Concerned Over Weight Of A Fish Tank

[johnnybravo]

Im looking to invest in a 6ft aquarium which holds 595 Litres of water and i live on a second floor flat, the floors are contcrete probably 5 inches thick? would this be able to hold the weight of my aquarium?

 

[Paavn]

that is one really big tank to put upstairs. im afraid to put anything above a 55 gallon tank upstairs lol
i dont know much about the strength of concrete and how much force it can hold, but if can put it upstairs you should put a board of wood on the floor and put the tank stand on top of it - the bigger the board the better, this will let the weight of the tank be spread out as opposed to it being concentrated to where the stand touches the floor

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I have a 90 gallon tank on a second floor of an apartment building. I double checked with the manager and he said go for it. He has a 120 with a 300lb stand also on the second floor.

Unless otherwise told, I would get a contractor or flooring guy to come and check and make sure the weight can hold. Make sure it is over a supporting beam just in case.

 

[Bigbadbaz]

Is it a high rise block of flats? The floors are usually sectional with metal strengthing bars, the weight of the tank should not be a problem, getting it to your flat may be a problem

 

[johnnybravo]

thanks.

im on the top floor these flats are only 2 stories high, i currently have a 4x2x1 and thats fine but the 6ft is twice the width

looking at the concrete from the stairs it looks to be more like 8 inch thick? i think it will be ok but i need to be certain dont want downstairs havin a tank dropped on his head

yes getting it upstairs will be the main problem, gettin the 4ft up was a back breaker

 

[Spishkey]

i live on the top floor (third) and have a 500L tank up here, with a 200L, a 60L and a 25L next to it.

no problems so far...........just hoping the landlord doesnt come for a visit!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thing is other people's experiences are not really valid for anything, they live in a different building to you, constructed to different specifications and aged differe4ntly with different levels of degredation to materials etc,.

it's not possible to say 'oh it's fine in mine so it should be fine in yours'

i would advise you to consult a structural engineer who will survey your building and advise you on weather it can take the weight. it will cost you some money, maybe a few hundred pounds, but just think how much it'll cost you if the tank goes through the floor, bear in mind that your insurance may also not be valid on the grounds of negligence in that you put it up there without getting advise before hand.

 

[foley69]

just as a comparison in my room which is floor boards not reinforced i have a 200 litre and a 100 litre in my room and a 54 litre and 35litre in another room all upstairs on standard floorboards of course i have thick peices of wood under my 200 to distribute the weight so with aconcrete you will be more than fine...my gdad is a building constuctor and he said my roomwould be fine with 300 litres of water so concrete will be even safer i wouldnt worry

 

[Attilauk]

just as a comparison in my room which is floor boards not reinforced i have a 200 litre and a 100 litre in my room and a 54 litre and 35litre in another room all upstairs on standard floorboards of course i have thick peices of wood under my 200 to distribute the weight so with aconcrete you will be more than fine...my gdad is a building constuctor and he said my roomwould be fine with 300 litres of water so concrete will be even safer i wouldnt worry

read Miss Wiggles post above, you simply cannot make that sort of statement without knowing the specifications the building is built too!

im a Civil Engineer with a degree and 5 years experience, i spent 2 years working in a Structural Engineering role before moving back into a site based position. your floor may be able to take the loading of a 700+ kg tank, but without knowing the thickness and strength of the concrete and the amount and position of the steel reinforcing it is impossible to tell for sure. as Miss Wiggle suggests, get a professional involved. the constructiuon drawings should be available from the contractor that built the flats and a structural engineer should be able to tell you with a level of confidence whether your floors can take the extra load.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks Attilauk

I've also got 5 years experience in the construction engineering industry's, not in an engineering role but I know enough about it to pick these things up!

I can tell you one thing for certain, no way would I put a 600 litre tank upstairs without consulting someone qualified first, with the greatest respect most people on this forum are in no way qualified to answer this question for you, and the few people who would be (such as attilauk) do not have all the relevant facts to hand to be able to answer you.

 

[Spiceweasel69]

Dependent on the construction i wouldnt say this is a problem.

