Hello Slerd..........What length, width and height is the tank????
First of all requarding your stand...........I would put a piece of plywood 3/4inch thick
(same size as your tank) on top of the stand.... then get a blue piece of blue insulated
pad(like you were talking about) on top of that and finally another piece of plywood on top of the insulated pad....
before you place your tank on top.....(Note the thickness of the plywood could be
reduced to 1/2 inch, IMO)
Secondly, if the stand you have has feet then I would use some 2x6 studs underneath the entire length of the stand (front and back or side to side) also I would get some 4x4 metal squares (about1/4inch
thick) and place them between the feet and the 2x6 studs.
Now it is VERY IMPORTANT to place the tank against a wall with a concrete footing below
or near the center support beam of the house.
The 2x6 studs that run under the feet of the tank have to be placed the opposite
direction of your house trusses(the 2x8 studs holding up your house)
example; if your house trusses are running north & south then run your 2x6 studs
east and west....This gives it alot more strength
............the weight of the tank will be distributed over more studs.....
I had a 240 gal tank (6ftx2ftx3ft) set up in this manner in a town house and it was fine...
But I am not a structural engineer so I would look in the yellow pages and get
their advise......always better safe than sorry....also the safety issues.....
exploding tanks could kill...........
I had all my tanks insured for property damage and it was not expensive....
I would just tell them the exact facts and you will have one less worry....
good luck .................
First off ...thank you so much. I had so many questions, about this tank, and you have hit alot of
them right of the bat.
I would sure like to hear the story about "Exploding tanks can kill" I hope that kids weren't
involved, Iam sure the fish were.?
- Tank is 25" wide, 74' Longe
- Yes I will be informing my insurance company about this tank, with a report from the house
inspector.
- My tank stand has a decrative edge 2" deep so your suggestion of the plywood, then insulated
pad will work without seeing the blue foam. Maybe thats what that 2" lip is for.
- The base doesn't have feet, it has support wood straight down on all 4 sides, I haven't flipped it over
yet to see if it is as you described. I will need help to look at that. If the stand has no feet do I still
need to re-enforce?
- The tank will go on the outside wall of the 2nd floor, above the concrete footings, and I will move the
the tank to were the center support beam is.........THANKS
- Thanks for the info on the studs....I get studs!
- I wish I had learned all this from the guy I bought it from. Why does everybody say bigger is better?
Till the next set of questions....bye
