quoted $350 to checkout my floors!!

[JoshH]

Until you got sued the first time a floor caved in!

At $350 for 15 minutes of service, I'll spring for liability insurance

 

[Brew12]

I wish you could see the flimsy stand my 155 gallon tank is sitting on then. I haven't lost a single night of sleep over it.

Most tank stands are incredibly overbuilt. I'm thinking about building a box stand for my new 187g system using 1/2 plywood. The only reason I may go overkill and use 2x4's is to make it easier to screw accessories into.

 

[Rufus’ goofs]

What is this word?? I believe it’s Native American for “really big tank”. But we’ll never know, it’s been lost in translation.

That made me laugh pretty good. But I thought it was a disciplinary word. Just like “no” is to my dog.
Or perhaps it’s just one of those words your spouse uses in place of “...seriously?”.
Who’s to say.

 

[Fritzhamer]

I’m in Brooklyn where many homes were built in the late 1800s. These homes don’t have a single plumb or level surface. The joists are also designed to come out of the party walls in case of a fire and to prevent a fire from spreading. Meaning they taper at the ends, so you don’t even have the full benefit of the 2x10 or 2x12.

Here home water births are also quite popular. These tubs can fit three adults and are deep. They’ve got to be several hundred gallons to fill. No one even thinks twice about putting them in these old homes and filling them up. There’s never been an issue. Granted they don’t stay up for years but they can be up for awhile.

A friend of ours is a Dula and I asked her if she’s ever heard the floor creak or worried about it falling through. She said she had honestly never even thought about it. She said “how often do people tile their entire floor or tile over an existing tile floor? How much does all that concrete and tile weigh?”

It’s a good point.

 

[Fishmantim]

I will charge you 50 if you will feel better lol go for it not a problem

 

[Daltrey]

If somebody's floor fell through with a 90 gallon tank sitting on it they have other problems. Such as termites, ha!

In that case a structural engineer would do no good. Maybe hire an exterminator. Anyway, I needed a good laugh today. Thanks OP!

 

[cmcoker]

So long as your tank doesn't jump up and down or dance, I bet it'll be fine..

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/11/12/student-apartment-floor-collapses-during-denton-party/

 

[pirate2876]

How old is your home? Can you see the beams from the basement? As long as the tank is run across a few beams, you should be okay. My last house had a raised floor and I had a 65g that made certain spots on the floor near it "bouncy". Turns out the tank was between beams and there was .25" knothole in one of those beams that looked like it might be deteriorating. Anyways, I had a contractor reinforce it for around $400-500.

 

[Johnson]

I have an older home with 2 150 gallon tanks in a 10'x10' room across from each other and my floors fine I wouldn't wouldn't worry

 

[cyrus]

I was rental shopping once and asked a manager if my 60g cube would be allowed (on a ground floor), his reply was "how much will that weigh?" I don't know, 500lbs? "That sounds to heavy for our floors to support" Really? I bet him and his wife weigh more.

 

[Cary Hover]

If you can take a picture looking up at the joists so we can see them. If you have huge notches cut out and holes drilled in the bottom third of your joists like Tucker64 does that is a big no-no and would fail a building inspection here in California. Cant notch a joist at all and the electrical holes should be drilled in the middle third of the board. I can look at your ceiling joists and give you my opinion as a licensed GC in CA. Everybody telling you roll the dice wont be there to clean up the mess or scramble around to make a quick fix as the floor starts dropping.

 

[Bcdjoe]

Seems like 350 is a cheap price to find out if your floors can handle the weight. I depends on the depth of the joists how far they are spanning and where you are putting the tank in relation to the supports below. If you are putting the tank next to a support below would be better than putting it in the middle of the span. Most floors are designed for about 65 pounds per square feet so you can do the math on the foot print of the stand.
If it is really about the money then see if you can take pictures of the floor joists and a sketch of where you are going to put the tank and send it to the engineer he might do it for less since he doesn’t have to make a site visit. Good luck!

 

[Caseyoidae]

I agree it will be fine. On another note I would definitely drill some holes in the floor and have a massive sump in the basement! No more bending over to work in the sump! Lol just a thought

 

[BigRedSpecial]

Related story... friends of mine have the known "party house" among our group. one night things got silly, people were dancing on the coffee table, and broke it.

We quickly brought it to the basement, and with a drunken point to prove, started screwing wood to it to reinforce it. It didn't take much... a few 1x3s and a single 2x4. It held... so then of course, we had to ask ourselves How much will it hold? we started piling people on. four, five, six people... it kept holding.

Ever since, every time we've had a get together it's always been an attempt to break that dang table. Mind you, this isn't s simple static load; this is drunken, rambunctious, dancing morons acting like they're still teenagers (myself included).

We topped out at 14 people on that table. Not because we found the limits... because we couldn't physically fit anymore people on top. That table, with it's four puny legs, has beaten us.

That's me in the green plaid. We're holding the ceiling because it was the only way to stay on top with 13 other people.

Moral of the story: It's strong enough

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I suppose I'm swimming upstream on this one... I'm a retired engineer, and I have helped investigate many failures of various types over the years. There are so many factors that go into each situation, and every situation is unique. Here are some examples of things to consider: is the tank perpendicular to the joists, or parallel to them? What is the condition of the joists, any dry rot or termite damage? Any moisture that could have compromised the nails/hangars over time? What is the real load the floor needs to support (stand, sump, display tank, equipment, rock, water, and don't forget two or three adults standing next to it)? How far from a wall is the load? What other loads in the room are also being supported by the joists? etc. I'm not trying to make anyone nervous, I'm just pointing out that closing your eyes and hoping for the best is not a good approach. If you really can't afford a structural engineer's $350 fee, find a second or third year civil or mechanical engineering student who wants to make $50. He/she would have fun doing the analysis for you.

 

[Sycoticrealm]

Sistering the floor joist all the way back will strengthen them and even using a pillar 4x6 or 4x4 under where the tanks going to be never hurts and dont over do it you want your floors to adjust from season to season.

 

[Cessna89811]

OMG!! I did it. I just bought the Red Sea Reefer 350!! Yeah! I have some painting to do...

Thanks for everyone's advice!