Fred Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Hi, Looking at buying a breeding type setup with three stacked tanks. Each tank is around 250L I am at a very rough guess, guessing that all up would be close to 750Kg. Question I have is would a wooden floor hold it up. I would like to have it sitting on a nice piece of solid core wood measuring around 145cm by 60cm by 4cm - to try help spread the load. Floor joists are spaced 360mmm centre to centre and are 50mm by 140mm. Would the floor have any chance at holding the weight? I know measurements are all rough figures but if it gets to the point where I need exact figures to work it out then that probably means that it is too close to call whether it is safe enough or not. Regards, Fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Will it be near a load bearing wall and across the floor joists? How high are they going to be? If they are for breeding you will need easy, and frequent, access so need a good gap between each tank to allow for maneuverability and net handles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted February 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 It will be against a load bearing wall yes. I imagine it is better for the tank to run perpendicular to the joists? If it is not there is just as good a place to put it running parallelw ith the joist? I have seen the tank already and has appropriate spacing for cleaning/maintenance. It will be 2m tall so the top tank is getting on the high side but I am not wanting as a pure breeding setup to churn out fry upon fry but would like it as a display tank that allows me to keep the fish at different stages of their lives. Fred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 What does your stand look like, ie does it have a flat bottom to spread the weight or is it all on four legs? I don't think I'd risk it, what is the footprint of the tank/stand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 I would like to have it sitting on a nice piece of solid core wood measuring around 145cm by 60cm by 4cm - to try help spread the load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markvs Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 i think (just my limited experience as a ftter turner ) that a thicker piece would be better, What do you mean by solid wood core thingy? If you mean real wood, then ok. but if you mean like particle board etc. then I would be even more worried, after all 750kg is 3/4 of a tonne, not what I want on my foot thank you. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted February 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 It has four legs. By solid core thingy I was refering to a solid core door :lol: I guess I mean the opposite of MDF or ply etc... I do not know what type of wood it would be. I will also get some brackets of sorts to hold the tank against the wall etc... earthquake proofing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 The design floor load of your floor is 2 kPa which is equivalent to a column of water 400mm high without the weight of the tank or stand. If you are going to put all that weight down through 4 legs work out what the force is on each leg and see what you think. Puting it on wood of any description will help only a little. If the legs were one inch box section the force would be about a quarter of a tonne/square inch. There is a safety factor in the floor design but I doubt it would be that much. There are engineers on this site that could better advise but I would be very cautious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Sounds like trouble to me. a 4cm thick piece of timber won;t do that much, the stand I designed to hold my5x2x2' on a timber floor had 6x2 on edge across the bottom of the three pairs of legs to spread the load over the three joists it was over. Even with a specially designed stand I'd be reluctant to try it, just look at the water height vs footprint thing. At the very least you would want to get someone who knows a bit about engineering to look at reinforcing the floor. Better safe than sorry IMO... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted February 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Looks like I will give it a skip then. Will have to resort to having a few tanks just in different places. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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