Will my 150 tank someday fall into our basement?

[Be11yDancer]

I'm filling my tank now. It's 150 gallons with a 30 gallon refugium and 30 gallon sump. That's a cool 210.

We did a bit of analysis, and my husband (the engineer, he he he) says it's okay. However, when the kids run by it, I see too much motion in the water . . . . . I wouldn't call it sloshing around, buuuuuuuut:

Has anyone ever had a tank this large cause structural damage to their house?

 

[Anonymous]

Do you know how the tank is oriented relative to the floor joists? If it runs perpendicular to them I don't think you will have a problem, it it runs parallel to them you might have issues.

Can you support the floor under the tank? That is what I have done with large tanks. I don't know that I needed to, but it was nice just to have the piece of mind.

 

[Anonymous]

It is a bit of weight. If you are on a long span it could be an issue. You should consider adding a support or two under it to be on the safe side.

 

[herpsandreefs]

water movement from walking by is not good, had the same problem with current 55 gal on hardwood floor until I moved, now its on a concrete slab. Used to make me very nervous. If its over the basement it shouldn't be to hard to add support with some 4x4's. Not worth the risk IMO

 

[Be11yDancer]

Joists are parallel, and we discussed adding supports . . maybe I'm trying to figure out how soon I have to do it!

My husband is not the handy one in the household and I have no experience with such things . . .

 

[RobertoVespucci]

Can you see the joists flexing in basement? That should be a motivator.

 

[WRASSER]

You could do something as easy as placing a larger piece of wood under the tank to displace the weight. Like a piece that will go over the floor joints.
Or you can cut wood to put in between the joints going the oppisite way

 

[LA-Lawman]

I take a look and see how many joists the tank spans across. I would see how close you can get the tank to the wall also. the closer to the wall the more the floor will hold.

i would shore up the area under the tank as well. just add some cross-members tot he joists and then tie them in to the wall and you should be fine.

how much water is sloshing around? are you seeing significant travel? or is it minimal?

 

[Be11yDancer]

I take a look and see how many joists the tank spans across. I would see how close you can get the tank to the wall also. the closer to the wall the more the floor will hold.

i would shore up the area under the tank as well. just add some cross-members tot he joists and then tie them in to the wall and you should be fine.

how much water is sloshing around? are you seeing significant travel? or is it minimal?

It would be close to two joists, and I placed it far enough from the wall that I can work back there comfortably, just slightly more than minimal water travel . . .

 

[trido]

Parallel across two joists would make me as a contractor very nervous. How big are they? For example: 2x10 @ 16" on center, or 4x6 @ 24" O.C. Regardless, at 210 gallons, you have 1680 pounds of water alone sitting in your living room in a relatively small footprint. I would recommend bracing the crawl space under the tank as well as you can ASAP. I'm far from an engineer but I do no that your house is designed to support X amount of dead load, and X amount of live load. That is assuming there are no large knots in the lumber, the plumber or electrition didnt notch too much out of the joists, and the framers actually knew what they were doing when they built the house. I wouldn't trust any of those factors. Trust your instincts, If it is making you nervous, you should not even ask for a second opinion. Two peir pads and a 4x4 post is a small price to pay for peice of mind. JMO. :wink:

 

[bleedingthought]

I DEFINITELY second the motion to reinforce it. I build houses also and I would not have this continue if it was up to me. Also, get your kids to stop running around the tank and the water sloshing should stop. :wink:

 

[Be11yDancer]

get your kids to stop running around the tank and the water sloshing should stop. :wink:

OOOO you make me laugh.

My 3yo son has already drug a stool over to see if the water was warm.

I don't want to think where he was going with that info . . ... .

 

[SnowManSnow]

im with the other guys. parallel isnt good. I would DEFINITLY add some supports. OOOORRRRR.... simply rearange the room and place your tank on another wall so that it is perp. with the joists.

You may also consider making a 3/4 plywood base to go under the tank in order to disperse the weight a little farther out (eeehh ok not a great idea).

so either #1 add supports
or
#2 move the tank.

B>

 

[Anonymous]

I've done quite a bit of framing work when I was younger and I'm with trido..

If it were me, I would find someone to come and help you get that span secured and reinforced if you can't do it yourself. - And I'd do it soon too.

If its near a load-bearing wall at one end, you can probably get away with just securing the two joists at the far end. If its not (as in, its more than 16" from a wall that has a wall directly below it goes all the way to the floor in the basement) then I would get someone to help ASAP!


And no matter how you go about it though, without something like a concrete pad you're going to get some movement if people/kids run near it, etc.. -- Thats what Trido meant by live load... - Someone running/walking by is a live load, the weight is there momentarily then gone.. - A tank is dead load, its a stagnant, constant weight.. - The physical characteristics of wood will react differently to both, especially over time.

Not to worry you more than you might be, but dead weight of that magnitude on parallel with the floor joists and not near a load-bearing structure is a very eminent failure waiting to happen.

 

[pwj1286]

Get a contractor to come out and look at it.

If it was me, I would move that big son of a gun to some place stable.

If not reinforce the floor with some 4 by 4 studs coming from the floor of your basement. Theres concrete mounting brackets that you drill in the floor that hold them steady. Make them go to the reinforced floor as other people suggested.

It wont go anywhere, if you do it right. I promise you that.

What is the tensil strength of a 2 by 4? Is it in the thousands of pounds? Like 2,000 , 4,000 pounds?
_________________
Ears Nose & Throat Forum