Reinforcing the floor?!

[Rdelusion]

I'm about to by a 55g (UK) tank and put in my 2nd bedroom with is upstairs - someone I was speaking to said I would probably have to get the floor reinforced?!

Anyone else heard anything like this?

 

[jaime007]

no i havnt'. If u have a bed in there i would have thought it would hold a tank!

 

[David]

I have my 46 gallon upstairs and there's no problem..

 

[FishDan]

It really depends on a few things. Age of the building. Building materials. Other objects in the room. Where you place the tank. ...

There is no way for us to know if you need to do this. If the building is relatively new you are probably fine. If you are worried, put the tank near an outside wall (more support). If you are really worried, have a contractor come take a look at the building, they should be able to say. If you have cement floors, then go for it. You are fine that way!

\Dan

 

[325Pilot]

remember that water weighs about 8 pounds/gallong US, plus the weight of glass, rock and stand, so your looking at about 500 pounds, at least. One major difference between a bed and a tank, is that a bed, I should think, weighs less, and the wieght is spread out more over the floor. A tank is pretty much concentrated on one area. Place the tank next to a load bearing wall and you'll almost certainly be fine. If you have any 500 pound friend, invite them to walk around the room and see if the floor sags or distorts. but 500 pounds isn't really that much in the construction world, so you'll probably be fine, but to be on the safe side, try to place near a load-bearing wall.

Hope this helps,
Brian Jagger

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

If you have any 500 pound friend, invite them to walk around the room and see if the floor sags or distorts.

 

[chew-able]

I put a 55gallon upstairs. I asked a friend who is an architect if this would be ok and he told me to pull up the carpet and have a look for the nail holding the floor boards down. These will be in lines indicating which way the beams run under them. Then place the tank against the wall so that it is above where the beams are keyed into the wall.

Touch wood my house is still standing after 3 years!


Chew

 

[karrihug]

i am a builder and my father is an engineer, he designed my house. he said it was ok to put my 210 upstairs, but my husband refused to carry it up

 

[Stryker]

Its best if your tank goes across the beams holding your floor up, thus spreads the weight.

 

[plateletboy]

what youve got to remember is that a 55g weighs about 250kg. This is actually spread over a large area and so the pressure at an individual point is quite low.

I weigh 80kg and this all goes through my feet - maybe 250cm2 - your tank is probably around 6000cm2 and so the pressure at my feet 0.32kg/cm2, your tank ~0.04kg/cm2 !!!

youll be fine........

PB

 

[ChrisH]

Myself, I put a sheet of 3/4" ply underneat my tank stand to ensure that the weight is spread uniformly. Oh and of course it is essential to have the tank adjacent to the rafters!

 

[Tropjunky]

yh

 

[Tropjunky]

u might wanna have some professional look at it cos most of us can't really say much as we don't know wot ur house looks like nor do we know much about it. ur hose might not be able to suport the waight.