Structural Engineer

[Jrr007]

I'm brand new to the reefing community in Harvest, AL, just bought my first ever reef aquarium, a Waterbox 130.4. I was planning on putting the aquarium on an outside, 1st story wall in my den, but I looked under the crawl space to see the floor joist were running parallel to where I wanted to put my aquarium. Therefore, I was wondering if anyone had a good, honest, structural engineer I could call in the area to see if my floor could support it or if not, they could reinforce my floor. Thanks for the help in advance,

John

 

[H@rry]

I can't give you any advice about your flour situation, but welcome to R2R and NARC!

 

[Mkvc]

Welcome to R2R!

I don't have any referrals for you cos I don't live in your area, but I do want to commend you for doing this the right way. I hired a random structural engineer online cos my 150g is on the second floor of my house and he was completely disinterested / useless. I hope you find a good one!

The joists underneath my tank are parallel too. We added some sistering and a perpendicular header (gonna frame it into a closet eventually) held up by two jack posts.

 

[Jrr007]

Thanks H@rry, I’ve been lurking on here for about 2 years trying to learn as much as I can about reefing, considering I’ve never owned a fish or fish tank in my life. I finally decided to give it a go and just bought a tank. I guess we‘ll see how much I have learned on here, haha! Thanks again,

 

[Jrr007]

Mkvc, thanks for the info, I appreciate it!!!

 

[Brew12]

Thanks H@rry, I’ve been lurking on here for about 2 years trying to learn as much as I can about reefing, considering I’ve never owned a fish or fish tank in my life. I finally decided to give it a go and just bought a tank. I guess we‘ll see how much I have learned on here, haha! Thanks again,

Welcome! It's a nice system to start with. Good luck!

 

[Jrr007]

Thanks Brew12, I actually have a ton of questions, I’ll be sure to include the hashtag, but I’m pretty sure ya’ll will be sick of me and all my questions!

 

[headdr]

40 pounds per square foot-U.S. building codes specify a uniform live load of 40 pounds per square foot (psf) for most residential floor designs. This load is intended to account for the large number of loads that can occur in a residence. In reality, these loads do not typically take the form of uniform loads.

water 8.33 lb/gallon
gallons 127
water weight 1057.91 lb

glass 0.09 lb/in3
length 48 in
width 24 in
height 22 in
glass btm 1152 sq in
glass front 1056 sq in
1056 sq in
glass side 528 sq in
528 sq in
glass sq in 4320 sq in
glass thickness 0.5 in
glass cubic inch 2160 in3
glass weight 194.4 lb
total wight 1252.31 lb
area on floor 1152 sq in
floor load 1.09 PSI
floor load 156.54 lb/sq ft

Room 10X10 100 sq ft
room load 12.52 lb/sqft

Really should try to straddle multiple joists perpendicularly. Being near an exterior wall helps. Given that you are parallel it depends on your joists and how far they span versus where the tank is. Is the tank in the center or near one side of the span. Also joist spacing, 16 inch on center? Your only going to get 2 joists loaded running parallel. I would get some cinder blocks, sims, and a jack to support from below.

 

[Jrr007]

40 pounds per square foot-U.S. building codes specify a uniform live load of 40 pounds per square foot (psf) for most residential floor designs. This load is intended to account for the large number of loads that can occur in a residence. In reality, these loads do not typically take the form of uniform loads.

water 8.33 lb/gallon
gallons 127
water weight 1057.91 lb

glass 0.09 lb/in3
length 48 in
width 24 in
height 22 in
glass btm 1152 sq in
glass front 1056 sq in
1056 sq in
glass side 528 sq in
528 sq in
glass sq in 4320 sq in
glass thickness 0.5 in
glass cubic inch 2160 in3
glass weight 194.4 lb
total wight 1252.31 lb
area on floor 1152 sq in
floor load 1.09 PSI
floor load 156.54 lb/sq ft

Room 10X10 100 sq ft
room load 12.52 lb/sqft

Really should try to straddle multiple joists perpendicularly. Being near an exterior wall helps. Given that you are parallel it depends on your joists and how far they span versus where the tank is. Is the tank in the center or near one side of the span. Also joist spacing, 16 inch on center? Your only going to get 2 joists loaded running parallel. I would get some cinder blocks, sims, and a jack to support from below.

Headdr, just now seeing this, all of this is way above my head, haha, jk, but it is good information, I appreciate your response. Although I can piece it all together and used to build houses (log cabins), I’m not too confident in my abilities to do it right since I am just starting out. It does point me in the right direction though when consulting with a professional or someone who knows more than me... Based on my past experiences I think I could do it right but just want to make sure I start out on the right foot....

 

[aslmx]

Throw you some screw jacks under there and let er rip.

 

[beaslbob]

You can always put it on some 2x4's to spread the load over a greater area.

 

[Jrr007]

For those still wondering, I bought some pump jacks and concrete blocks, I think that will be good. Here is what the crawl space looks like before the support.....

You can always put it on some 2x4's to spread the load over a greater area.