OT; Crawlspace's ability to support weight of an aquarium?

[mr. angelfish]

Since there is not that popular particulants in Equipment & DIY forum and I am posting on this forum due to need a wide varieties of your experiences.
House with crawlspace floor. (No concrete floor) How much average it can hold the weight of an aquarium and what is the maxium size of tank for the safety reason. (Without any requirement of special modification for the crawlspace.)
Second question. House with "upstair" of course are generally built with woods. (In my past experience it held up to 65 gallon without a problem. However I am considering for such as 90 gallon and probably a 125 gallon in certain room. How much average can "upstair" floor can hold up to and the maxium size of tank for safety reason.
Any house with concrete floor on the first floor have nothing to worry! Of course many of us can have as big as 300+ gallon!
Thanks in advance.....

 

[wamp]

If you had posted this in the DIY forum I would have answered...
Kidding,
I have a really old house. The floor held my 180 with no problems. If you are concerend, you can get screw jacks from lowes and crank them up.
On a second floor, It all depends on the building of the house. Against a wall would probably be fine. Thats where most of the support is.

 

[overanalyzer]

Two warnings - a 55 gallon tank tipped and cracked because the floor jacks in the crawlspace shifted duringthe winter and the tank was no where near level - but it went un-noticed because it was not that big a deal!
2nd - just because there is a wall on the 2nd story does not make it a support wall. If you are considering a second floor placement find someone who knows a little sumptin' about construction and ask them to help you look over the placement - it will be worth the time and effort!! Someone I dated had a roommate set up a waterbed and the floorboards cracked and water bed spilled out to the first floor ..... a waterbed's weight is well spread out and a tanks weight is concetrated. I have heard that there are stories about people's tanks ruining the floor below through a leak, but I don't know of any first hand.

 

[shadow678]

I agree with above about bringing in a "professional" to check for load-bearing walls and how to align the tank with them and the joists on the second floor. As for the first-floor tank, I'm assuming your house is pier-and-beam? If the house is fairly new construction, it would very likely support a tank in any location running perpendicular to the support joists. If you are still concerned, you can do as suggested and put screw jacks under the location, or be sure to locate the tank over a support column under the house, as these are usually 18" concrete pillars driven or poured into the ground, and can easily support the weight of the tank. I have a 200, 100, and 90 all in one room in my house, whcih is pier-and-beam, and have had no problem with any leaning or sagging, and my house was built in '52, although I live in a very arid area where the wood stays very dry and hard. HTH and good luck.

 

[jester]

Well, I live on the 3rd floor of an apt complex. And I have 160(not full yet though.) This is what I did.
1) called my insurance company. I'm covered.
2) got a letter from the management company that owns the building.
3) built my stand to cover as much floor surface as possible.
(by this I mean I used 1/2 mdf as a base for my 4x4's which distrubte the weight evenly. check out my homepage in profile)
4) did some math. My surface are covered is 14sq feet(7'x2')
Took apx total weight (2300lbs) and divided it by 14.
I came up with 165 lbs per sq foot. I weight 200 lbs and cover less than 1/2 sq foot and I dont fall through the floor. This is not a real good way to gamble with the lives of the people below me, but logical non the less.
5) Placed it on a load bearing wall
6) had a buddy of mine give his .02, (he's a superintendant for a construction co) he gave ok
7) and lastly, going to pray when I fill it.