Fish Tank Heaviness

[united natures]

This is an uncommon question, but has anyone considered the aquarium's WEIGHT when buying it? Because I'm about to buy a 100gal aquarium but Im not sure if my house can support it. Im planning to put it on the first floor (wooden) of my semi-detached house, so will my floor get damaged over time?

A friend of mine also has a big aquarium (100gal) and he said that he wasn't even allowed to fill it in his office because it will be too heavy.

If you can enlighten me on this dilemma or you have a big aquarium yourself please share
THX


also, should i post this in the scientific section?

 

[Tolak]

http/www.african-cichlid.com/Structure.htm

 

[Mr. Convict]

Water weighs ~8.3 lbs per gallon correct me if I'm wrong as this may be off

So 100g would mean 830 lbs.. no wonder loll.

That post above about the walls and stuff is very useful, and by observation of your house you may be able to work out a way to have the tank, I'd still recommend having it on ground floor though lol.

 

[united natures]

Yes thank you for the link
apparently I have to put it against a support wall, perpendicular to the floor joists?
Anyone have a more concise version of that link? lol


and also ive considered having it in the basement but the weak stair will collapse for sure lol =(

 

[Miss Wiggle]

we get asked this sort of question fairly often, and the one thing that I will stress is that no-one here can give you a definitive answer as to where you can put a large tank in your house. Construction of different houses varies massivley, as does the condition of houses, unless you are a qualified structural engineer and you have inspected the building in question, then you cannot give any genuine advice as to what is suitable.

Considering the serious nature of the consequences of getting this sort of advice wrong, if you are at all concerned then you should consult a structural engineer before filling up the tank.

 

[Rooster]

Placement is not purely a factor of weight... its distribution, ALL upper floors should carry this load... you wouldnt live long in a house where a couple of "large" folk couldnt share a bed would you ! lol

So imagine a large bed, it probably carries the same weight - but its over a large area, covering maybe 4 or 6 joists, these are the timbers under the floorboards (providing you have a wooden floor !) the load is supported by the floorboards - which transfers the weight to the joists, which in turn transfers the load to the walls, and to the ground.

My advice would be to place the tank on a support that does NOT use feet - but rather a box or frame structure that spreads the weight over as large an area as possible... a good analogy of this is when a lady stands on your foot, in bare feet it may hurt a little, but in stilletto heels..... !

You also should, as mentioned above, site the tank against a wall-perpendicular to the floor joists... this means at right angles to the joists, so as to use as many as possible to transfer the load to the supporting wall (make sure it IS a supporting wall downstairs ! )
All this means is that the tank will lie in the same plane as the floorboards.

All boils down to the "quality" of the building - 99% will have zero problems, but if in ANY doubt have it checked out.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Placement is not purely a factor of weight... its distribution, ALL upper floors should carry this load... you wouldnt live long in a house where a couple of "large" folk couldnt share a bed would you ! lol

i agree, but bear in mind that sort of weight is not constant, a constant weight has a different affect on a building to a temporary one. Tryst me I work for a structural engineering consultancy.

All boils down to the "quality" of the building - 99% will have zero problems, but if in ANY doubt have it checked out.

thats the main point really. if you're not sure, get it checked by someone who can go see the building themselves and comment. The consequences are your house might fall down, that's serious enough to justify the expense ensuring that it doesnt!

 

[gaz gun man]

I am so lucky I have concrete floors

 

[pastabake]

Tryst me ... That's a bit forward MW

A structural engineer isn't going to be able to give any guarantees without you shelling out more than the tank probably cost, of course this pales into insignificance when you consider the value of the house.

I wouldn't be so happy about concrete floors ... its what's underneath them that counts ... my concrete floor has a nice big crack and a dip to attest to its poor subfloor construction.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Tryst me ... That's a bit forward MW

A structural engineer isn't going to be able to give any guarantees without you shelling out more than the tank probably cost, of course this pales into insignificance when you consider the value of the house.

I wouldn't be so happy about concrete floors ... its what's underneath them that counts ... my concrete floor has a nice big crack and a dip to attest to its poor subfloor construction.

lmao


type-o


yup it's the value of the house or the repair work that you should compare it against not the value of the tank tbh. You may not be covered on insurance if you did put a really large tank upstairs and had problems from it. I think it would likley be deemed that you didn't take reasonable measures to ensure the structural integrity of the house.

 

[Spishkey]

yup we have to take weight into consideration as we live in rented accomodation, and three floors up!!!

also before we were allowed to purchase our aquariums we had to try and get insurance against water damage for if one of ours leaked, cracked, crashed whatever! that amount of water can do a lot of damage!!

 

[Dave L]

This is an uncommon question, but has anyone considered the aquarium's WEIGHT when buying it? Because I'm about to buy a 100gal aquarium but Im not sure if my house can support it. Im planning to put it on the first floor (wooden) of my semi-detached house, so will my floor get damaged over time?

What are the dimensions of the tank?

 

[united natures]

WOW thanks for the replies everyone! I guess I can't get a definite answer due to the variation of each house
Just wondering, is it ok to put an aquarium in the basement?

to answer the above post, the aquarium I want to buy has a stand 50 inches wide and 20 inches deep


by the way, does anyone know the general price for hiring a structural engineer to see if my floor can support the aquarium?

 

[Dave L]

WOW thanks for the replies everyone! I guess I can't get a definite answer due to the variation of each house
Just wondering, is it ok to put an aquarium in the basement?

to answer the above post, the aquarium I want to buy has a stand 50 inches wide and 20 inches deep


by the way, does anyone know the general price for hiring a structural engineer to see if my floor can support the aquarium?

You could work this out more accurately knowing a little more detail:

100gal tank is approx 400 Litres = 400kg

Tank stand is 50" wide.

The floor joists in a house are typically 16" apart r(check under the carpet how far apart the nails are in the flooring to confirm) which means you tank stand is spread across 3 joists.

The load on each just would therefore be 133kg

I'm about 5' 8" and weigh around 95kg (It's my heavy bones.... honest!!) so the weight on each joist is approx = to 1 1/2 of me.

I'm sure that 5 of 'me' could stand on one joist without detriment to the structural integrity of the floor.

The floor along an external wall would be the strongest area. If you could build a nice plinth for your stand to go on which extends the base area over 4-joists, there would be a further 30% reduction of weight on each joist.

With a little more detail about the tank weight, exact water volume, substrate weight etc. you could work it out pretty close.

Food for thought.

Regards

Dave.

 

[Tolak]

What are the floor joist sizes and spacing beneath the tank? What about the sub floor & finished flooring? Is this a frame or brick house? How old is the house, are you in an unincorporated area that goes by regional building codes, or an incorporated area that goes by more strict building codes?

Nobody answering knows any of these things.

I would be hesitant to say yes or no knowing these things, I sure wouldn't advise for it not knowing. I know my house, and houses in the area that are built similar, to similar standards, and could say with proper placement it would not be a problem. I could drive 20 minutes south, to an area that had houses built when the area was not incorporated, and would be hesitant to put a 55 gallon on the main floor.


If you have a concrete basement you should have no problem, concrete may crack & settle a bit with extreme weight, but it will not collapse when it is the bottom floor.