220 gallon fish tank weight????

[lae]

Hi I have ordered a cabinet and canopy for a 220 gallon fish tank which will be filled with live rock, sand, corals and fish. My question is will I have a problem load on my laminate flooring. My home is only 3 years old and it is built with a 4' crawl space underneath. i plan on positioning the tank next to a wall in living room. Hope to hear from you soon
Lisa

[Scuba_Dave]

I have a 240g saltwater reef system, but 1/2 of that is the sump & grow out tank in the basement. Plan on about 10 lbs per gallon with all equipment.
So about 2,200 lbs
Is there support directly under that wall?
If not you will need to install support
Best support is when joists run perpendicular to the wall/tank

I have multiple circuits & multiple GFCI's to power my tank
Multiple smaller heaters instead of 1 heater
Dual pump/water circulation system to keep water moving

Fresh water or saltwater setup?

[lae]

Thanks Dave
i will need to get under the house and see. This is starting to make me a little nervous. It is going to be salt water and also a refugium and sump under tank as well. If there is not actual directly under that wall in crawl space are you saying you would have a carpenter some in and install extra support in crawl space area. Sorry, you are talking to a female here with not a lot of carpentry experience.
Lisa

[Scuba_Dave]

Yes - you need direct support under that tank
If your crawl space is insulated with zero chance of freezing then you can probably just have a small cement "footer" poured & support beam/posts installed as needed. It all depends upon which way the joists run. I cut my wall down part way & then built the stand for my 125g out of 4x4 PT, 2x & 2x6 supports. Its built to withstand a lot of weight. Better to overbuild then underbuild. You never want to wake up to a leaking tank. Mines been setup over 5 years now
You also need to account or everyone at a party that maybe standing around staring at the tank

In my addition I added a set of 12" LVL's specifically to carry the weight of my new 300g tank

[budlight]

Hi dave I was looking for information on setting up my salt water tank plumbing in the basement and I found your page could you please help me with this. And I would like to know do you dive in the water off boston area?

Tanks john

[jimbo]

. And I would like to know do you dive in the water off boston area?

Tanks john

I always felt that going under the water for fun was in the same category as jumping out of an airplane that was not on fire!!

Now put me in a nuclear submarine at several hundred feet , I'm in hog heaven!

[Cookie]

Dave you got any problems keeping the snail population down?

[Thatguy]

220 x 8.3 = 1830 pounds, just for the water. If the footprint for the tank is 8 sq. ft. then you have >230 pounds per sq. ft., dead load.
Too high.

I recommend taking a peek at
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Lumber-E.../dp/1572180420
or some book like it. Maybe you can get it through interlibrary loan.

And, you could measure the difference in floor deflection under the tank with the tank empty and then 1/8th full to see how much reinforcement you need. If the joists are at right angles to the wall the max deflection will probably be at midspan rather than directly under the tank.
http://www.timber.org.au/ewebeditpro..._floor2(1).jpg
http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/pubs/cbd/cbd054_e.html

Post photos.

[Scuba_Dave]

I always felt that going under the water for fun was in the same category as jumping out of an airplane that was not on fire!!

Now put me in a nuclear submarine at several hundred feet , I'm in hog heaven!

I have a very specific reason I dive in the Boston area:


On vacation there are other reasons:

[Scuba_Dave]

Hi dave I was looking for information on setting up my salt water tank plumbing in the basement and I found your page could you please help me with this. And I would like to know do you dive in the water off boston area?

Tanks john

What are you trying to setup?
That would help
I have dual drains from my 125g tank
Either drain can almost fully plug & the other drain can handle my return pump



This is a 45g sump, I added on a 75g tank later
I'm taking down the 75g tank & replacing the sump with a 130g sump
I have a 55g drum in the basement, make RO/DI water
I then mixup saltwater & do my water changes in the basement
My skimmer is also in the basement

[Scuba_Dave]

220 x 8.3 = 1830 pounds, just for the water. If the footprint for the tank is 8 sq. ft. then you have >230 pounds per sq. ft., dead load.

And, you could measure the difference in floor deflection under the tank with the tank empty and then 1/8th full to see how much reinforcement you need. If the joists are at right angles to the wall the max deflection will probably be at midspan rather than directly under the tank.

Post photos.

You want to build the support BEFORE the tank is full, NOT after
A 220g is usually 6'x2' = 12 sq ft. = 152 lbs per sq ft
Still a lot of weight, which is why you need to build support 1st
I do not knwo anyone who has a large tank who waited until the tank was full to add support

Dave you got any problems keeping the snail population down?
I had snails they because a pest. Live coral you got there? what about sea urchins? I like the pencils. What do you all got in there?

I had yellow tangs, lions, puffers, damels, i can't remember all that i had. but Otto was the greatest, a vulgarian octopus, he lived longer than expected in captivity, and if i knew to up his tank size would still be alive , well, maybe not now, he might be, in an zoo though.

No, no problems keeping the snail population down
Especially when I had a sharp nosed puffer, he liked escargo
Yellow tang, powder blue tang, sailfin tang, hippo tang, damsHELLs, different species of clown fish (would spawn), small starfish, small brittle stars, different shrimp

The rhinoclowns were my favorites

[Thatguy]

1/8th of a tankful is a test load. You could also use one or two heavy people standing close together alongside the wall. And 12 sq. ft is a pretty big footprint, almost a distributed load. A crowded party would give you close to this kind of loading.

Depending on the calculations and the direction of the joists, the OP might get by just by doubling the joists in the area of the tank, over part of their lengths. For a 10' joist span, you're looking for a deflection of 1/4" or less, under full load. And you need the bridging at intervals to keep the joists from wanting to twist.

With the tank against the wall, the center of gravity for the tank would be ~1' from the wall. If the four tank supporting joists 16" OC are at right angles to the wall, there might be no measurable increase in deflection, even with a full tank. That's the best DIY solution; no modifications at all.

If the joists are parallel to the wall, you might need to double up only one joist. The tank would straddle the wall plate and the one joist, and the wall plate is not going anywhere. The one joist would see half the 1800#, spread out over 12'. For a full load test, get 5 guys and have them stand along the joist, one every 2' or so, and watch for a max. 1/4" deflection in the joist. This test might cost you a large pizza and some beer.

[Scuba_Dave]

A 220g saltwater reef tank, once full & corals grown out can contain $10k worth of corals & fish. It can take years to grow out the coral

You DO NOT take chances, you build the support 1st

My stand & support can easily hold 3x what the tank weighs
It cost me maybe $50 on wood

[Peanut9199]

You can see more here
http://www.worth1000.com/contest.asp...page=1#entries

[Cookie]

Thanks Peanut, lol
Too funny.

I did pay 90 dollars for the small octopus, years ago, the tangs were about 20 to 44.

I found this picture on the site you posted here, and found this picture,