Ceiling Joists and upstairs fishtank...

[fr33atesickz]

Hi forum

I recently acquired a 500 liter fish tank (5ft x 2ft x 2ft) and the only room I can place it in is an upstairs bedroom....my question is, would the ceiling take the weight?

Im a complete noob when it comes to construction so I really dont know what details to write in here which would help you experts determine whether it is a safe idea, but basically our house is a detached one with 4 bedrooms, its quite a new house...ermm, the space that I had in mind for the tank is up against the wall in the second largest bedroom on a desk which my friend has added support to with some thick wooden poles.

Is this a disaster waiting to happen or are houses built to accommodate for these kind of weights, because when I think about it, I had a party last year an there were like 8 people in this room and thats gotta be some weight right there...please help !

Thanks,

Emma.

 

[big-all]

heeellloo fr33atesickz ans welcome


in general the joists [rafters] above a ceiling in the attic are thinner as they are only desighned to hold a ceiling up so much more weight will cause it to sag

if you tank is against the wall you reduce the loading on the joists to a minimum

if you build your platform for the fish tank with sturdy diagonals going from the top front edge towards the point where the back meets the floor
just build it with legs at the front and back cross peices[rails] connecting all the legs about 6"inches above the floor [the diagonals can sit inside the oblong formed between the rail and top]
screw firmly to the wall in several places and 80% of the load will be held at the wall

 

[fr33atesickz]

Thanks Big-all.

I hadn't thought about fixing it to the wall, I will ask of friend of mine to look at what you proposed and see if he is up for the job. another idea I came up with after reading your post is this...We have got some 6 foot long 3x3 timbers in the garage that were used for bedposts on a custom bed design some time back,it would be nice to make use of these there are 3 in total, maybe use 2 of them trimmed down to 5 ft ( the size of the tank) for the lateral rails and chop the other into 2 ft pieces for the connecting rails. Then use the other for small stumps like feet, it would look like a coffee table i guess. If I screw this into wall at the lateral rail ( back on which would be against the wall) and the "feet"would it be similar in strength to your design or would it need more?


Thanks Big-all for your time (and patience with my noobness )



[img=http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/4131/fishtankstandvy7.th.jpg]

 

[big-all]

personaly because its 5 ft long i would build it with a centre leg

i would also use the 3x3 purely for the legs
the top rail could be 3x1 lapped into the leg [you remove the thickness of the rail from the leg the full width]

i would also use perhaps 2x1" for the bottom rail set in

and for the top i would suggest the minimum of 12mm ply fronted with a bit off 2x1 [assuming the edge of the table is more than 2" away from the tank rails or legs

 

[fr33atesickz]

Ok that sounds great Big-all Im going to pass these notes on to my friend he will be able to understand and build it much better than I will.

Thanks

 

[blu3tang]

Hi forum

Is this a disaster waiting to happen or are houses built to accommodate for these kind of weights, because when I think about it, I had a party last year an there were like 8 people in this room and thats gotta be some weight right there...please help !

Thanks,

Emma.

You should be alright, as long as its beside a main wall , and the load spread over a number of joists. (though depends on the direction your joists are going , you will either get 2 supporting the tank or 5 i think)


Remember you have 1/2tonne of water alone in the tank on that small area (floor space just under 1m squared).

 

[bananaspark]

if not too late, get your joists and floorboards treated for rot prevention.
you'll constantly be spilling water maintaning a fishtank, especially a marine.