125 gal set up

[james]

Hi
I plan to finally set up my spare 125 gal this summer. But I have a few technical questions to ask. First the weight with water,rocks, gravel and rocks. I live in a wood frame 60 plus year old house.  It has wooden beams. Now , the question is do you put the tank  going across the beam , or  go with the beams. This is one of the reasons that I am worry about. This tanks has been planted vertically in my yard for over 8 years now.
ANY INFO OR FEEDBACK WOULD BE APPRECIATE.
James

[markw]

Structurally a 60 yr. old house is not stressed the same as homes today. Although they were built well, they usually weren't stressed for heavy loads that had concentrated "footprints". In fact if you look at a lot of older homes, they reinforced specific area floor joists to accommodate bathtubs. Washer/dryers always went in the basement. A 125 gal. tank can weigh over a ton, when full of rocks, substrate and water and concentrated on such a small area can really stress a floor. I have put bigger tanks on main floors, but I also stressed the floor from underneath to support the extra load. If you have access to the basement below, I would definitely do the same.

[RossW]

Definitely perpendicular to the beams.

This post might help.
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=18648.0

Ross

[james]

Hi Thanks for the post. I think its better to be safe than sorry. I thing a few jack post may be needed.

James

[freshwater]

pick a corner, that would be easier on the floor joists

[feral]

Reinforce the floor before you place the weight of a full tank on it.