75 Gallon Tank Help, my new house has a basement!

For the past few years, I’ve been lucky enough to live in a ground floor apartment with a concrete floor. During that time, I’ve maintained a 40 gallon and 2 55 gallon aquariums.

I recently got a new job and am in the process of moving into a house. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a house without a basement that I liked for rent. What I did find was an incredible house with close joists and a thick, solid wood floor.

Oh and yes, I’ve done the reading.

I feel confident that the area I plan to keep the 75 on will be just fine (outer wall, perpendicular to the joists, spanning multiple of them in an area near the entrance against an outer wall where I won’t have any other furniture), but I’m a little worried about the 2 55s.

The house effectively has 3 levels to the floor, one at the door even with the ground, then a staircase to another with a large window (where I plan to put the 75) then the rest of the house is a step up from there.

My concern is that having myself, my furniture (including a nightmarishly heavy sleeper sofa and king bed), concrete home theater stands, and then adding roughly a ton of aquariums might be inviting trouble.

Is dispersing the tanks throughout the house enough to keep it safe (keeping the heavier furniture also placed separately, of course), or should I start rehoming some of these fish?

 

Should be fine. I would try though to keep the aquariums going across the joists, help spread the weight around.

 

For the past few years, I’ve been lucky enough to live in a ground floor apartment with a concrete floor. During that time, I’ve maintained a 40 gallon and 2 55 gallon aquariums.

I recently got a new job and am in the process of moving into a house. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a house without a basement that I liked for rent. What I did find was an incredible house with close joists and a thick, solid wood floor.

Oh and yes, I’ve done the reading.

I feel confident that the area I plan to keep the 75 on will be just fine (outer wall, perpendicular to the joists, spanning multiple of them in an area near the entrance against an outer wall where I won’t have any other furniture), but I’m a little worried about the 2 55s.

The house effectively has 3 levels to the floor, one at the door even with the ground, then a staircase to another with a large window (where I plan to put the 75) then the rest of the house is a step up from there.

My concern is that having myself, my furniture (including a nightmarishly heavy sleeper sofa and king bed), concrete home theater stands, and then adding roughly a ton of aquariums might be inviting trouble.

Is dispersing the tanks throughout the house enough to keep it safe (keeping the heavier furniture also placed separately, of course), or should I start rehoming some of these fish?

I sounds to me like you did the proper research and have a solid plan. Unless you piled all your tanks in the center of one room you're unlikely to have any trouble.

 

I sounds to me like you did the proper research and have a solid plan. Unless you piled all your tanks in the center of one room you're unlikely to have any trouble.

Since it’s how they’re set up now in my apartment, I really want to put both of the 55s side-by-side in my office by the outer wall (across and perpendicular to the joists) so they can be behind my desk when I have to teach virtually or have meetings on Zoom, but I’m fighting that impulse so I can spread the weight around a bit.

 

Wait you started this thread saying you have a basement!! So look on marketplace,Craigslist and OfferUp and start getting more tanks!!!! Make that basement a man/women/fish cave office . All your problems are over. Ok may need a second job but think of all the fish .

 

if 2x10 joists, and spaced about 16" apart, 3 joists to span the 48" of the tank with support on either side, with one in the center would be the best way to locate it. and along a wall rather than in the center of the joist where the most flex is.
you'd need to inspect these joists, make sure they are solid and still have integrity, but at that point each joist should be able to hold at least 1000 pounds of weight. To reinforce you can marry additional 2x10s to take the flex out of it, you can build pillar supports and a platform in the basement underneath to bear the load down to the basement floor also if there is a concern over it stressing and possibly a joist breaking if the wood is really old or shows some weakness from termites.

I mean, from the perspectives and building codes, residential floors are rated for about 40 pound per square foot of live load and 10 pounds per square foot of dead load (fixed objects) clearly a person that's 200 pounds has no issue standing in a square foot, even though it's 5x the live load rating, but that's how the ratings are, it has to at least do that.

Same goes for the 55gs or the 75g, same scenario the length is 48" , check the joists, but should be 2x10s, should be 16" spacing and should be 3 Joists per 48" tank, in which case, you aren't gonna have a problem with those weights and if one appears, you can reinforce the joist a couple ways to take the flex out or support it off the basement floor if that concern comes up.

I think you can have the 2x55 behind you, as long as the joists are there and you have the space to do it. 3 joists should have no issue holding 3000 pounds especially at the wall and not in the center of the joist.

each joist I think should be taking 200-300 pounds and should be no problem if they are good. no more flex than you sanding over a joist and jumping, that shouldn't do anything, and your tank won't jump.

I'd be more concerned if you were trying a 150g or above that could hit 1 ton of weight or more, but you shouldn't even be close to the load bearing ability of 3 or more joists with those tanks being 48" Length.
with a 150g that 72", you'd get 4 joists maximum for support and it would be roughly 2000 pounds over 4, with the carry load they already have. it's pushing it to have 500 pounds per joist of additional fixed weight.

