Weight Of Tank

[saboy]

Hello all,

Ok, so I know this must of been asked billions of times, but I want some second opinions for the placement of a juwel rio 240 I am looking at. The spot is next to a chimney breast, in a victorian property built approx 1920. There is a basement flat below us too. The tank would sit against a wall, and from my judgement, should run across the joists.

Ive judged the joists to run the shortest distance of the room by seeing some floor boards in a small electric box cuboard in the same room. These run parrellel to the wall, hence accross the joists. I have only however seem one edge of a floor board in the cuboard which is quite near the skirting inside this cuboard.

From the countless reading Ive been doing, is that the general consensus is that anything up to 55g is "generally" ok on a first floor property, this however was from an american website. I've also read that some older properties, and in particular that victorian properties are built pretty solid. To be honest the floor does feel very much solid, the floorboards dont creek, and if you take a jump, there is a heavy thump, nothing really vibrates (ive got a small 30l tank) much, and this to me sounds like a very solid floor.

I understand the best way is to get in a structural engineer, however that ofcourse costs. Just wondering what people think ? What have you put on your floors before? Even in a similiar sort of build ? (1920's Victorian property , 4 floor inc basement flat )

To be extra safe, Id want to put down a very thick piece of ply to level out anything and spread the load, I also plan to take the feet off the stand to again spread the load.

Once water, rocks and decor are in, the tank is probably approaching 500kg.

What you all think ?

 

[delta]

Hello there.

I believe that the alcove next a chimney breast is one of the strongest areas of the floor, especially in those nice, well-built Victorian houses (I'm a huge fan of Victorian houses). When you put it in to perspective we place all sorts of heavy stuff in rooms without thinking twice about it. Heavy wooden cupboards full of glass, ornaments, junk etc. Heavy book laden bookshelves, heavy solid sofas with people lounging on them, in upstairs rooms heavy wardrobes filled with clothing and the like. Not mention the weight of a bath when it's filled. But, aquariums always cause us pause for thought because of the water and glass combination I guess.

 

[saboy]

Thanks for your input delta

I personally think it would be fine, though like you say its the mix of glass and water, and I still have a niggle feeling I need to know if someone else has set up a similiar size tank before just to put that feeling to rest! haha.

Plus the tanks people have put upstairs are much heavier than what I intend too, so long as I spread the weight, over multiple joists, all should be good

 

[brian1]

My tank is 16 gallons and weighs 11 stone, so you should work it out from that..........I would think it would be fine, as older property were built much better..........

 

[OldMan47]

Saboy, there is no way that I will try to judge your situation from here, across the Atlantic from you in the US. You must decide for yourself whether or not your floor is solid enough to carry any tank. If you are not certain, your best bet would be to ask a person who is technically qualified to judge it, like a design architect or a structural engineer. I always judge my own support structures but I have some background in construction and I inspect my own situation closely before deciding whether or not to trust a support system.

 

[nunster]

Having same problem here. Up grading from 55 to 75 gallon tank. Since I live in an older double wide mobile home weight is a big deal. The one advantage I have is that I am able to add extra bracing or suports from the cross members to the ground. In which I still have to do. Not going to be fun. Being a large guy with a bad back and have to be carefull of the large pain medecine pump in belly area. Not fun at all. Probably be another project a regular person be able to do in one afternoon and will take me week or so to do.
Back on subject. Another thing to think about is water damage. If anything bad happens what type of damage would that do the people below you? I am planning on putting in water sensors below my tank. But I don't have people with all their stuff living below me to worry about. I just would want to to get the shop vac out asap.

 

[Aquascaper]

I had a 160g marine reef weighing approx. 900kgs in total and we lived in a 1st floor flat, the tank was in an alcove on one side of the chimney breast and we never had any issues