Tank weight

cthegame

cthegame

Reef enthusiast
I currently have an 80 gallon but want to upgrade to a bigger tank when I am financially able to – It wont be for a while but I need to know this first before I keep telling myself I should get the bigger tank…

I currently live on the 3rd floor for an apartment complex – If I get a 135 gallon tank, will it be ok or will the weight of the tank eventually crack the floor and create a nightmare I don’t even want to think about…? Should I hold off on the bigger tank until I move?

I need to know this so i stop thinking about the upgrade. Its consuming me...and the floor cracking is the perfect excuse not to upgrade...but knowing me, i will probably fined a solution somehow :)
 
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I know my tank alone weighs 450 Dry.

Would you want to haul that up 1 step let alone 3 storys.
I say wait it out. 80 gallons is still a good tank size, Get that one STUFFED to the gills, Find you a nice house and do a Big tank / Fish room.
 
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Water weighs about 8lbs per gallon.

Let's say you displace 35g of water with sand and LR. You still got 100g of water. There's 800 pounds.

Now you got about 100lbs of sand

Probably 150-250lbs of LR. Let's call it 200lbs.

Whats the tankweigh? 200lbs at least.

Thats 1300lbs EASY. And that doesn't include the lights, skimmer, refugium, stand and other BS.

You could easily get up to 1500-1700 pounds.

Bump that up to 200lbs of rock and 200lbs of sand--your approaching 2000 pounds.

I wouldn't even put that in my house unless I went into the floor joists and doubled up on what was there. Typical floor joist spacing is 16". I'd put one in between each of those so they are on 8" centers. Those would need to run all the way over to a load bearing I-beam.

Let's say it weighs 1500 pounds. It's 7' long x 18" wide. Thats 10.5 square feet. Your looking at about 150 pounds per square foot--loading. And thats not bad when you consider the average man weighs about 150 pounds. So, stand on one foot and you just placed a 150lb/square foot load on your floor. Sounds like no big deal. Now get 10 buddies to stand right next to you--forever. Thats quite a sustained load on one spot of the floor. It's totally different if the load moves around (like people walking), but when you point load all that energy in one spot and leave it there for an extended period of time--it gets a little scary. :shock:
 
Rcpilot said:
Water weighs about 8lbs per gallon.

Let's say you displace 35g of water with sand and LR. You still got 100g of water. There's 800 pounds.

Now you got about 100lbs of sand

Probably 150-250lbs of LR. Let's call it 200lbs.

Whats the tankweigh? 200lbs at least.

Thats 1300lbs EASY. And that doesn't include the lights, skimmer, refugium, stand and other BS.

You could easily get up to 1500-1700 pounds.

Bump that up to 200lbs of rock and 200lbs of sand--your approaching 2000 pounds.

I wouldn't even put that in my house unless I went into the floor joists and doubled up on what was there. Typical floor joist spacing is 16". I'd put one in between each of those so they are on 8" centers. Those would need to run all the way over to a load bearing I-beam.

Let's say it weighs 1500 pounds. It's 7' long x 18" wide. Thats 10.5 square feet. Your looking at about 150 pounds per square foot--loading. And thats not bad when you consider the average man weighs about 150 pounds. So, stand on one foot and you just placed a 150lb/square foot load on your floor. Sounds like no big deal. Now get 10 buddies to stand right next to you--forever. Thats quite a sustained load on one spot of the floor. It's totally different if the load moves around (like people walking), but when you point load all that energy in one spot and leave it there for an extended period of time--it gets a little scary. :shock:
Click to expand...

Wow thanks for the info. My current 80 gallon is in the corner of two walls which is holding just fine but i know if i move the tank anywhere else, it might not hold.
 
Thats what i was about to say lol, corners are the strongest as you know, but that 80 has some weight too. From what i know most apartments limit you to a fishtank size, the biggest i have seen allowed is a 40 in a corner in a second floor or up and a 75 on a concrete floored 1st floor apartment. Im actually really suprised the 80 hasnt caused a noticeable sag in the slack jobs most builders do for apartments.
 
chaosfinity said:
Thats what i was about to say lol, corners are the strongest as you know, but that 80 has some weight too. From what i know most apartments limit you to a fishtank size, the biggest i have seen allowed is a 40 in a corner in a second floor or up and a 75 on a concrete floored 1st floor apartment. Im actually really suprised the 80 hasnt caused a noticeable sag in the slack jobs most builders do for apartments.
Click to expand...

What scares me even more is earthquakes. i live in southern california and im fearing the "big one" that is due... Its my worst nightmare and i hope it doesnt happen. On the 3rd floor with an 80 gallon and a sump, any earthquake above 6.0 could possibly mean a disaster i dont want to think about. And i know its just a matter of "when", not "if". :(
 
Solution: (For the fish atleast lol) Become crazy and plumb in a plastic tub to your big tank, then if you are atleast at home when the "big one" hits you can play 55 card pick up but a bit harder hinse the cards are jumping away from you.
 
Ask your landlord if you can first.I live at one apartment complex and they only allowed up to 75g. on the second floor or higher.Then I moved again to another that said it didn't matter how big because there was concrete between floors.
 
For sure those are the apartments that you cant really hear your neighbors, my whole house is concrete and almost soundproof, so likely if your building is quiet i t could well be concrete i forgot to mention it lol.
 
the way I look at it, if you are OK to keep a grand piano on the floor, you are OK to keep a 125. I could have put mine on the upstairs of my new place, but it was a good excuse to pick up a 90 AND the 125. I would not do it with an apt though. Houses are built a bit better

-Doc
 
I gotta agree with Doc.
After seeing how most apartments are built,I doubt I'd even go over a 75 on the ground floor unless it a concrete pad.
 
I dont think my apartment has any concrete. Most buildings in L.A. i think are built with wood for earthquake reasons (but im not positive on this). I guess the 80 will have to do until i move. I'm pretty sure the 80 i have now is not putting any stress on the building or at least im putting the minimum stress on it as the tank is located all the way in the corner of two walls.

Thanks for the tip everyone. This just means i will simply have to replace my urge for upgrading with another urge i call "disappointment spending" - which is basically going out to buying more stuff for my 80 gallon to recover from the upgrade urge.

By the time Christmas comes i will be broke. That is a guarantee. I hate the holidays.
 
Actually I got another raise too.
First day at my new job,and got another 2 dollars on the hour.:D

And the reason for being broke,
Got a 17 year old,a 9 year old,and a 3 year old,then the ole lady,and my tank.:mrgreen:
Takes a lot of green backs to keep us all happy.:Cheers:
 
saltwater is close to 9 lbs a gal so it would be alot of wait. I wouldn't add one in a apartment, but whats the worst that could happen, just crush a couple of neighbors, and then the landlord would have to fix it.LOL
 
huh. Yote, I follow your logic. I, too, require significant amounts of money to keep many people happy. I am up for a significant promotion and if I get it, there is a good chance I may never need worry about being broke again.

-Doc
 

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