Aquarium Weight And A Floors Ability To Support It.. Question For My 135f

[Candymancan21]

Have a question for you guys. My room in my townhouse is on the 3rd floor, and its where I house my 135g freshwater fish tank, and soon my 27g hexagon when I reseal it and do salt.

I weigh about 300lbs, and I also have my bed of course, my desk my computer and probly a couple hundred lbs of lava lamps in this room.. Its a very tiny room as well so I don't have a lot of ROOM in it lol.

When I got this tank I wanted it in my bedroom because well I can lay in bed and just watch it all the time. I could have easily put it or **** a 225 if I wanted on the 2nd level because in the middle of the 2nd level is a steel beam with steel poles for support in the basement and all the floor joists rest on the beam its one of the main house supports.

The tank in my bedroom I had to put along the wall facing the outside of the house which is also directly above the big bay window on the 2nd floor near the front door. The reason I chose this spot is because 1 its the direction the floor joists are going, and two with the bay window there the floor joists are support by a load bearing support. The load bearing support is two 2x10's, or maybe 2x12's but I think its 2x10s. And then two 2x4's laying on top of the double 2x10s.

The load bearing looks like this picture in my thread. Minus that weird 2x4 framing under the 2x10 or 2x12. I'm guessing its 2x10s but I could be wrong. Regardless this picture is exactly how my load bearing is and then the floor joists rest on top of the 2x4's on top of those 2x10's. So its the perfect spot for a heavy tank.


Now the problem is this. My window to outside is being halfway blocked by the tank, which isn't a problem for algae as I have those like insulated blinds with metal like tin foil plastic in them which blocks all sun. But it kinda sucks never being able to use my window.. On top of this the way the tank is positioned and the size of my room my bed is like up against my closet almost. I have no wall for my head support and its a weird place to have a bed. I have to position the bed just right or my door will smack into it when I open it.. lol. Then my desk is on the other side and all this leaves me with 1 like 3 foot wide path between my bed and desk to walk to my tank.. I have to stand on my bed to do any work to my tank lol.

I don't mind this as I still prefer the tank in my bedroom. But if I could simply move the tank to the wall where my bed is it would give me so much better options for more room in my bedroom and make it better organized and so forth.

The issue is this if I put the tank where my bed is it will be sitting basically on 1 or 2 floor joists it would be best if I could move the tank further to the closet so I can put my computer on the wall its currently at but if I do that it would put more weight to the center of the joists vs the weight on those 1-2 joists resting on the load bearing wall.


But would 1 or 2 2x10 floor joists be able to handle the weight of a 1/2 thick glass 135 gallon tank with a solid steel 3x16th thick metal stand. I mean the stand probably weighs 200lbs. The tank I'm guessing 300lbs and then I got a probly 40lbs rock in there, and maybe 130lbs of sand and substrate. And whatever water volume is left which is maybe 110-120 gallons after the sand and rocks displace the water volume. So maybe the tank full would weigh 1500lbs or so, I also weight 300lbs myself, so 1800lbs when I'm standing in front of the tank..

Another problem is the stand is a 4 leg stand. L shaped peg legs, so I welded 3/16th flat plates on the legs to better distribute weight and the legs sit on top of pressure treated 2x10 boards so they can spread the weigh on the floor better.


I hope this is making sense.. the picture I'm posting is a pic of my room right now, so I wanna move the tank where my bed is. my desk where the tank is, and my bed where the desk used to be.. This would allow access to my window, id have a wall to lay against on my bed ,and free up a lot of room.

But again where my bed currently is that's the direction the floor joists go.. and where the tank currently is, is where the joists meet the load bearing wall.. So if I move this 1500lbs tank to where the bed is.. can 1-2 2x10 floor joists handle that weight especially the weight being on 4 legs


I mean if I keep my tank close to the load bearing wall along where my bed is then two legs would be on the joists on the load bearing wall but two would be further out


Am I making sense here ? I made a crude picture showing how the floor joists are laying on top of the load bearing support under them and my tank currently sits on top of that.. If I put the tank where my bed is the tank will be in the direction the joists are going so like I said it would be on only 1-2 joists going length wise of the joist.. I suppose because my stand has 4 legs then my tank is probly only sittin on 1-2 joists in its current spot but at least its sitting on them where they are litterally on top of the load bearing wall.


Sorry if I'm being confusing... What do you guys think ? Will it be ok to move this or should I just keep it where it is and deal with the mess of my room

 

[Gypsy13]

Wow. Novella. Cool.

Ok. It’s been a long long time so correct me anybody.

First thing I would do is check with your local building inspection office to find out what the live load requirements are for your region. Knowing when your house was built will help there.

