMan47]

There are good ways to brace a floor from below when it is positioned over a soil crawl space. The most common way to do so is to excavate a nice level space in the dirt under the floor then place a concrete foundation of one form or another on each side of the space you want to brace and finally to span that area with a beam that supports the joists uniformly from below. This will allow the weight of the new tank to be carried straight down to the earth through the beam and ultimately through the foundation that you have established.

 

[Liam50]

i have my 400l. tank upstairs and the weight holds. just get like six people to stand in the space of where the tank is going.

 

[bae1994]

i have my 400l. tank upstairs and the weight holds. just get like six people to stand in the space of where the tank is going.

yeah but its prolonged weight so can slowly crack through it

 

[ian]

yeah, but i'd make cracking reality TV!

 

[Liam50]

yesss sure my parents would love that! my upstairs is kinda new tho.

 

[mr130gallon]

my 130 gallon would probably break through most of the rooms floors, so i put it in a room where there isnt a basement underneath. and so far for 3.5 months it hasnt broken the floor, but that makes sense because its a solid floor.