Habitat - Indoor :: Aquarium Weight

[Tori-turtle]

Hi!!!!
I have 4 hatchling RES, right now they're ok in the 55 gallon I have, but I know we'll need to upgrade to a HUGE tank. The problem is I live in a condominium, on the second floor.
It's not an old building at all. but everyone keeps talking to me about it falling through the floor and becoming a very expensive coffee table decoration for the downstairs neighbor.....
Is this even a possibility? I mean...can a large tank really do damage if the building isn't even old?



Thanks

[DavidY]

Well, I'm not sure about the new buildings but I have read before of a guy who had a big new saltwater reef aquarium in his 2nd floor apartment. He came home from work one evening and there was a ton of commotion going on in the apartment below his. So he decided to peek in the front door and, lo and behold, his nice big new saltwater reef tank had crashed through the floor and landed in the middle of the apartment below his, narrowly missing the tenant living there.

So it can happen. Take into consideration that fresh water weighs approximately 8lbs/gal. So a 100gal tank full of fresh water would weigh 800lbs. Add to that the weight of the glass tank, the stand, the lights, any decorations and substrate, and you're easily looking at 1000lbs. The area taken up by a 100gal tank is somewhere close to 10sf. So that's 100lbs per square foot.

How big of a tank are you thinking of?

[Starchick]

Have a look at this thread

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... light=beam

I don't know that it would necessarily fall through the floor but you may have an issue of the floor sagging or warping, which would put dangerous stress on the tank. I think it's more likely that the tank would break before it actually went through the floor.

There's also the possibility that your turtles may not get along in the future, maybe you'll be looking at several smaller tanks rather than one gigantic one.

[grey goose]

Just because a building is new, doesn't mean it's stronger. When you say huge, how huge are you talkin'? If it's 150-200 gallons or more, and placed along a load bearing wall perpendicular to the floor joists, it may (or may not) cause a collapse. It may sag or flex the floor over time if its wood framed, but if your sub floor is concrete (many newer condo's use this method) you may be OK. Only a structural engineer would know for sure.
Anyhow, here's a link about aquariums and floors......
http://www.african-cichlid.com/Structure.htm

[scripta_elegans]

Okay, since it's started, I read the whole article you suggested Goose, and I now thinkI need to put the aquarium in a different place. It was not going to be perpendicular to the floor joists, but on a load bearing wall. Now I think I will put it at the corner of 2 load bearing walls, and perpendicular to the floor joists. That's the 120. Can I put the 75 running parallel to the joists but on a load bearing wall? Or do I need to rearrange my house completely? I will if I have to damn it.

[DavidY]

I actually had to put my 120gal built-in wall unit running parallel to the floor joists in my living room. It was literally the only place I could put it. Fortunately the joists were easily accessible from the basement below. One end of the tank was close to the exterior wall of the house but it only went halfway across the floor to the center load bearing beam. It did straddle two of the joists however.

So the first thing I did was measure the level of the floor where the tank was going to go. As I expected, there was about a 3/8 inch sag towards the middle of the room. So I used a hydraulic car jack and a 2x6 to slowly raised the middle of the floor so it was level. I then got two boards that were the same dimension as the floor joists (2x10's I think) and used them to double up the 2 floor joists directly under where the tank would go.

Then I built a header out of two 2x4's nailed together and long enough to cross 4 joists (the 2 under the tank and 1 more on each side of those) and supported those with two upgright 4x4 posts. This was placed under the end of the tank that was towards the middle of the room. At that point I was able to remove the hydraulic jack and the floor was rock solid.

One of the first things you might notice if you don't have extra support under the tank will be the sagging of the floor as you walk by the tank.

[grey goose]

A load bearing wall will run across the floor joists. An exterior wall will have the benefit of a rim joist also. You have to figure out what direction your floor joists travel, and the best place would be against an exterior wall that crosses over the joists. This will give the best support IMO. But as the article says, there is a lot of variables....each house is different.

[scripta_elegans]

So this is good? I can't draw, but I bet you get the idea. I should mention the joists are a foot apart.

[grey goose]

The 120 looks good, the 75 not so good. Can you position the 75 so it is facing the 120? You need to position it across as many floor joists as possible. The way it's positioned in your drawing, it looks like it's only on one joist whereas the 120 looks to be spread across four joists.

[scripta_elegans]

That's right. The 75 also has a stand with smaller legs on it, so the weight will be more focused. I will start rearranging the house! Thanks!

[grey goose]

Maybe you could punch a couple of holes in that brick pillar and mount both tanks in it........I know........I'm nuts.

[scripta_elegans]

Funny you should say that... If I owned instead of rented, that's just what I would do. I would have built a niche in the wall there. I don't think the landlord will go for it though.