Habitat - Indoor :: 100 Gallon Tank Question

[queenjane]

I live in a 3rd floor apartment and have no plans to move to a first floor apartment, ever, because I don't want people looking in my windows and trying to kill me at night, lol.

My parents (yes, still not independent even though I'm a senior in college, haha) won't let me get a 100 gallon tank because the combined weight of the water would be close to 800 pounds. They think it's going to break the floor or leak all over the place and destroy the apartment building and that we will be sued.

Are their fears at all substantiated? Those of you who have 100 gals, do any of you live in apartments? I just have to figure that if a 100 gallon tank was such a liability, fewer people (if any) would have them.

ADVICE, PLEASE!

[njdevs]

I myself would be afraid of flooding the apartment below if something went wrong with either the tank or filter. I have maintained a 135g for almost 20 years and have had multiple mishaps from time to time.

Since it's not your place I won't take the chance........

But, my close friend had a 180g on first floor with a basement underneath. He did some research before hand and it had a lot to do with the tank being on an outside wall and the floor joists needed to come out away from that wall and not parallel with it. I know he later added a few floor jacks for sanity since it was a reef tank with a few hundred pounds of live rock. It lasted for a few years before he got out of the hobby.

[theartbook35]

Tad paranoid, aren't we?

Jozzep just went through this... here's a link:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22555

Edit: In the future, I plan on buying a house with a basement. I will most likely convert the basement into an art program for children, and keep my turtle's tank in the basement, since they are actually quite used to being around children. Eventually, I will get a 300 gallon, and, if it's in the basement, PROBLEM SOLVED! (By the way, a 300 gallon would way about, 2,400 pounds)

[queenjane]

Haha, in Texas, no one knows what a basement is! I have never seen a basement in any house in Texas, haha. For some reason, we just don't 'do' basements. But I am moving up north for graduate school, so I guess I shoud keep this in mind when picking a house/apartment.

That link to the other thread was really helpful! Thanks!

[robind]

the '2400lb' weight for your 300 gallon tank is just the water---as water weighs 8 lbs a gallon. That said, I have a 100 gallon tank on the second floor of my apartment, but the first floor is still my apartment...so less of an issue if I flood things, though still a problem because it's a rental! Just make sure its on a load bearing wall, and like mentioned above if you're extra paranoid put the tank perpendicular to the floor joists.

[untsmurf]

You're not being paranoid. Apartments, especially older ones were not constructed to hold 1,000 pounds of weight in one spot. You would be putting extra stress on the existing joists. Also, most apartments don't allow reptiles or large aquariums, so if something went wrong, you would be completely liable.

We had a 125 gallon tank in a second floor apartment and we kept it only half full until we bought our house. Even now, the tank is on the first floor on an outside wall.

Researching your joists and weight distribution is very important in getting a large tank. It's just like putting in a new bathtub upstairs. You need to reinforce the floor to hold that kind of weight or you will eventually be showering in your kitchen.

You have the added issue that it's your parents apartment. Even if they charged you rent, they still are legally allowed to make this decision. And it is a sound one, unfortunately.