Upstairs Aquarium

[Arktica]

Im sorry if this is the wrong section but if i cant sell my tropical aquarium i will have to move it up stairs. it weighs approx 440kg, How can i find out if its ok to have upstairs in a house.

 

[fluffycabbage]

if you put it by a loadbearing wall it should be ok, but dont quote me on that

 

[shroob]

The only real way to know is to have a structural engineer come and assess the house.

Theres a nice article HERE about aquarium weight and houses.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I have never read a single story about a tank falling through a roof anywhere on the net in the last 10 years.

If you know the orientation of the floor-boards, run it across them, rather than down them, and near a load bearing wall as mentioned above, and you will almost certainly have no issues.

Houses generally are built to withstand some huge weights over what they will actually be exposed to. Well, at least thats how it is in the uk

 

[Twinklecaz]

Load bearing wall would be an outside wall?

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Load bearing wall would be an outside wall?

Outside walls usually are, but an indoor wall can also be, depending on the design of the house. For example, an extension to an existing house will mean an internal wall is load bearing.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I happily setup my Rio240 on our first floor maisonette back in late spring, supported by 4 joists, next to a load-bearing wall. My guestimate would be ~350Kg.

Right from the onset, I refused to even try Nelly's old 540l tank, that has lived in the garage unused for about a month, but that is about to change having just ordered up a Blagdon 20m power suppply kit. Guestimate of approaching 750Kg!

 

[pauld]

it all comes down to the construction of your floor im in a 1st floor flat i have a 220 L and a 330 L within 4ft of each other my floor construction is block and beam .

 

[talisker]

I've got 2 heavy tanks upstairs no problem, i did get a bit paranoid when i first got them as a few people said to be careful in case they ended up going though the floor, i searched the net and cannot find a single case where a tank has bust through the floor which I'm sure i would have if it had happened before, so i wouldn't worry about it.
people in the uk can have a water bed upstairs without getting a structural survey and I'm fairly sure that's a lot more weight that a tank especially with two people in it