Aquarium weight vs floor joist? Weight limits?

[deuce6371]

I'm sure someone out there has been here and posted this before but here it goes agian. I am ready to move from my 10 year old 75 gallon reef to a approximately 300 gallon or more reef. It will be a major under taking, the first problem to come to mind in the early planning is "will the floor support the weight of an aquarium this large?".

I live in a 1898 victorian home with floor joist about every 18". These are thick, true 2 by 12". My current tank sits running with the floor joist instead of the preferred across them. I already have some supports under it now but nothing major.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of load limits I am looking at here, and if this is even possible?

If so how much or what kind of support should I be looking at?

Thanks JB

[Matthewdmueller]

Well with a 300gal tank your looking at 2400lbs of just water. With all of your equipment, rock, sand, and anything else you could be weighing in at a lot more than that. Most floors built in new houses today I think are rated at about 200-300lbs per square foot. Your house, being as old as it is, is probably a bit more than that but not much. I don't know what the footprint of a 300gal is but that is a lot of weight in a small area. Think of it as a car parked in your living room on two wheels. With a tank that large in a house that old I would bolster the floor a lot. I don't know if you have a crawl space under it or a room, but if it is a crawl space, I would fill the entire area under it with cinder blocks for extra support. If you have a room under it that will make it more difficult and might require some serious carpentry. I am sure that there are some people out there that can tell you exactly what kind of load your floor can handle and what you can do to make it stronger if you need to but you might have to contact a contractor, or maybe even a city inspector.

[brody98]

Matt is right you need to know the foot print of the tank to go anywhere with that one.

[deuce6371]

Great replies, thanks. The place where the tank will sit is where my 75 sits now. One of the joists runs the entire length with and rests on a brick wall which will provide lots of support. The other two joists that will take the weight of the tank span approximately 12 feet and are supported at those ends by brick walls. I plan on sistering the joists with 2X6. Then the support columns will be concrete block bases with screw jack columns.

Here is a pic of the basement and the joists and brick support wall the tank sits directly above.