I'm planning out my next aquarium build. I'm pretty sure I can get away with a 180 gallon no problem, but I want to go big, much bigger, say 240 gallons or more bigger. The only problem is that my den isn't exactly on concrete, and I'm trying to determine if I need to reinforce the floor.
"Just do it! It's safer than sorry." Isn't a particularly helpful answer, as it's not as simple as just throwing a couple of jackposts in the crawlspace. The crawlspace floor is covered in gravel, which covers uneven bedrock, so I'm not sure I can get a level base for the jackposts. If I can put the concrete bases on top of the gravel and have no problems, so be it, but I don't know if that's safe or not.
So here's the situation. I'm looking at an 8 foot long tank, which means a minimum of 240 gallons, so a minimum weight of around 3200 pounds when water, stand and rocks are included. Obviously going up in gallonage will increase the weight footprint, but if I can fit a 240 without reinforcing, I'd do that over a 300 gallon with reinforcing.
The area where it's going is as follows: I have a den, 12 x 11 feet, over a 4 foot crawlspace. On 3 sides of the den I have concrete foundation walls (one of which is the concrete slab of the garage). The tank would be perpendicular to the floor joists, which are 2x6s 12 feet long (I think). Joists are spaced 16 inches apart. Each end of the joist appears to rest on top of a 2x6 on its side, which in turn sits on the garage concrete slab at one end, and the concrete foundation wall at the other. The "floor" of the crawlspace is gravel varying in depth over uneven bedrock (but has been leveled flat on top). It basically looks like they dug up the area when building the house and said "screw it, this rock's too big" and covered it over with gravel. The house was built in 1984.
Here are a couple of pictures from below (looking into the crawl space; the tank would be on the other side of the ceiling almost exactly over the AC duct on the left):
And here's a closeup showing the end of the floor joists resting on the 2x6 on the concrete slab:
Here is a mockup of everything in blender, with the 8-foot tank blocked out against the wall:
The tank will span at least 5 joists, and could be positioned across 6 (top down view):
My thinking is that this is perfect, because the tank will be up against the wall that's on the side with the garage concrete slab, and that the load will almost immediately be transferred into the concrete slab, meaning I *won't* need to reinforce the floor.
Here's what I mean (front ortho view, similar viewpoint to the real photos):
Now, I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of reinforcing the floor. I do, in fact, have all of the parts required (a 12 foot 4x4, 2 appropriate sized jack posts, and concrete blocks used for foundations of decks), but because of the gravel floor, I'm not sure I can do it safely or correctly.
These are the concrete base blocks I'm talking about:
Would these be OK on top of leveled gravel, or would they need something more sturdy under them?
If I can't reinforce the floor correctly, I would prefer to not to have to at all. 240 gallons seems to be my sweet spot in terms of budget and space, but if I *have* to reinforce the floor, and I can't do it easily, I'll be forced downsize my plans to 180 G.
So, what are everyone's opinions? Do I need to reinforce the floor for 240G or higher, or am I alright given the situation? Do my loading expectations (i.e. the fact that the tank is very close to the garage concrete slab means most of the load will go into the slab and not the joist) make sense?
"Just do it! It's safer than sorry." Isn't a particularly helpful answer, as it's not as simple as just throwing a couple of jackposts in the crawlspace. The crawlspace floor is covered in gravel, which covers uneven bedrock, so I'm not sure I can get a level base for the jackposts. If I can put the concrete bases on top of the gravel and have no problems, so be it, but I don't know if that's safe or not.
So here's the situation. I'm looking at an 8 foot long tank, which means a minimum of 240 gallons, so a minimum weight of around 3200 pounds when water, stand and rocks are included. Obviously going up in gallonage will increase the weight footprint, but if I can fit a 240 without reinforcing, I'd do that over a 300 gallon with reinforcing.
The area where it's going is as follows: I have a den, 12 x 11 feet, over a 4 foot crawlspace. On 3 sides of the den I have concrete foundation walls (one of which is the concrete slab of the garage). The tank would be perpendicular to the floor joists, which are 2x6s 12 feet long (I think). Joists are spaced 16 inches apart. Each end of the joist appears to rest on top of a 2x6 on its side, which in turn sits on the garage concrete slab at one end, and the concrete foundation wall at the other. The "floor" of the crawlspace is gravel varying in depth over uneven bedrock (but has been leveled flat on top). It basically looks like they dug up the area when building the house and said "screw it, this rock's too big" and covered it over with gravel. The house was built in 1984.
Here are a couple of pictures from below (looking into the crawl space; the tank would be on the other side of the ceiling almost exactly over the AC duct on the left):
And here's a closeup showing the end of the floor joists resting on the 2x6 on the concrete slab:
Here is a mockup of everything in blender, with the 8-foot tank blocked out against the wall:
The tank will span at least 5 joists, and could be positioned across 6 (top down view):
My thinking is that this is perfect, because the tank will be up against the wall that's on the side with the garage concrete slab, and that the load will almost immediately be transferred into the concrete slab, meaning I *won't* need to reinforce the floor.
Here's what I mean (front ortho view, similar viewpoint to the real photos):
Now, I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of reinforcing the floor. I do, in fact, have all of the parts required (a 12 foot 4x4, 2 appropriate sized jack posts, and concrete blocks used for foundations of decks), but because of the gravel floor, I'm not sure I can do it safely or correctly.
These are the concrete base blocks I'm talking about:
Would these be OK on top of leveled gravel, or would they need something more sturdy under them?
If I can't reinforce the floor correctly, I would prefer to not to have to at all. 240 gallons seems to be my sweet spot in terms of budget and space, but if I *have* to reinforce the floor, and I can't do it easily, I'll be forced downsize my plans to 180 G.
So, what are everyone's opinions? Do I need to reinforce the floor for 240G or higher, or am I alright given the situation? Do my loading expectations (i.e. the fact that the tank is very close to the garage concrete slab means most of the load will go into the slab and not the joist) make sense?
