So i currently live in Texas and will be moving to Wisconsin in the next few years, so I was hoping to get some questions and thoughts out of the way with the help of y'all.
I have a 140 planet tank, so 4ft by 36in by 36in and with a 36 in sump and rock and sand and all that jazz, so I was talking everything out weight wise with my wife and it was close to 2000 lbs. So when it comes to having the tank on the first floor above the basement i have some questions.
1. How would you determine the best place to put the tank? I understand you would want it over a larger beam in order to brace it, or installing an extra brace after moving in to support the extra weight.
2. Is it needed/recommended to hire some sort of structural person to make sure the house can handle it?
3. When it's time to move how would I move the tank (glass, stand, canopy) across the country? movers or is there specialized aquarium movers?
4. Those of you who have tanks on first floor and sump in basement do you like that better or regret it?
Thanks for any and all help, I was stressing over this as it's a TON of money and I really don't want to break the tank or the house.
A bona-fide Wisconsinite here!
First things first. There are many jokes and stereotypes surrounding Wisconsin, let me clear them up for you. They are ALL true and if anything, grossly understated. The cheese thing many people assume we are joking about, we are not. I have friends who sit down and will eat a whole 1lb block of cheese as a snack. Think like eating an apple. First of all, cheese is just plain better here. Secondly, its everywhere and on everything. Want French fries? Yeah, no. You better order the cheese curds. Cows are everywhere, which means when you drive at night, you watch for deer and the neighbors cows that got out again. If you do see a cow out of the pasture, its your neighborly duty to find the owner and help wrangle it back into the pen. Here is your crash course on cow wrangling. Get in front of it, and hold out your arms. If it starts to charge you, wave your arms and firmly yell "go on, get!". If you have any hesitation in your voice the cow will sense this and run you over. Its best to practice this in a mirror a few times every morning along with your "ope, sorry" and "it wouldn't be so bad out if it weren't for the dang wind." Never stand behind a cow, only to the side or in front of it. Partially due to the fact that a cow kick will put you in the hospital. Partially because the cows only eat, sleep and poop thing is completely accurate, and chances are if you're standing behind a cow, its neither sleeping nor eating..
Currently less than 2 miles north of where I sit and type this, there is a lake with THOUSANDS of people on it. These people are sitting in a box that sits over a giant hole in the ice, sitting and waiting for a fish to swim by their hole just so they can throw a spear through the hole and try to get the fish. This sport originated from local men as an excuse to get away from their wives for two whole days of drinking and eating cheese and brats. This is what is formally known as "Sturgeon Spearing" weekend. Every bar will be shoulder to shoulder, in fact several bars along the lake setup large tents and have bonfires on the ice in order to be able to serve more people. I haven't participated personally, but that is partially because I'm convinced these "sturgeon" fish do not exist. Any time I ask any of my friends or family who do participate if they saw anything, their only answer is "its kinda hard to see a sturgeon with beer goggles on." You will be offered brats. Like at least once a week. It doesn't matter if you've just ate, you accept one graciously. Neighbors will insist on sending you home with leftovers. Its considered rude to not accept, its essentially saying "your dinner wasn't that good" if you say no to leftovers.
So to sum it up. This is the land where Beer, Cheese, Brats are the holy trinity. To the point where some magnificent b_stard combined all three into one. Cows to cheese are what the Mother Mary is to Jesus Christ. And F_ck-da bears.
If you can accept all that, you'll do just fine here. You'll
see why people drink so much here get used to the cold.
To answer your actual questions,
1) Whenever possible run the tank perpendicular to the floor joists. Up against an exterior or foundation wall is also preferred. This is so that the weight is transferred the shortest span to what is holding the floor joists up. Load bearing walls also rest directly on the foundation so interior load bearing walls would also be best.
To put this in mathematical terms, a tank with a foot print of 4ftx3ft is a total of 12 sqft foot print. Divide 2000 lbs by 12 and you'll find that each squarefoot holds approximately 167lbs of weight. Floor joists are typically 16-24 inches on center. So each floor joist is seeing between 1/3 and 1/2 of the total weight of the aquarium. My personal rule of thumb is that anything weighing over a 100lbs/sqft should have additional bracing added to the floor if this is a long term load.
2) Just be safe and go to the hardware store and buy a 4x4 and an adjustable steel floor jack. Total cost should be under $100 for both. Less than half the cost of an engineer or inspector and you and your wife will have piece of mind!
3) Hiring movers has the advantage of insurance if something were to break. Personally, I trust myself more than someone else. Just make sure you don't put the tank on top of the stand for transportation. I typically use 1" or 2" foam insulation and you can use that to create a very safe barrier around the tank. Other than that, just make sure that it cannot move around during the drive. If strapping it down, make sure to use to use something like old towels, a thick layer or cardboard, or again I usually use the foam. This way you don't run the risk of overtightening the strap and putting excessive pressure on the glass.
4) I have my sump in the basement. You can check out my build thread for pictures. There are two distinct advantages to having the sump in the basement. 1) All equipment noise except for wavemakers is away from the display. Who cares if a skimmer or pump isn't silent when its in the basement? 2) SO much more room for activities. You can have a huge sump, or place your mixing station right next to the sump for super easy water changes, the possibilities are endless. I raised my sump so that I don't have to bend over or stoop under a stand to do maintenance. Easier to clean and maintenance just means it gets done more! The only downside is that you generally need a really good pump to pump the water up the extra distance. Also, if your basement is cold and unfinished like mine, heating during the winter could be an issue. Check out my build thread for some ideas on how to combat that.
