# Moving



## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

hey guys im moving out of my rents house and gettin my own house. I was wondering how many of you have a 125g or greater fish tank in you living room or any second story room. second story as in counting the basement. I had my 150g and 75g in a fish room in the bsement at my rents but the house im moving into i would like it in my living room but am scared about the support......the wooden floor has been redone but im still worried, what do you guys think and any exerience info woud be appreciated thanks


----------



## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

put it against a load bearing wall and place it perpendicular to the floor beams and across as many as possible to help spread out the weight.
does the stand has a flat bottom? that help spread out the weight better than just few contact points.
I put my 180g in the basement next to a sump drain so that I don't have to worry about things like this


----------



## bob351 (Oct 23, 2005)

no personal experience but i know of people who have supported there floor from below to have bigger tanks upstairs but that cost $$$ but it can be done. Heres a good read for you
http://www.nachi.org/forum/f23/do-put-aquarium-22264/


----------



## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

its on an iron stand with plye wood on the iron stand


----------



## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Iron stand only has 4-6 contact points to the floor so all the pressure are on those 4-6 points. I would build a frame with 2x4s or 4x4s to help spread out the weight on the floor.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck


----------



## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

Put it next to a load bearing wall. & since you have metal stand I'd run a 2x6 or 2x8 under the legs, one across the back & one under the front.could run a sheet of like 3/4" plywood under(stand) the whole. thing.


----------



## Tampa2Josh (Jan 9, 2011)

I have my 150 gallon in my living room, I just climbed under the house to make sure it would perpendicularly cross at least 2 support beams, plus its up against a load bearing wall.


----------



## erik54241 (Nov 18, 2009)

i have a 125 in my room in my 2nd story apt against a load bearing wall. had it set up for 4months now and still good but i have a wood square bottom so it covers the whole area


----------



## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

yea i was thinking to put a piece of plye wood under the stand 6 feet by 18 inches to cover the whole base of the tank would this work ? and i was planing on keeping it against a wall in the living room. il try to take some pics of the flor in the basement to see how many floor beams are there.


----------



## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Plywood is good, but make sure you're running perpendicular to the floor joist. This is very important.


----------



## bob351 (Oct 23, 2005)

ok dont read what i posted ill give some lil tid bits to spark your interest









Myth #6: 
"I put that huge aquarium on the floor and nothing bad happened therefore the floor is safe." If you choose to think of "not collapsing" as safe you are certainly free to do so. But if you have a safety factor of only 1.05 in your floor structure you probably don't know it, and there is not a structural engineer in the land that would tell you that it is "safe."

Myth #7:
"My aquarium is on a metal stand with 4 legs so all I have to do is put a sheet of plywood under the legs to distribute the load to more floor joists." That will help some, but not very much at all. A sheet of plywood laid flat is not very stiff so it will bend and not distribute the load to more floor joists very effectively.

You do need to use some common sense in this whole thing. Most 55 gallon tanks on wooden stands with runners can be placed anywhere reasonable without too much worry. Tanks larger than 55 gallons might be okay if they are placed in a very good structural location and your floor framing is in excellent condition. I have a 40 gallon tank under a 55 gallon tank on a metal stand and because I know a little more about my floor structure than most of you, I know that I'm okay. If your tank is over 125 gallons, then it is highly likely that you should consider adding supports under your wood framed floor.

Myth #13: 
"My floor was doing fine until I put that 75 gallon aquarium in the room. Now the aquarium is causing the floor to bounce." Actually, your aquarium is doing the exact opposite. The stationary weight of your aquarium is acting to dampen some of the floor vibrations due to foot traffic. It is just that now you see the ripples in the water and so now you perceive that the floor is vibrating more.

Another characteristic of wood is that sustained loads can cause permanent deflections and deflections that increase over time. This "permanent warping" of the wood is called creep. So, if the floor deflects 1/2 inch when you set up your aquarium and you leave the aquarium in the same spot for years that deflection might increase to 3/4". Then when you remove the aquarium you may find that some of that deflection has become permanent. That is why in some older homes the floors are no longer perfectly level.

id give it a glance or a good skim you have nothing to loose but your tank and floor


----------



## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

this makes me not want to even try lol ugh


----------



## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

i have a 180 in my living room it's been up for 5 years and it's fine think of a waterbed you never heard of one going throw the floor


----------



## Guest (Apr 3, 2011)

agreed, thats a lot of weight


----------



## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

true but a water beds weight is distributed more then a 6 foot by 18 inch tank


----------

