weighty issue

[NancyD]

I'm going to need a bigger tank for my clowns sometime & I'm concerned about the tank weight of a 6 ft. x ?. This site[url=http://www.african-cichlid.com/Structure.htm ]was very helpful but he keeps repeating that even engineers can't reliably tell all the variables. The best place in my house with a long enough wall is against the stairwell wall with lally (lolly?) columns supporting it but 4 joists would be under the tank. It sounds like a 125g would be o.k. but I'd like bigger if possible. What does everyone do? Is adding posts in the basement a DIY project? I've never noticed them at Home Depot TIA
Nancy

[Martin Thoene]

What I do is live in an apartment with concrete floors

Anyhow....your problem. Now, knowing Home Despot's adverts, they have all sorts of experts there to give advice. Short of getting a structural engineer out to check the house which might be expensive, even if strengthening is a DIY job, it might be worth doing the following:

Give the HD guy as much info as possible. I'm assuming that you've got basement access? Measure everything so he knows what you have there already. Height from joists to sub-floor, dimensions of vertical and joist support beams, spacing between them, thickness of floorboards, etc.
Take pictures too if you have a camera available, or do decent drawings that show the relationship of structures to your dimensions.
Remember to take into consideration the weight of the tank, stand, substrate (I got two bags of playsand in my 6 footer....darn heavy!) rockwork, water, etc. and maybe add 50 lbs or more as a margin of error.

Be assured that the stuff to do the job will be at Home Depot. Just depends if you guys are willing to get stuck in and have the necessary tools, or get in a tradesman to do the deed.

Definitely not worth taking chances.

Martin.

[Emma Turner]

We had our floor strengthened before we installed our 1000 litre aqarium in the lounge. We're in a 110 year old house, and some of the floors, including the lounge, were wooden. We had them changed to concrete, and the builder set large metal strengthening bars in the mix, underneath where the tank was going to sit.

Emma

[NancyD]

Thanks Emma & Martin. I wish I had more confidence in HD "experts", I'll see what they say. And getting tradesmen of any sort is difficult here, there's so much demand . I was thinking more of 2 floor jacks? to hold up a 6-8 ft beam perpendicular to the joists. I afraid a truly big tank like yours Emma is just another item on the "not at this house list" . At least I've got time to figure it out (or move), my clowns are only 4 in. or so. They seem to be growing much faster than my previous ones , more feedings & more water changes.
Nancy