The Good old Can i put my tank here question.

Brandon42

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I had a 125 gallon tank for years so i know most of the basic knowledge of where its okay to place a tank. but im not sure if the same rules apply as much to my new build seeing as its only a 50 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump. the problem im looking at is the location that my wife would like the tank does not sit the correct way on the floor joist. ive read plenty of write ups on the subject but most if not all are talking about tanks 75 gallons and up. so it seems with total water volume im sitting right under the mark. reinforcing the floor is not an option in our home. im okay with the location i had originally picked out which does sit the correct way but lets be real here happy wife happy life. The current base of the stand is 2x4's but i plan to add a center support for the sump and attach some thick plywood to even out the load and sit on my carpet better. the dimensions of the stand are 37x19.
 
well its technically the center but being a manufactured home there will only be about a foot in a half at most on either side to the steel support.

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https://gyazo.com/0eb3949d1d64f1bbb0a8c0b0b7d7436f




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https://gyazo.com/107ce923146f5b74c3b908fd51017cec

this is exactly how my flooring is and the tank would sit dead center up against the second wall from the front.
 
Dunno man, that is a tossup. I am no expert on manufactured floors though. If you figure out roughly how much your stuff is going to weigh you could probably ask the manufacturer though, they would probably know best. 50 gallons of sea water~ 430lbs, plus ~170lbs for the sump(that is if it was full to the brim which it probably won't be) plus rock, 50lbs, plus stand, say....30lbs?
that is roughly 680lbs, not calculating the water displaced by the rock so it will be a high estimate. you have a base area of about 4.9 square feet, so that is about 140 pounds per square foot.

you could check this site out, hopefully that helps https://www.hunker.com/13400811/how-to-calculate-floor-load-capacity
 
I’ve done a lot of reading and research on the matter. I’m certainly not an expert, but from what I read, generally you can put anything up to a 75 gallon tank anywhere you want on a floor and be just fine.

The bare minimum floor strength required for private residential structures. in most building codes is 40 pounds per sqft - and that is an average across the entire floor. Some builders build above those specs and some build just to the minimum.

So, in a 10’ x 10’ room, you have 100 sqft and the floor can safely support 4,000 pounds averaged across its surface.

If you’re worried at all, just go into the crawl space and stick a view pieces of wood between the floor joist and concrete slab. With the load transferred to the slab beneath the house, you could put just about any sized aquarium above and be just fine.
 

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