no more 90 gal...

[Andrewz00]

hey all.. its been awhile since i posted here... and here comes some bad news...


some of you know my excitement of my 90 gal build thread a few months ago... well we finally bought a new place and have moved everything but the fish tank.... over weight concerns. (2nd floor garden apartment)....

spoke with the maintenance staff and they feel that the 90 gal tank will be just TOO HEAVY for the floor joists to support.... so it looks like i will have be downgrade back to the 45 gal... unless i buy an entire NEW setup again... maybe 75? anyone want to trade? tank, stand, and glass top...??

so p*ssed, annoyed, upset, etc...

 

[cmor1701d]

How old is the building?
Does anyone on the second floor have a piano?

Remeber that the weight of the tank is spread over several joists and should be no more that the weight of a grown man (large one) standing on the floor.

 

[yenner]

Ummm....I have a 55 gallon in a house built in the mid 1800's. Yup, second floor. Granted a 90 is a bit bigger but mine seems to have no probs.

 

[BigJim]

You're really only looking at about 800-900lb. A standard cast iron bath tub holds about 50-60g and weighs about 300-350lb empty, so a full tub weighs 700-800lb. Ask them if they worry about the bathtubs falling through the floor.

 

[yenner]

Tank Weight Estimations

 

[Andrewz00]

How old is the building?
Does anyone on the second floor have a piano?

Remeber that the weight of the tank is spread over several joists and should be no more that the weight of a grown man (large one) standing on the floor.

Unfortunately the location where the tank would go runs parallel with the floor joists... and only catching one joist about mid span is not a great idea... if it ran perpendicular to the joists and caught 3-4 of them it wouldn't be a problem.

You're really only looking at about 800-900lb. A standard cast iron bath tub holds about 50-60g and weighs about 300-350lb empty, so a full tub weighs 700-800lb. Ask them if they worry about the bathtubs falling through the floor.

i think your estimates are slightly off... water is about what? 8lbs per gal? and figure its about 80 gal of actual water (displaced by decor etc..) thats 640lbs in water alone.... 100lbs of gravel... the glass itself has got to be almost 200lbs... stand is about another 20-40? drift wood 30lbs-ish?

right there you are looking at about an even 1,000.... im figuring 1,050 - 1,100 total when fully loaded with extra supplies, pumps, fish, buckets, etc...

 

[BigJim]

Ballpark estimate is 10lb per gallon for an aquarium. Sure there's variability based on tank dimensions, equipment, furniture, etc. I've actually seen estimates of less than 10lb per gallon on larger tanks.

 

[yenner]

Look at the link I posted. Good weights on there.

If you're running WITH the joints simply get a sheet of plywood, paint it black, trim to a decent size, and set your stand and aquarium on it thus spanning multiple joints. Spread the base surface out, if that makes sense.

 

[i3k]

I've had my 100gal acrylic tank on second floor over our garage for 7 years now. It's right up against the supporting wall. No problems.