125 Tank on Wooden Stand

T

trizthegreat

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Feb 2, 2007
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:help: Hello all, This is a great site, I've kept freshwater for over 20 years and I've finally made it to saltwater. I went big, but now I fear I may have went too big. I have 125 gallon and a wooden stand, and I want to place this in my living room with is above my basement in a townhouse. I've read everything possible about weight and structure but in regards to joist, mine look different than what I've seen. Below is what I see in the basement. My question is, if I placed this on a wall that I believe is load bearing, would I be safe, or does this tank have to go in basement.....I hope I gave enough info. Thanks for any help. Oh yeah home was built in 1981, I live in Maryland.

3b38_3.jpeg floor.jpg
 
to be honest, i would not dare comment...one of the things i love about houses here where i am is that we have concerete floors....am sure somebody with experience of this situation wil give a constructive answer...

Niko
 
thanks. Hope to get this answered vs putting a reef tank in the basement. If I did this I would have to make the basement family room. It would be a waste to have such a tank out of sight.
 
First off you want the tank to cross multiple joists, not running parallel with the joists. This will spread the load of the tank. Water weighs around 8.3 pounds per gallon. So you have roughly 1037 pounds plus live rock, sand, tank and stand.

It seems like your basement is unfinished below. If you find the floor starting to sag or just want to give it extra support I would buy 2 metal poles and a metal support beam. You can secure the beam to the poles and run it perpendicular to the joists. These poles have a threaded rod built in so you can adjust them in place.
 
Heres a picture illustrating this. This is part of my house construction, but you can do the same thing to add support.

CIMG3673.jpg
 
rsw, basement is finished, i saw the beam via laundry room. I would run tank across multiple beams
Another note: I have carpet and I was going to lay plywood down to achieve level and place stand on top of plywood. Would this help distribute weight also?
 
dangerdoll, yes the 2x4's are flat with the zigzag in between.
 
I don't see the plywood spreading the load unless you had it larger than the stand over more joists. The load is primarily the water weight which is evenly distributed. The stand will put the weight on the joists. Plywood primarily helps in situations where you are putting weight between joists.

For instance you lay ceramic tile. A good sub floor is needed so when you walk the plywood doesn't deflect and crack the tile. However same situation lets say you used 1/4 plywood (don't do this). If you stepped between the joists you would crack the tile. If you only walked on the joists the tile would not crack.

One idea is to build a 2x4 frame that extends further out to contact more joists. Then place the stand on this. You could place small cabinets on either side. Cover the 2x4 frame and stain it to match. This was done on a thread on reefcentral.com but the guy custom built the stand as well. I'll see if I can find the thread again.

Heres the thread and a pic below.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=938462

tank125005.jpg
 
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Thanks rsw
I have 55 gallon freshwater loaded with rocks at least 75 pounds and and 10 gallon sump below. I never worried about weight of tank until I started reading and then I got nervous. The plywood was mainly due to carpet, but once tank and stand is on it, it will settle level.

I even search google to see if a tank has ever fallen through a floor.
 
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