How Heavy is too Heavy?

In article , ~Vicki ~ wrote:

currently looking at homes. This will help me decide on either a slab
built home or one with a crawl space.

You can support a 400 gal tank on the first floor of a house with a
basement and standard floor joists. You will need to support that tank
from the basement. But that is hardly difficult.

In most houses you can place a 50gal tank anywhere you want. Larger
then that and you need to start thinking about how the tank is placed
in relation to the structure of the house: perpendicular to the floor
joists, against an outside or supported wall. Additional support from
below may be required. This is all very general. Some houses cannot
support a 50gal properly. IE Netmax's 50 gal and floor bounce.

Again it all depends on the age of your house, construction method,
size of the tank, and desired placement of the tank. The proper
question to ask is: I want this size tank where can I put it?

go get a yellow pages, look under engineer, find one that does structural
integrity evaluations, and give 'em a call... he'd be the only one that has
an education to help him answer...

our answers, while good intentions, could lead you down the wrong road...


"Sunshyn" wrote in message
. net...
Obviously the answer to this question will vary depending on the house
but..... at what point do you all think that a tank is heavy enough to
require added support to the floor (ie: bracing the floor from the
basement?)

There is no such thing as a "silly question" only the lack in asking.
Or so I tell my students.

We currently live in a 1940 rancher on a 12 in slab so I don't worry
about the weight of my 55 g. But that can change once we decide on a
new house. As any one who has ever bought a house knows, you hire an
inspector to look at the house before you sign the papers. If you are
buying a 100 year old house than it is reasonable to think that you
would need some extra support for the tank, just by virtue of the (our
last house was built in 1919 and I didn't feel safe with a 20g in there)
age. But if you buy a new home the wood is new and stronger.

Having said that it was still a good question and the answers were
great.

Vicki

As you've said, there is no simple answer. My rule of thumb is that any tank
over 75 gal. gets a floor jack put under it. They only cost about $20, and
thats pretty cheap insurance. After the tank has been set up for a year or
so, I check the jacks to see if tehy're supporting any weight. If they're
not, I take them out. BTW - I set the floor jack up with just enough
pressure to keep it from falling over if it gets a light bump. That keeps me
from lifting the house off its foundation, and makes it easier to check the
jacks to see if the floor is settling....

good luck
--JD


"Sunshyn" wrote in message
. net...
Obviously the answer to this question will vary depending on the house
but..... at what point do you all think that a tank is heavy enough to
require added support to the floor (ie: bracing the floor from the
basement?)

There is no such thing as a "silly question" only the lack in asking.
Or so I tell my students.

This is true, but what should have been said, it's silly to be asking us...
we're common people, some have more edumicashun than uthers... haha...

But truly, that's a very serious question, with serious ramifications...
which warrants asking the right person... a structural engineer... I've done
it, it's no big deal... Cost $25....

Honestly, you can ask anyone, and get any answer.... If you ask the right
person, you get the right answer...

If you are building new, it might cost very little to to create a big margin
of safety. I planned for a 150 gal tank in a new addition, and chose a steel
beam over a wooden one and added a couple of extra floor joists. I think the
additional costs were less than $100 and the tank is very stable.

"~Vicki ~" wrote in message
...
There is no such thing as a "silly question" only the lack in asking.
Or so I tell my students.

We currently live in a 1940 rancher on a 12 in slab so I don't worry
about the weight of my 55 g. But that can change once we decide on a
new house. As any one who has ever bought a house knows, you hire an
inspector to look at the house before you sign the papers. If you are
buying a 100 year old house than it is reasonable to think that you
would need some extra support for the tank, just by virtue of the (our
last house was built in 1919 and I didn't feel safe with a 20g in there)
age. But if you buy a new home the wood is new and stronger.

Having said that it was still a good question and the answers were
great.

Vicki

"Sunshyn" wrote in message
. net...
Obviously the answer to this question will vary depending on the house
but..... at what point do you all think that a tank is heavy enough to
require added support to the floor (ie: bracing the floor from the
basement?)


Wow, wasn't expecting so many responses so quickly. Thanks.

I am currently renting the first floor of a Victorian style house built in
1887. The outer foundation is approx. 12-16" thick rough cut stone with a
few interior walls (also stone) dividing the basement into sections. I
can't see the floor because the basement ceiling is dropped and plastered
over. All I can see is parallel beam spaced approx. 5 feet apart supported
by 6"x6" cement pillars. On closer inspection I've now noticed that the
basement wall beneath the spot I had intended to place the tank is actually
more that 2 feet thick (stone.) So I'll probably be just fine.

I have not yet decided on the exact size of the tank I'm getting, somewhere
between 55 and 90. (The debate in my house rages on, as I too am guilty of
the conspiracy to buy fish that I knew would eventually outgrow their tank
and require a newer and bigger one...) I asked such a general question
because, although I am not too concerned about my current living
arrangement, I do plan to move within the next year or two, so I am
wondering what to look for in my next home.

Thanks again for all your suggestions. I don't know why it never occurred
to me to consult a structural engineer.

"~Vicki ~" wrote in message
...
There is no such thing as a "silly question" only the lack in asking.
Or so I tell my students.

snip
But if you buy a new home the wood is new and stronger.

Here is a bit of trivia. Many of the newer homes are built from wood
which had been planted in rows and grown for cultivation. The structural
ratings have been adjusted as these modern trees are not as strong as the
wild trees, so for homes with similar condition of the wood, common
spacing and dimensions, it is more likely for the older house to be
stronger than the newer one ;~)

NetMax


Vicki

In article , Marcus Fox wrote:

In the UK, building regulations state a floor loading of no greater than 1.5
kN/sq m

snip

If you have a limit of 1500 N, you can have a maximum of (1500/9.807) 152.95
litres for every square metre of tank base area.

The math does not work that way. The floor loading of 1.5 kN/sqm is a
design guideline for the static load of the whole floor. You can if
you wish put more of that load in one area then in another. Consider a
person carrying another. Given a generous footprint of 30cm X 30cm
according to the 1.5kN/sqm figure those two people can weight no more
then 135N == 14kg == 30lbs! Even one person is bigger then that.

At the same time the loading figure does not allow you to put the
whole load of a large room on a small footprint.

The 1.5 kN/sqm loading figure is a magical design number which assumes
an evenly distributed load to make the math easier.

You should have mentioned that you are a school teacher and should have
known the answer before you asked. But like millions of other school
teachers you lack common sense.


"~Vicki ~" wrote in message
...
There is no such thing as a "silly question" only the lack in asking.
Or so I tell my students.

We currently live in a 1940 rancher on a 12 in slab so I don't worry
about the weight of my 55 g. But that can change once we decide on a
new house. As any one who has ever bought a house knows, you hire an
inspector to look at the house before you sign the papers. If you are
buying a 100 year old house than it is reasonable to think that you
would need some extra support for the tank, just by virtue of the (our
last house was built in 1919 and I didn't feel safe with a 20g in there)
age. But if you buy a new home the wood is new and stronger.

Having said that it was still a good question and the answers were
great.

Vicki