If the flat has concrete slab flooring or is of block and beam foundation, stell reinforcing bars will be in place to stop any concrete faliure due to tension, a large wight in this instance. What you need to assess is how old the building is and if it is converted or purpose built. If converted with wooden joists, i wouldnt put it on loadbearing joists under 8'' x 2 1/2'' at 400mm spacings minimum AND i would check em for woodworm or any form of rot. Your tank (rena aqualife 600 ???) is 130kg and the water will be 600kg, so 3/4 of a ton or 7150 Newtons over a 2 metre area isnt really a load that you should worry about.

If you have a concrete slab or block and beam flooring, you dont really have a problem. What you must remember is that as long as you are placing it against a wall, and not in the middle of the room ( as a room divider etc) then you are asking gravity to act through the point where the loadbearing floor meets the wall, which is very strong. If you put it in the middle, i would worry about the prolonged effect of the weight on the weakest point of the floor.

Remember, floors are massively over engineered as are buildings as a whole. This is because the Biuldings inspector wants things over specified rather than those which are passable, because in the event of a faliure, its his insurance that will be claimed upon. Often they wont pass some aspects of structural alterations etc until a structural engineer has done the calcs EVEN if he knows it will pass. This is simply due to the fact the engineer has insurance too!

Example - a true one. I knocked some walls down in my house and specified 8 x 4 inch RSJs. I did my maths and knew they were more than enough to take the dead load and imposed load of the building. I presented this to building control, who then told me to get a structural engineer or they wouldnt pass that part of the build. Paid over £200 for some calcs that told me all i needed was 7 x 3 RSJs. Biulding control Officers get tought what will be required to take what load, but will hardly ever put thier name to it in case it fails. They will always look to pass the responsibility elsewhere.

Rant over.

Get insurance though for any accidents. Dont want a swimming pool on the 1st floor.

 

[ghent_3rd]

I am just putting 5 small tanks into my room, my Dad was stressing about the weight but then I did the calculations-

1 litre of water = 1kg (ish)

5 tanks with displacement hold about 150 litres, and that's over-estimating, so 150kg.

That sounds a lot until you think how many 1 litre bottles that actually is and how many it would take to fill a bath!! I then put my Dad's weight to it, about 17 stone/108kg.

So with tank and the stand I reckon it is somewhere in the 200kg range, so 2 of my Dad!!

He shut up then!!!

 

[Attilauk]

Remember, floors are massively over engineered as are buildings as a whole. This is because the Biuldings inspector wants things over specified rather than those which are passable, because in the event of a faliure, its his insurance that will be claimed upon.

and if somebody is killed in that failure its him that goes to prison...

the floor would be, as you put it, 'overspecified' as it would be designed to british standards which include a factor of safety. in my experience the majority of buildings are designed down to a factor of safety instead of simply specifying something which is way over the required strength. the closer you get to the FoS then the cheaper the build is (and when it comes to housing they are built as cheap as possible)

Biulding control Officers get tought what will be required to take what load, but will hardly ever put thier name to it in case it fails. They will always look to pass the responsibility elsewhere.

no they don't, they have an idea what is required but there are a large number of variables which can affect the structural capacity of an element, they will not put their name to it because they cannot say with any certainty that it will work. hence the use of a structural engineer...

Dependent on the construction i wouldnt say this is a problem.

i agree but knowing nothing about the construction how can we conciously say it will be ok?

assuming we look at the tank as a uniformly distributed load, a 6x2x2 tank (~600litres) has a footprint of 1.11 square metres, given your estimation of 7150N thats 6.5kN per square metre. not a loading to be sniffed at imo especially when added to the existing dead and imposed loads in the room.
as the footprint is so close to 1 square metre it could be argued that it can be considered a point load of 7.5kN which will produce a far greater loading condition.

i can understand what you are saying but it would be foolish to tell johnnybravo that it would be ok without a full understanding of the loading situation

 

[ghent_3rd]

Well that all just got a little complicated for my liking!! All I know is my set-up will weigh less than a bathful of water so mine should be OK!!

Note the word SHOULD!!

 

[Tolak]

Any doubt, get a qualified person to check it out first. Areas around bathtubs are often reinforced to accommodate the increased weight. Here's a good article on tanks & floor strength; http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html