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Old 01/26/2005, 11:09 AM
scottfarcuz scottfarcuz is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 2,487
I've been framing houses about 7 years now. Here is my opinion.

I am assuming your house is built with 2"x10" floor joists placed 16" on center. This is standard practice atleast in this part of the country.

I would never put a tank of any size parallel to my floor joist unless it was sitting centered over 2 joists with a few load bearing walls or other supports under them. Without the tank centered over 2 joist your counting on the plywood/OSB to hold the tanks weight. The ply/OSB will hold a lot of weight but when the weight is applied for years it is going to sag.

I agree with 69vette in that I am sure the floor will hold the tank even when placed parallel to the joists, but it is going to settle probably pretty fast. An unlevel 125g tank is going to = exploding glass and a LOT of water, livestock, and maybe even rock on the floor. Your chance of a 18" wide tank centered over 2 parallel joist when placed against an outside wall is slim at best. Get a stud finder and run it on the ceiling of the first floor to see where thay are.

I would find a place to put the tank perpendicular to the joists. Even then I would keep it against a load bearing wall. This will spread the weight to 4 or 5 joists and put the weight in the strongest 1/3 of the joists length.

Comparing parking a truck on a floor to putting an aquarium on it is apples and oranges. A wood floor with a lot of weight, but in the wrong place WILL sag. The truck isnt going to be there for years and even of it was it wouldnt bust open one day and cause thousands of $$$ in damage.
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