Now, if you know the size, spacing, span, lumber grade (stamped on joists), and species/grade of wood you can plug these bits of info into a design value table to find out the FB value (strength) and E value (stiffness) of your existing floor. Naturally where it’s sitting is going to be safer because it’s over the sheer point.

I would definitely at least call the building inspectors office. You may get your question answered with way more confidence than I’m able to give you. Let us know what you find out? Please?

 

[Candymancan21]

Okay well here is what I found out after measuring and poking through the ceiling drywall down below. The joists are 2x10s and they are a light color pine. They are 16inches apart.

Where the tank sits its sitting where the joists meet Two 2x4s stacked on top of Two 2x10s. The 2x10s though aren't a light color pine like the floor joists but more of a brown.orange color not sure what wood that is.

Now in the living room below my room tjere is a boxed in with dry wall spot sticking out which looks like a pole or support beam would go and it makes sense as durectly below that are the steel I beams in the baeement ( this is going vertical up to the ceiling) I looked inside and there are pine 2x6s like 3 or 4 of them. So this told me there is a load bearing beam on top of that. I dug into the drywall and sure enough there is anotjer double stacked orange.brown beam sitting on top of the 2x6s This beam is one of those load bearing beams that are in the drywall so there is no hump in the ceiling.

So the pine 2x10s are on hangars on this support beam. Now from the outside wall my tank sits on to that 2x6 pole its 11 feet maybe 12 if you measure the joist resting all the way on the load bearing beam on the bay window.

So 12 feet from my rooms wall where the tank is now measures all the way to my closet door. So not counting the closet my whole room is the length of these joists. This means my room has TWO load bearing beams.. One on the wall its on and one on the otherside by my closet.

If I were to put the tank on the wall here my bed is in my pictures... And center it then 6 feet minus 11-12 feet leaves 5-6 feet.. The two right legs would Then be only 2 1.2 to 3 feet away from the wall qhere its currently already at.. And the two left legs would be oy 2 1.2 to 3 feet from the other load bearing beam.

To be honest I'm thinking this would hold my tank just fine. And I'm thinking the 4 legs actually helps this. The reason being is all the weight is on the two joists under the tank on each side and they arr pretty close to th3 load bearing beams. This shoukd eliminate the chances of the floor sagging.
(16 inches apart tank is 18 inches wide so two joists)

If the stand was a normal stand then That means the whole 6 foot tabk would ve sitting squarly in the middle of the two 12 foot joists.. And this is where I can see the floor sagging.


Also the way the tsnk is sitting now against the outside wall.. The joists may all line up there.. And if I had a normal stand my tank would surely be spread over 4 joists... but due to the 4 legs it isnt.. The weight is actially on two joists ( 1 per left and 1 per right side.. And since the legs are 18 in hes apart.. this means that assuming the tank is 1600 lbs.. this means that 800 lbs 400 lbs per leg is on ONE joist and only spread 18 inches apart.



If I put the tank parrallel to the joiats like I mentioned.. Not onky will the 4 legs be 2 1.2 feet away from the load besring bearings... It will be sitting on two joists. BUT not like it is now.. The joists will have weigjt spread better... The front joist in front of the tank will have two legs on it but it will be the front left and front right leg... This means 400 lbs per leg but spread 6 feet apart instead of 18 inches like it is now. This goes for the two rear legs as well.


Am I making sense here ? I'm not an engineer but I do understand logic and logic is telling me that putting my tank on the wall where my bed is currently will be fine.. And thays because the right side is 2 1.2 feet from the outside load bearing beam.. and the left side is also only 2 1.2 feet from the load bearing beam. The left side is on the joists using hangars and I know hangar don't support as much weight like the right side would being stacked on top of the load bearing beam.. surely each load bearing beam can handle 800lbs right ? Sure its 2 1.2 feet away but that isn't too much.

I Am I making sense here ?

What do you think ? I think itll be fine but that's just me

 

[Gypsy13]

Just my opinion here. If it was me, and I’m thinking of tearing down a humongous tank to move across a room, I’m calling the building inspectors office just to be sure. Each beam, each joist is assigned a dead load and live load. I’d want to be sure I’m not overloading the live load on the joists or beam.
But, do what you think is best.

 

[Candymancan21]

Well I went to a general contractors office abd talked to an old guy there whos been doing this for 40 years.. I dree him a ssktch of the room and below the room and where the beams are length. and gave him pics of them and he said a bunch of names for the wood I can't remember and he said moving the tank there shoukd be fine.

But he said what hed do is get two 2x10s pressure treated both 6 1.2 feet long and lay them along the legs of the stand then take some 2x4s and cut them and hammer wedging them under in the middle of the stand steel beams to distribute weight on the pressure treated wood so it spreads it all along the floor vs just on 4 legs.. kinda like a normal stand if that makes sense.