Tank Teardown

[Velvet64]

Unfortunatly I have to tear my tank down.. I don't think my floor can support the weight much longer it was level when we set up the tank but have noticed it is now unlevel and that worries us.
I have
2 blue damsels
1 spotted black/white damsel
3 small engineer gobies
6 turbo snails
2 very small hermit crabs--- usually don't see them they will probably hitchhike on the rock or sand.
15-20lbs. live rock --- can't see much life and it is all different kinds of rock there is some sort of red thing on one of them
150lbs. of mixed live sand and caribsea aragonite
If you want something then make an offer.
I have bags like the ones at fishstores that you can put the fish in to transport.

I may sell the tank w/supplies after the fish are gone possibly trade for a smaller tank setup. I haven't decided for sure yet.

[MechanicalEngineer]

Sorry to hear this.  Do you plan to get a smaller tank or just get out of the hobby?

[jeblin]

I can't find any good/reliable information on how much a 240 gallon tank fully setup weighs. A rough estimate on a 180 gallon is 2100 pounds ( http://alysta.com/books/fishtank.htm ). If I remember correctly, you didn't have much rock though. Something that big is normally either done on the foundation slab or they run support jacks from underneath. I live in an OLD house and I went into the crawl space to look around. I wanted to upgrade to a 90 but I don't think our floor could support it safely anywhere but the addition that was done in the mid-50's and I don't want to put a tank in there. Good luck!

Jerry

[larrynews]

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandtables/l/bltanksize.htm

[JSLeedy]

Have you tried using a support under the floor. I had to do that with mine. I bolted 2 2x6's together and ran it in the opposite direction of my floor joices.  I held them up nice and tight with 2 expandable floor jacks I got from Home Depot.  It took me about 30 min to do it all and cost me about $80. It was very a easy to do. Might be a option instead of getting rid of your tank. You can even use them with the tank full. As you raise the jacks it will bring your floor back to level.   

[Velvet64]

There is a wall directly below our tank that we thought would be enough... the contractor that worked on our building seemed to think that we could support a 300 galloon tank... he seemed to think that if a house floor can hold a waterbed it could hold a fishtank.. I told him that a waterbed covers more area than a fishtank and the weight is more concentrated, so he told me our floor is 6times thicker than the avarege floor and can hold it ..... I might try to put floor jacks up but the wall underneath might be in the way of where they need to go..... If i tear down this tank completely i still have my 3 gallon until i find another tank..... I don't think i will quit... I still want to get a shark..someday

When i set up my tank i search through the internet and found a 240 tank would be 2500-3000 lbs. depending on how much sand and rock you put in it.

[Bigmoo]

Sorry to hear about your problem. Unfortunately, the term contractor is a very lose ended term and should never really be associated with a carpenter. Typically this is because as the name implies they "contract" out most of the work to more qualified people, not to mention anyone who works under a binding contract is referred to as such and really makes no statement to the qualifications that they hold. If you would like I could try and stop by this weekend or on Monday either before or after I help Slandis move his tank. Just shoot me a PM and let me know how to contact you by phone and where to find ya. The big problem is that without knowing the layout of your house it is impossible to give any sort of reliable option to the situation.

[gregsayers2000]

Maybe if what I'm hearing is right that you had some new construction where the tank is?? If that is the case maybe you had some settling going on. Even new houses settle to some extent. Did the floor seem to go out of level slowly or more suddenly? If it is a slow move you might want to monitor and see if it moves any more. If it was a sudden move I would be a little more alarmed. You might ask around on some of these forums for a structural engineer to take a look. I have seen threads of this exact type and there was somebody that helped them out. Its worth a try. Good luck.

[JSLeedy]

What are you Bigmoo carpenter or engineer?  Was that a offer to help?