Large tanks, their weight and the floor beneath

[Scubaman]

I'm considering upgrading my tank to a 220 gallon that I saw at my lfs the other day and I had a few questions regarding it.

1. Will the floor in the average home support its weight? I've heard of a lot of people with tanks over 220 gallons, do those of you who own such tanks have to reinforce your floors or anything. I plan to put it in the living room where there are already two 55 gallon tanks.

2. I obviously can't bring it home myself, will the lfs deliver it assembled or will they deliver the panes of glass and assemble them for me. I know it sounds like a dumb question, but if I can't fit it in my living room, then I would definitly be able to put it in the basement, but I would never be able to get it down there fully assembled.

Thanks.

[hounddog]

I believe they come assembled. I do not have one that large but you need to caculate the lbs per square foot. You should figure 10lbs per gallon for weight this will be a good average. The tank foot print should be 12 square feet. This is about 184 lbs per foot. If you put it next to a supporting wall or if you have access to your floor from your basement and add braces you will be fine.

[gregoryalln]

usually the lfs will deliver, i had a 350, now i have a 260, and a 150. the if it is plexi 2 people can lift it, if it is glass 2 strong people can likt it, but only with suction cups, you can usually rent these from a glass shop.

As far as house structure. how old is your house, and how far apart are the studs? make sure you put it up against a outer wall in a corner, i had a framer come look at mine, and he told me this.(30 years or newer) newer houses have a more solid structure than older houses. i dont think you will have problems with 220. you can also beef up the studs if you are worried, but my 350 was fine

[LUKE40]

yes and no, like he said how old is your house, and you really should have some one with some type of framing back round that knows what he is doing take a look at your house. if you have a newer house put it near a supporting wall and make sure you floor joist are running away from the tank not with the tank or it will go though your floor. if you where to put it running with the joist it would only be on a max of three joist but if you make sure the joist are running away, the tank will be on a least 4 to 5 so it can take more weight. i have seen floor sage with a 180 tank so check things out.

[Scubaman]

I asked and my house is around 14 years old.
The joists are around 1.25 feet apart and the tank will be placed perpendicular to the joists.
It will also be near a wall. I don't think it's an outer wall because I live in a town house.
My preference would actually be to put it in the basement, but I don't think I could fit it through the door and swing the tank 90 degrees in such a small area to get it down the stairs.
I'll check and see if there are any framers who can check things out in my area.

[mnoon]

I was thinking of upgrading My 50 gallon to a 120 gallon and it would be on the second floor...researched this a little bit a came upon this website...has some intersting info on the subject, take a look.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_weight.php

[Scubaman]

that's a very helpful article
thanks

[salty dragon]

I have a 180 that I mounted into the wall in the back of our family room. The coolm thing was that the bonus room is kind of halfway between the second floor and the first adn the ceiling of the laundry roon stops about halfway up the wall. So what we did was add 2x6's in between every joist basicly doubling original number of timber. This is a bit more than was required but I would rather have the extra strength and never have sagging ever. After adding the 2x6's we layed down 3/4' plywood and pushed the tank into the wall. Also being a load baring wall we installed a header directly over the lenght of the tank. If you haven't done it yet and waant more specifics I can try and help some more.

[Scubaman]

Do you have a picture of what you did?

[salty dragon]

I do not have any pictures of the construction in progress, however I do havce pics of the final result. I can get you some better ones if you would like. http://www.reeflounge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2469