I'm not a structural or civil engineer, but this seems sound and reasonable, I'm blessed and cursed with a slab foundation and a ranch style home. It's great for fishtanks, 6" poured concrete foundation and 2-1/2" terazzo cement topper throughout the house, it's a nightmare for pipe problems......
Throughout the house.... except for where I needed to break the floor to gain access to the pipes directly rather than dig under the slab to it....... those spots, those are filled with quickcrete to patch the slab back up to the terazzo level.

 

Since it’s how they’re set up now in my apartment, I really want to put both of the 55s side-by-side in my office by the outer wall (across and perpendicular to the joists) so they can be behind my desk when I have to teach virtually or have meetings on Zoom, but I’m fighting that impulse so I can spread the weight around a bit.

This sounds fine to me, I'd do it. It'll look great behind you during your meetings!

The only drawback is some of your students and meeting peeps may not hear much of what you're saying because they'll be busy watching your fish! (I would)

 

if 2x10 joists, and spaced about 16" apart, 3 joists to span the 48" of the tank with support on either side, with one in the center would be the best way to locate it. and along a wall rather than in the center of the joist where the most flex is.
you'd need to inspect these joists, make sure they are solid and still have integrity, but at that point each joist should be able to hold at least 1000 pounds of weight. To reinforce you can marry additional 2x10s to take the flex out of it, you can build pillar supports and a platform in the basement underneath to bear the load down to the basement floor also if there is a concern over it stressing and possibly a joist breaking if the wood is really old or shows some weakness from termites.

I mean, from the perspectives and building codes, residential floors are rated for about 40 pound per square foot of live load and 10 pounds per square foot of dead load (fixed objects) clearly a person that's 200 pounds has no issue standing in a square foot, even though it's 5x the live load rating, but that's how the ratings are, it has to at least do that.

Same goes for the 55gs or the 75g, same scenario the length is 48" , check the joists, but should be 2x10s, should be 16" spacing and should be 3 Joists per 48" tank, in which case, you aren't gonna have a problem with those weights and if one appears, you can reinforce the joist a couple ways to take the flex out or support it off the basement floor if that concern comes up.

I think you can have the 2x55 behind you, as long as the joists are there and you have the space to do it. 3 joists should have no issue holding 3000 pounds especially at the wall and not in the center of the joist.

each joist I think should be taking 200-300 pounds and should be no problem if they are good. no more flex than you sanding over a joist and jumping, that shouldn't do anything, and your tank won't jump.

I'd be more concerned if you were trying a 150g or above that could hit 1 ton of weight or more, but you shouldn't even be close to the load bearing ability of 3 or more joists with those tanks being 48" Length.
with a 150g that 72", you'd get 4 joists maximum for support and it would be roughly 2000 pounds over 4, with the carry load they already have. it's pushing it to have 500 pounds per joist of additional fixed weight.

I'm not a structural or civil engineer, but this seems sound and reasonable, I'm blessed and cursed with a slab foundation and a ranch style home. It's great for fishtanks, 6" poured concrete foundation and 2-1/2" terazzo cement topper throughout the house, it's a nightmare for pipe problems......
Throughout the house.... except for where I needed to break the floor to gain access to the pipes directly rather than dig under the slab to it....... those spots, those are filled with quickcrete to patch the slab back up to the terazzo level.

I’ll take some pictures from underneath when I get home later, along with retaking measurements. I’m only 5’8”, so it’s a bit challenging!

This sounds fine to me, I'd do it. It'll look great behind you during your meetings!

The only drawback is some of your students and meeting peeps may not hear much of what you're saying because they'll be busy watching your fish! (I would)

That just means I have to work that much harder to be entertaining!


I hadn’t thought about building a reinforcing platform, and the idea of doing so at current lumber costs isn’t enticing, but it’s a solid idea.

 

Looks like 2x8s 14” apart.

I can’t tell what the boards across them are, but they’re definitely boards, not flooring laminate pieces.

That said, there’s a supported steel beam (looks like an I-beam) running through the middle of the house that the joists are supported at, along with the brick/stone (not sure which) wall.

I’d say the joists span about 12’ from outer wall to the beam.

 

You could always buy a tall jack and steel plate to run underneath the floor joists… I have several in my basement and they’re semi permanent and load bearing

 

You could always buy a tall jack and steel plate to run underneath the floor joists… I have several in my basement and they’re semi permanent and load bearing

I looked into getting a couple jack posts, but with the ever-growing cost of this move, it’s just not in the budget.

Considering something simple like this structure I found in this thread, instead:

 

Sorta that. Much easier than trying to sister joists.

The problem with this picture is that they appear to be resting on dirt. If you don't have a concrete floor in your basement you will have to set the post on something that does not sink into the dirt.