Tank locations in the house.

[nickbuol]

OK. We are planning to upgrade to a 150-200 gallon tank in about 1 year. We like our 75 gallon, and it was an upgrade over the 55 gallon we almost started with, but we want a bigger tank to really do some wonderful things with. Anyway, right now, our 75 gallon is up against an outside wall of the house. We figured it would be better supported. This is on the main floor of a 2 story with a basement. The location that we would want the new larger tank is not on an outside wall. We have basically 2 choices. In the dining room along the wall that is adjacent to the garage, or near the center of the house along an internal wall in the family room next to the living room that our 75 gallon is in. You see, I am concerned about the structural weight load the tank would have on the floor joists. The house is 5 years old, so it isn't an antique like our old house, but I was not sure how well this would work. We would put it along another outside wall, but the original builders of the house put windows in the rooms in such a fashion that there is no wall space greater than 4.5 feet on any of the outter walls except for the one in the dining room. The problem there is that we are a pretty layed back family, and we rarely eat in the dining room, so we won't really enjoy the tank if it was over there.
Any thoughts would be great.

 

[mr . salty]

If you have a basement,you can get some support posts to help spread the load under the tank.Just position these post in the basement from the floor to the joist where the tank will be.Then you can put it pretty much where ever you want it.

 

[pufferlover]

If you go 200 gallon you have to remmeber that just the water adds a little over 8 lbs per gallon. Now the tank is probably about 200 plus the rocks stand, etc. Frankly with that much weight you would be best served to consult a structural engineer to be sure it can go where you want. Consider this I know someone who did what you want and consulted no one and the tank went thru the floor, and since he had not had a engineer check it out the insurance company said tough luck. For a few bucks get the piece of mind of knowing it is the right tank in the right place.