5Ft Tank In A Block On Flats.... Hmmm

[willsonb_978]

Hi Guys & Girls,

Here's the situation I've been put in.. My best mate has offered to straight swap my 4ft x 1.6ft x 1.9ft (Rio 240L) tank for his vision 450 (5ft x 2ft x 2ft) tank. I keep all my eheim pro 2071, fluvel 305 filters, all my fish, decs & everything. Only reason is he wants a smaller tank is because he's moving. His Vision 450 isn't that old & it's in mint condition. Same good nick mine's in.

This would just be insain to say no to..but I keep saying no for this reason:

I live in a block of flats on the 2nd out of 3 floors. My flooring is concrete. I keep saying no because I don't fancy the flats below me to have a pond in their living room if their ceiling or my floor goes through. A good 8 people have said it will be fine. Even though I have a rio 240 tank at the moment, the vision 450 will be double the weight.

Would you all think I'm being over protective of the flat? What would you do if you was in my position?

 

[Noahs ark6]

get a structural engineer to come and have a look to give you his verdict. In my opinion, if the floors concrete, you should just go for it

 

[moochy13]

how much does it cost to get one of those structural engineers in, like the ones yuo get to check your house before yu buy it to make sure you roof isnt about to cave in ? might be a bit extreme/expensive, but it'll end all your worries one way or another.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

how much does it cost to get one of those structural engineers in, like the ones yuo get to check your house before yu buy it to make sure you roof isnt about to cave in ? might be a bit extreme/expensive, but it'll end all your worries one way or another.

This or you be moving to the ground floor

 

[holidayinn]

as mentioned above, no one can say for certain except an expert in this field. If concrete floor and against a load bearing wall, it might be ok..I bought my Rio 400 from a block of flats, was a nightmare getting it down the stairs from the 4th floor!!!

 

[willsonb_978]

Thanks people! I'll see if there is anyone in that trade in my friends. I've just always wanted the vision tanks with the curved front glass. My landlord dosen't care at all with my snake, beardies & fish as long as I don't bust or reak the place out

Just to add:

The thought of moving to a ground floor flat to nab this deal has crossed my mind as well

 

[micko]

If it were me, I'd go for it, its concrete, if placed against a load bearing wall then there should be no issues. To be fair, the correct thing to do would be to get it assessed, or ask your landlord, maybe he had the flats built so he knows if there bison slabs with concrete, concrete or concrete and steel.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'd go for it and to be on the safe side, only part fill it so that the overall weight is not that much more than your current setup. That way your current fish get more length and width to swim in, good for anything but Angelfish, plus if you move or decide to get a structural survey you can then easily give your fish another ~250l of water.

 

[Lufbramatt]

i would get it checked out by an engineer- interior suspended concrete floors have a imposed load limit of (off the top of my head) 2KPa for domestic use. I did a rough calculation and a 450litre 5x2x2 tank is equivalent to a load of about 6KPa. (1250lb over 10 square feet). Obviously this is localised rather than accross the whole floor so might not be an issue.

Having said that, the pressure on the floor is only slightly higher than your old tank (5.2KPa for the rio), but it might invalidate the buildings insurance.

 

[moochy13]

part filled tanks generally look crap if you ask me. id rather have a smaller, full tank than a bigger one only 75% full.

 

[swanseastilo]

If it makes u feel better i have over 3000 bt phone books on my floorboards im hoping they fall through and land on my neighbour

 

[juggernuts]

If it makes u feel better i have over 3000 bt phone books on my floorboards im hoping they fall through and land on my neighbour

what the hell lol 3000!!!!!!!

hard to the core, Ill get onto you if I need a number, sod 118

 

[swanseastilo]

Lol got to earn cash some how lol

 

[michaelh]

My 2 4 footers are on the same stand with four 1" feet and im on 2nd of 3 floors in a flat lol.
Thats like 600kgs on four 1" squares. I dont think people give the quality of building enough credit lol. I say go for it tbh.

 

[Akasha72]

okay, so maybe I'm being a bit of a girl here but how much water does the average bath tub take? Something like 100 litres or more? Then add to it the weight of the actual bath + the person layed in it ... surely a 5ft fish tank can't weigh that much more than all that can it?