Floor Reinforcement Insight XL Aquarium

[andrew.jones50]

I am looking for advice from some people with first hand experience. I am moving from a condo with a cement floor to a townhouse with a basement. Unfortunately my 260 gallon, 8 foot tank will not fit down the stairs. So I am left with 2 options: keep and reinforce the living room floor or sell it. Also, i am planning to keep the refugium in the basement and plumb to it. So only the DT would be in the living room.

I have no experience with floor reinforcement, And am not sure what method(s) might be options. One thing that I do have going for me is that there is already a steel i-beam running the entire length of the center of the living room, so theoretically under the center of my tank. However you will see in the pictures that there are some cracks in the cement where it connects to the basement wall.

So my questions are: Is it viable to reinforce the floor? How much reinforcement is necessary? And by what method... 4 x4 columns, Metal floor jack poles, additional 2x6 joists or something all together different?

 

[jautry77]

Look at basement systems web site and contact the dealer nearest you. They can install a smart jack system that is rated for 50000 lbs. under ur steel beams.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm assuming the tank is running perpendicular to the beams in the basement. Here's what I'd do......build a wall out of 2x4's in the approximate location of the front of the tank. Again, the assumption is that that beam has a weight bearing wall above it, and that would be the location of the back of the tank. I would use that wall in the basement as one of the walls to the new sump room that would be built around that now supporting wall.