Weight Of Tanks On Floor Joists?

[craigybaby37]

Ime concidering upgrading my tank to somewhere around 40 and 50 UK gallons and with a sump of some sort however my only problem is how much weight dare i put on the floor as its in my bedroom which is above the utility room.

The tank i have atm is a 60" wide 14" tall and 12" deep and is approx 35 gallons so with the rock displacment somewhere around 30 gallons. It sits on a unit i have build into my room which runs parallel with the floor joists. This small bit of my room actually sits above the dining room about 3 foot away from the dividing wall between the utility room and dining room. So if you look at the cieling in the dining room 3ft off the wall the tank would be somewhere above ya head sorry if that sounds confusing lol.

anyway i would like to put the new tank where my computer is now and move my computer to where my tank was. With the tank in its new position the floor joists run away from the front of the tank and not how they are currently being paralell to the tank. so ime guessing that with the joists running away from the tank the weight will be spread a lot better there for being able to tank more weight.

If possible ide like people to tell me what size tanks they are using if they are in the same situation as me where the tank is sitting on floorboards and joists rather than concrete floors.

Thanks people and help would be much appreciated.

 

[garybuk]

Ime concidering upgrading my tank to somewhere around 40 and 50 UK gallons and with a sump of some sort however my only problem is how much weight dare i put on the floor as its in my bedroom which is above the utility room.

The tank i have atm is a 60" wide 14" tall and 12" deep and is approx 35 gallons so with the rock displacment somewhere around 30 gallons. It sits on a unit i have build into my room which runs parallel with the floor joists. This small bit of my room actually sits above the dining room about 3 foot away from the dividing wall between the utility room and dining room. So if you look at the cieling in the dining room 3ft off the wall the tank would be somewhere above ya head sorry if that sounds confusing lol.

anyway i would like to put the new tank where my computer is now and move my computer to where my tank was. With the tank in its new position the floor joists run away from the front of the tank and not how they are currently being paralell to the tank. so ime guessing that with the joists running away from the tank the weight will be spread a lot better there for being able to tank more weight.

If possible ide like people to tell me what size tanks they are using if they are in the same situation as me where the tank is sitting on floorboards and joists rather than concrete floors.

Thanks people and help would be much appreciated.

Mate iv had a 6ft tank in my bed room!! now i got a corner tank 350l with sump and 65kg live rock

 

[craigybaby37]

sounds promising for me then lol if you have a 350L...........just checking your room is on the first floor not ground floor???

 

[Sea Turtle]

Ime concidering upgrading my tank to somewhere around 40 and 50 UK gallons and with a sump of some sort however my only problem is how much weight dare i put on the floor as its in my bedroom which is above the utility room.

The tank i have atm is a 60" wide 14" tall and 12" deep and is approx 35 gallons so with the rock displacment somewhere around 30 gallons. It sits on a unit i have build into my room which runs parallel with the floor joists. This small bit of my room actually sits above the dining room about 3 foot away from the dividing wall between the utility room and dining room. So if you look at the cieling in the dining room 3ft off the wall the tank would be somewhere above ya head sorry if that sounds confusing lol.

anyway i would like to put the new tank where my computer is now and move my computer to where my tank was. With the tank in its new position the floor joists run away from the front of the tank and not how they are currently being paralell to the tank. so ime guessing that with the joists running away from the tank the weight will be spread a lot better there for being able to tank more weight.

If possible ide like people to tell me what size tanks they are using if they are in the same situation as me where the tank is sitting on floorboards and joists rather than concrete floors.

Thanks people and help would be much appreciated.

I have worried about this in the past also. However, this is how you need to look at. Lets say you have a 50 gallon tank. I am not sure but I would imagine that rock because it is porus, is less dense then water therefore weighing less. Anyway, water weighs 8.33 lbs per gallon. You have 50 gallons. (8.33 x 50)=416.5lbs. Lets say there were three people weighing 138lbs in your room. Would be worried if the three of them stood in the corner together? Floor joists are capable of holding enormous amounts of weight. I wouldn''t worry about it until you start getting up over a couple hundred gallons.

 

[jeasko]

to put it simply, do you get worried about running a bath upstairs? a bath hold a hell of a lot of water and no doubt weighs more than your going to put in your tank, so wouldnt think there is a prob with weight on the floor

 

[Sea Turtle]

no worries.

 

[craigybaby37]

lots of gd points being made......ime sure if i put a bath in the place of the new tank it would weigh a damn site more than a 50G aquarium with a sump.

Its all sounding promising guess the next step for me is to get some prices on tanks and stands.

Ime thinking of going for a metal tube stand with space in the bottom for the sump......then getting some match boarding and fixing it to the outsides to make it look presentable.

 

[garybuk]

sounds promising for me then lol if you have a 350L...........just checking your room is on the first floor not ground floor???

Yes its in my bed room with sump my 6ft tank i did have uphear too was more then 350l

 

[Tolak]

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html

 

[Sea Turtle]

nice find.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, almost never is it a problem for tanks under 100 gallons. Things really only start getting dicy when you get to a 120g (4'x2'x2') and larger

 

[kj23502]

Yea, we figured i should only have my 125 gallon tank in 1 spot in the house (I don't want it in the basement). Plus, it's the only spot it'll fit alright...thank god it fits there!! The joists underneath the floor are resting on the concrete wall in the basement. It's sitting against the wall where the joists are on the concrete. The tank's running perpendicular to the joists to spread out the weight over each of the joists. Hopefully it'll hold I'm thinking it should.

When we walk across the floor the water in the tank does ripple. From what I've gathered, that's alright though.

I'm considereing getting a bigger tank to put where my 29 gallon is and that makes me nervous. Underneath that part is holding up the stairs to our second story and there aren't any supports directly underneath. I was thinking 50 or so gallon tank I don't know. I'd hate to collapse the stairs and part of the 2nd floor

 

[SkiFletch]

Should be fine KJ. A 125g tank with the 6' long footprint is actually a very good tank as far as weight displacement goes. A 120 with only 4' of length is significantly worse. Some water ripple when you walk by it is fine and normal. And I'd say something like a 40 or 50 breeder size tank would go great in that other place you're talking about. Does this mean the Led test was negative?

 

[ox5477]

since we're still all "weighing in" on this... such a bad pun ... I thought I would add this link I have. Its a civil engineer who wrote this and it pretty much answers all questions everyone is talking about in this thread. Hope you guys find it as useful as I did:

Floor Structures

 

[kj23502]

Does this mean the Led test was negative?

we just went to the doc yesterday and he said it'll take a couple days. Hopefully we'll hear by Friday(I'm still planning it in my head, though....I'm a planner...lol....sometimes I think I think too much)

The doc mentioned the we could also take a few peices of the paint and have them tested for lead content. I never thought of that