Tonnes of fun

[rerdragon1977]

So i wanna put a 90 into my bedroom on the second floor in my home. I understand that the weight will be over 900 pds over a 48X18 footprint. My home is of wood 2X10 construction beams but the tank would be running the same direction as the beams. It would however be at the corner of the home. Has anyone put a tank this big or bigger on another floor other than basement or ground? Any pople out there know what kind of weights that a home can have on the floor? Mabey i wanna go bigger:)

[David Rose]

If by beams, you mean floor joists, I would think it would be better to distribute the weight perpendicular rather than in the same direction. That way you will have approx. 3-4 beams supporting the 48" rather than 1-2 beams supporting the 18". It is possible to have it go the other direction?

[Cooldadddyfunk286]

I have an 80 on the 2nd floor of my home. all is well so far! :)

[jeff@zina.com]

900 lbs is a minimal load, you'll be fine.

Jeff

[moik]

You received good info so far..If the tank's long dimension ends up being oriented parallel with the floor joist there may be some deflection over time to the levelness of the tank,,only question I have that if the floor supports the load,,,what about if the floor bounces becuase of the increased load????So everytime you walk or if your dog runs in the room (if you have one)on the floor is the floor tranferring the vibration/bounce to the tank..Might be an issue,,discus problably will not like it ..Your tank stand should have 100% contact with the floor,not 2 or 4 points of stress on the floor..Like 4 legs on the stand..Odds will have it that they are only going to be on the sub-flooring verses being directly on a joist..Theres easy ways to distribute the tank's load evenly..Just a few things to think about.

[rerdragon1977]

thanks for the advice. Looks like the TV is out and the tank is comming in:)

[dbfzurowski]

depending on whats over the beams but with the 2x10 you should be able to do 100lb per sq inch.

[DocB]

So i wanna put a 90 into my bedroom on the second floor in my home. I understand that the weight will be over 900 pds over a 48X18 footprint. My home is of wood 2X10 construction beams but the tank would be running the same direction as the beams. It would however be at the corner of the home. Has anyone put a tank this big or bigger on another floor other than basement or ground? Any pople out there know what kind of weights that a home can have on the floor? Mabey i wanna go bigger:)

NO WAY!
Assuming Canada is similar to US, the floor is designed for 40 lbs per sq. ft. live load and 10 lbs per sq ft live load.
A mention in here of 100 lbs per square inch would be 7 tons per square foot! Like 3 Volkswagens per sq. ft. :shocked2:
150 PSF is NOT a minimal load!
Do you REALLY know how its built in the floor/walls? Is there a header in the wall below, notched joists etc? Although its highly unlikely you will have a catastrophic failure where the tank falls thru to the first floor you will definitely get serious deflection. Thats even before you add other live loads like nearby furniture and all the people that come look at your tank during a big dance party. Expect some sheetrock cracking and perhaps difficulty opening the sliding glass door underneath. I obviously dont know your situation but its not a difficult fix if your handy or know a contractor.;)

[dbfzurowski]

NO WAY!
Assuming Canada is similar to US, the floor is designed for 40 lbs per sq. ft. live load and 10 lbs per sq ft live load.
A mention in here of 100 lbs per square inch would be 7 tons per square foot! Like 3 Volkswagens per sq. ft. :shocked2:
150 PSF is NOT a minimal load!
Do you REALLY know how its built in the floor/walls? Is there a header in the wall below, notched joists etc? Although its highly unlikely you will have a catastrophic failure where the tank falls thru to the first floor you will definitely get serious deflection. Thats even before you add other live loads like nearby furniture and all the people that come look at your tank during a big dance party. Expect some sheetrock cracking and perhaps difficulty opening the sliding glass door underneath. I obviously dont know your situation but its not a difficult fix if your handy or know a contractor.;)

sorry but your wrong. think about this, most people have a bathtub upstairs, standard holds about 120gal when full, thats over 1000lb in an area 5'x28/32" so the 40lb/1sq' doesnt work:) i do a lot of construction:)

[DocB]

sorry but your wrong. think about this, most people have a bathtub upstairs, standard holds about 120gal when full, thats over 1000lb in an area 5'x28/32" so the 40lb/1sq' doesnt work:) i do a lot of construction:)

Well, sorry but no residential wood frame floor is designed for 100 lbs per sq inch (if so, his 48x18 space could hold 43 TONS!!) and I hope you are not "doing a lot of construction" based on this assumption. I am an licensed Architect in California and share an office with a licensed Structural Engineer and we would be amused at the assumption if it wasn't dangerous.
Admittedly, I am talking California and the subject is in Canada but I believe gravity and physics are the same. According to the California Code Title 24 part 02 vol 02 table 1607.1 your estimate of 100 lbs per sq. inch is, shall we say - a bit of the charts (please excuse the formatting as I simply cut and pasted this from the code):
TABLE 1607.1
MINIMUM UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED LIVE LOADS AND MINIMUM CONCENTRATED LIVE LOADS
UNIFORM CONCENTRATED
OCCUPANCY OR USE (psf) (lbs.)

