# Supporting your tank - the floor



## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

So right now I just have a 20-gallon (plus a 5-gal QT), and I'm trying really hard to restrain myself from expanding until I have a little more permanence - probably going to have to move for a job in the next 2 or so years.

But my question for those of you with larger/heavier tanks is this: especially if you live in an older place (and/or one where people live below you), how do you make sure that the floor where you want your tank to go is strong enough to handle the weight? Is it safe to just assume that this is the case, provided your house isn't in falling-down condition? Do you find somewhere that there's a beam or other structural help and put the tank there? Etc...

(Just dreaming about future plans!)


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I lived in a much older house once and had a 75 gal. Just make sure its near a retaining wall and the stand sits on cross timbers.


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## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

When i lived in a older house with a wooden floor, i bought a solid core door, cut it to size, laid it down and my 90gal sat on that. The door spreads the weight across the whole door/floor surface rather than the stands 6 legs, far more stable and safe


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

First off.. if your renting.. talk to your landlord.. some of them frown upon tanks in rentals...Next up to try and figure out which way the floor joist run.. these are the vertical boards the flooring sits atop. If you've hardwood floors, the boards run perpendicular to the joists.. and you want to mimic the length of the tank to that same orientation. This spreads the load across multiple joist rather than one plus the header.. If you have access to the room below.. you should be able to discern the direction the joist run by looking at the ceiling..unless its been recently painted... There will be very faint stripes visible in the ceiling which is the contact point of the ceiling and the floor-joists.. 
I've had 125G's on a second story in a 80 y/o home.. Bill in Va.


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## madtyke (Sep 26, 2011)

If you can, site the tank against an outside wall and across the joists


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I would trust older homes more than newer homes. Usually have wider joists and a lot used hardwood. The house I'm in is like that.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

It needn't be an outside wall as SOME interior walls are load bearing.. Bill in Va.


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