# 250G +++ Tanks Question.



## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

So lately ive been trying to get my hands on a huge tank for my Mbu Puffer. Of course I knew there would be some speed bumps in my search. My questions is who here has a tank over 250 gallons in their home. My landlord tells me that a 300G would be a disaster waiting to happen in my place. What are your living situations, basement suites? garages?? how about house insurance, i hear it becomes void with something like this in your home.I think it may be time for me to move..??


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't think your house insurance would be void. What about people with indoor swimming pools? Your landlord just doesn't want you to get a big tank. Time to buy a place. But what you would have to do is investigate flood insurance. I mean a water bed would have 200+ gallons of water in it and people used to have those all the time.


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

acutally my landlord is sorta for it. i have one of those "nice landlords". i know its not common in this city haha. hes actually going to get me someone to come take a look at our rancher. i did some math & found out a 300G is about 2500lbs of water, now add the tank weight which i dont know yet. what does most tanks this size weigh?? keep in mind it is glass.


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## Rajan (Apr 21, 2010)

I looked into it when I had my 150 reef and the insurance cover the damage to ur house but not the fish or fish tank itself.


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## Rajan (Apr 21, 2010)

*tank*

Ohh if you sell your 180 just let me know


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

sorry dude..im just looking for something bigger then a 180..


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

ben_mbu said:


> sorry dude..im just looking for something bigger then a 180..


I believe you misread each other's emails. He thought you had a 180 that you were going to replace with the 250 and wanted to buy it.


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

anyone else?


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## snow (Apr 21, 2010)

A tank that big should be kept on the main floor of a house. When we move I'll be setting up my 250g in a media room that is in the basement. Good place b/c it's not on a second story and not a lot of natural light so less algae. As far as insurance goes I don't know anything about that.


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

snow said:


> A tank that big should be kept on the main floor of a house. When we move I'll be setting up my 250g in a media room that is in the basement. Good place b/c it's not on a second story and not a lot of natural light so less algae. As far as insurance goes I don't know anything about that.


whats your current set-up right now??


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## snow (Apr 21, 2010)

ben_mbu said:


> whats your current set-up right now??


Right now it's a 6ft,135g. It's also on the first floor.


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

hmm...thats not bad..i have my 120 & my 90 in the same room. Im just worried that my floor wont support 3000+lbs..


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## Kolewolf (Apr 21, 2010)

A tank that big should be on a slab floor. Both my 300G and 250G are in the basement so I have no worries. You also have to look into the heating, if it is radiant floor heating then you shouldn't put that much weight on it. The thickness of your slab and the ground under it is also a consideration.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I have 650g in my main room but I'm on the ground floor with a fairly flat concrete floor so no worries. Biggest tank is a 210g with 75g sump. With all the live rock, glass, water, etc. looking at about 3500 to 4000 lbs I would imagine on a 6' x 2' area. Good thing I over-engineer all my stands to withstand the load.

Anthony


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## Crazyfish88 (Apr 28, 2010)

ben_mbu said:


> acutally my landlord is sorta for it. i have one of those "nice landlords". i know its not common in this city haha. hes actually going to get me someone to come take a look at our rancher. i did some math & found out a 300G is about 2500lbs of water, now add the tank weight which i dont know yet. what does most tanks this size weigh?? keep in mind it is glass.


A 300 gallon glass tank would probabely weigh around 600-700 lbs dry weight. With water your looking at over 3000 lbs so if u don't live in a basement or in a apartment suite on the mainfloor which is concrete base then I wouldn't recommend it. Myself I have 3 fish tanks which equals to 725 gallons in my apartment but I'm on the mainfloor which has a concrete base and no problems here. My biggest tank is a 450 gallon glass tank which weighs close to a 1000 lbs dry and with water would be close to 5000 lbs. If you live on the second or higher floor in a apartment I wouldn't even attempt to go any bigger then a 135 gallon unless your apartment has a concrete structure.


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## gimlid (Apr 23, 2010)

take a look at a catch basin for under the tank. Kind of like a box with a pond liner to hold spills. I am trying to design one for my 180 gallon before I set it up.
In regards to the weight. as long as it is spread over the joists at a perpendicular angle it should be fine. when you go parallel with the joists the weight is not as well distributed and the joists flex easier.
I work in trades and have talked to several builders (though have not talked to an engineer)
I doubled up on several of my joists while renovating in anticipation of adding a monster tank but most people have told me this is overkill.


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## darb (Apr 21, 2010)

gimlid said:


> I work in trades and have talked to several builders (though have not talked to an engineer)


A builder/contractor/framer/carpenter really isn't qualified to make a call like that. They build to code (many have problems doing that even) and that is it.

4000 lbs ish spread over maybe 6 to 8 floor joists, I would be concerned.

You could consider going into the crawlspace and build a reinforced area around the tank and put some mini posts in and transfer the weight directly down onto a mini slab or something to that effect.


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## Adz1 (Apr 21, 2010)

depending on the material used for your floor joist.
a floor framed at 16" with 2x10 joist with 5/8s T&G plywood could hold up an elaphant or 2.


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## Chris (Apr 22, 2010)

Your landlord's right... 300 gallons of water flooding a house would be a DISASTER!! Thankfully total tank failures are extremely rare. Although they do happen enough that insurance companies take note of them. More likely are aggravating, slow seeping leaks.

Here's a little info on tanks of the size you are talking about:
Length-72.00 in.
Width-24.00 in.
Height-36.00 in.
Wall-thickness-0.79 in.
Volume-269.30 gal (US)
Tank Material Weight-661.02 lb
Water Volume-259.81 gal (US)
Water Weight-2161.96 lb
Substrate-Small Diameter Rocks
Average Substrate Depth	2 in.
Substrate Weight-184.06 lb
Approximate Total Weight-3007.04 lb

Check the structure of the floor you are going to put the tank on. You may need to take that into account.


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

thanks everyone for all this info. Im going to give this some more thought. Because I live in rancher with only a crawlspace, i think im going to take a look under the house over the weekend to see what im dealing with. Ill keep you all posted!


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## Reva (Apr 21, 2010)

*200*

My daughter has a 200gallon reef tank in her family room. It has heavy oak cabinet too. She just made sure to place it across the floor supports perpendicular so that it had good support, and she put it near the load bearing cross beams. No problems. The freaky thing is that hers is acrylic, which means it's lighter weight than my glass 150, but it bows out under the weight of the water. Freaked us out at first. Anyhow, it's very stable. I recommend acrylic for a tank that big. A little less weight never hurt.


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## Acipenser (Apr 21, 2010)

we are currently in the process of moving from our town house to a house, I will not buy a house that does not have a good spot for a fish room. That is a room either in the basment or ground level that is on concrete slab, because I plan to go banana's with tanks . In order to sleep at nite I would not put larger than a 180g on anything other than concrete slab unless I had reinforcend the joist's. Your rancher is on a slab is it not ?


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