Caligo'sKeeper

I got a 29 gallon a few months back, It cost me next to nothing, it needed to be fixed up, so I fixed it up and got a filter heater gravel ect... I was all set to go, the tank was cycled... I live in an almost 200 year old house... I blew a fuse and went into the basement to change it... the fuse box happens to be dirreclty below my two tanks, both 29 gallons... and I noticed the floor was sagging... So I imediately emptied the new tank which didn't have fish. I'm disapointed and I can't decide wether to move the tank to another spot or give up all together... I don't think I could get back what I spent on the new filter heater rocks ect... by selling it. I moved it to another spot, but I'm not sure if I should keep it. Also I was wanting to get tropicals (glass catfish and blind cave fish but I can only find the cats locally and not the Blind cave fish...) or I was thinking I could get a Panda Oranda which I saw online... IDK... I need encouragment, what would you do?

Aldric

i would move the tank to a safer place and perhaps find anouther pet store in anouther town

TedsTank

Also be sure you can position it ACROSS the floor joists to distrubute the weight evenly over more of the floor area. You also might be able to make a support under the tank stand to further spread out the weight....as in maybe 4x4 lumber to expant to 2 more joists out....yes you want to keep the tank!!!

iloveengl

I agree that you don't need to get rid of your tank and that using a bit of lumber to spread out the weight should fix the problem. If possible, go to the basement, look up, and check the flooring above for crossbeams. Perhaps you can relocate the tank to sit atop a more secure area. Good luck!

aquarist48

Good morning Caligo. Some good information above. If nothing else I hope you can relocate your tank to a new spot in your home. Where there is a will, there is a way I'd hate to see your give up.
Keep us posted.
Ken

jdhef

It's a little disturbing that a 29 gallon tank weighing about 300 pounds would cause your floor to sag. Two people standing next to each other could easily weigh more than that.

How much sag are you getting?

peacemaker92

I hope everything gets better soon! Weight balance is very challenging, just like life (life always needs balance) so you'll get the hang of it and never give up! Keep us updated!

10gallonmadness

Caligo'sKeeper,
I'm only saying this for your health and safety. You might want to rip out all the wood and stuff and build a new floor. I find it scary that your floor can't support 300 LBS stabily. At the least you might want to reinforce with steel and build some support beams in your basement. Because what if there's a group of people standing in the middle of the floor? That could easily be over 500+ lbs. Just think for a second what would be more costly, replacing the entire floor if it fell through (god forbid) or just building some wooden supports?

Caligo'sKeeper

Thanks for your replies. I think the floor started to sag because I had the two 29 gals right next to eachother, plus I also have a large bookcase and a file cabinet along the same wall. I had my father look at it, he thought the sag had something to do with there being a doorway directly below where the tanks were, and he thought it may not have been properly put in originally. We were actually missing a lot of supports in the basement for a long time and had some put back in a few years ago. For now I've moved the tank across the room next to the stairwell where I'm sure the supports are good. gotta love old houses, I guess I won't be getting any larger tanks at any point, unless they're in the basement. I went to the LFS today to look arround for some inspiration. Maybe on my day off I'll start setting up again.

capekate

glad to hear you found a solution to the tank problem. Best of luck.. fish keeping is worth the initial headaches getting it started, but once that is all done you will be on your way to enjoying your hobby.

abc123d30

Ha, I feel your pain. I live in an old house too (about 150 years old) and there are always things that need fixing it seems. We just had to repipe the whole house D: It was a pain but old houses are nice too. The wood work is great and you can't really find it in modern day homes.

Good luck with your fish