28. Residential
One- and two-family dwellings
Uninhabitable attics without storage' 10
Uninhabitable attics with limited 20
storage" j, k
Habitable attics and sleeping areas 30

All other areas except balconies and decks - 40 -

Hotels and multiple-family dwellings
Private rooms and corridors 40
serving them
Public rooms and corridors
serving them 100

I could provide exact calcs if I knew more about the structure.
I would LOVE to see your calcs proving 100 lbs per sq inch.
Don't give out structural advice if you are not qualified.
Hopefully no offense taken db, as none is intended:kiss:
I'm sure you know a lot more about Discuss than I cuz I havn't been able to even keep all mine alive;)

[dbfzurowski]

I'm no architect but like i said i do a lot of construction. Recently i was redoing my friends bathroom and the jacuzzi i installed said that it requires 100lb/sq in support and it was a standard size. Maybe 100/sq ft, coulda read wrong.

[prolude006]

40 psf is normal, not to say your floor wont support more than that but that is the safe number to stick with. Most would say to be careful once you go over the 100 gal tank mark. Here is a link to a good explanation that may help or hurt your understanding.......
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_weight.php

[DocB]

I'm no architect but like i said i do a lot of construction. Recently i was redoing my friends bathroom and the jacuzzi i installed said that it requires 100lb/sq in support and it was a standard size. Maybe 100/sq ft, coulda read wrong.

How much is "a lot of construction"
at your young age and stated experience- not enough to give structural advice. I have been doing this for more than a decade before you were born (whew) how many years have your jacuzzi projects been around? How did you determine that the floor supported the required 100 psf? - just the fact that it didnt fall? I would be quite surprised if your jacuzzi project had a floor designed to support 100 lbs psf but if you beefed it up (hopefully) it is quite possible.

Prolude_ nice little article you referenced - it puts things succinctly in a way many can understand.

Again, overstressing the floor system probably wont collapse so you may erroneously think "it works". As I said earlier:
" unlikely you will have a catastrophic failure where the tank falls thru to the first floor you will definitely get serious deflection. Thats even before you add other live loads like nearby furniture and all the people that come look at your tank during a big dance party. Expect some sheetrock cracking and perhaps difficulty opening the sliding glass door underneath."
This may be noticeable only after a few years and your carpenter is long gone
But enuf about this as this is a fish forum not an engineering forum.
I believe the best "rule of thumb" advice may be that a 55 gal or smaller would be fine almost anywhere, but any larger you should seek someone who really knows structural because there are just to many variables to consider (like: how fat are your fish?;))

[erikc]

If by beams, you mean floor joists, I would think it would be better to distribute the weight perpendicular rather than in the same direction. That way you will have approx. 3-4 beams supporting the 48" rather than 1-2 beams supporting the 18". It is possible to have it go the other direction?

I would agree with placing the tank perpedicular to the beams and I would even add that if you are really worried I would put it in a corner next to two suppoting (mainframe) walls.

Now I had to convert evrything into metric here, so we are talking about a "dead weight" of approx. 420 kilos here. This is not a weight that will be suddely dropped on the floor, neither is it a weight that will be moving about (there is a huge diffrence in structural engineering here). I honestly don't see a probelm here.

By the way a larger footprint is not preferable to say to the six points of the cabinet (think of the foundations of a tower block and you will see what I mean).

Just be very carefull where you place it, bear in mind that nearer the walls the floor can take more shear force but to be sure I would have to have the plans of the building.

[kmckim]

I don't possess even a percentage of the math the others have presented here, but I can offer anecdotes, with all the caveats therein.

I have placed a 90gallon tank on the second floor of a home that was renovated, in the newer portion of the building, that was built over the older elements. It was against a load bearing wall, and, I think, it went perpendicular to the beams beneath the flooring.

We've never had an issue with the floor sagging, or vibrations causing any visible consternation in the angels we kept in the tank (sorry, no discus).

Over 100 gallons, I agree, start to call in a carpenter or other expert to evaluate the situation. From personal experience working at an LFS, and having had a tank up that high, I've yet to hear a bad story. Again, personal experience.

To test, try getting 8 or 9 or your friends to all stand in one spot for a while upstairs, perhaps place some snacks near the spot where the tank will be. If they fall through the floor, well, you know at that point.