I have had a 29 gallon tank set up in a spot on the second floor of my house (above a finished basement) for a year with no issues other than having to shim the back legs of the stand a little to make it level right from the start. I am now upgrading to a 65 gallon tank (38" x 21") in the same spot and just want to be sure there will be no support issues with the floor. The room is carpet, but we are planning to put down ceramic tile in this area a little bit larger than the footprint of the tank.
I checked the floor joists and unfortunately they run parallel to the tank rather than perpendicular, which I have read is better. The tank/stand will be 6" from an interior wall and the joist is about 16" from the wall, so the joist will pretty much run close to the center of the tank/stand lengthwise. I pulled up the carpet and the subfloor is 4' x 8' sheets of OSB nailed to the joists. You can tell where the joists are as the floor is slightly higher than the areas away from the joists, so there is a slight slope down towards the wall. I am guessing this is the reason I had to shim the rear legs of the prior stand that were near the wall. For the record, this height difference is minor and was there before the original tank and seems to runs the length of the room along the joist.
Given the new tank is only 65 gallons, does this sound like it will be OK as is, or should I look into trying to change the subfloor to plywood or something else? Thanks.
I checked the floor joists and unfortunately they run parallel to the tank rather than perpendicular, which I have read is better. The tank/stand will be 6" from an interior wall and the joist is about 16" from the wall, so the joist will pretty much run close to the center of the tank/stand lengthwise. I pulled up the carpet and the subfloor is 4' x 8' sheets of OSB nailed to the joists. You can tell where the joists are as the floor is slightly higher than the areas away from the joists, so there is a slight slope down towards the wall. I am guessing this is the reason I had to shim the rear legs of the prior stand that were near the wall. For the record, this height difference is minor and was there before the original tank and seems to runs the length of the room along the joist.
Given the new tank is only 65 gallons, does this sound like it will be OK as is, or should I look into trying to change the subfloor to plywood or something else? Thanks.
