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Is it safe?

4K views 28 replies 14 participants last post by  xGROMx 
#1 ·
I was thinking of getting a 75g tank to replace my 35 or 37 gallon tank... Is it safe to have that much weight on a 2nd floor, though? I mean.. thats like half of a car sitting in my room haha.. Anyone here have any big tanks on 2nd floors? I mean, i dont want the thing to 1 day fall through the floor.. i would guess that 750+ pounds on a few 2x4's is too much for them to handle, right? Any ideas?
 
#2 ·
The best thing to do that I can think of would be to check out where the structural support beams are on your house. Just check out the blueprints. Your safest bet would be to find a load bearing wall on the first floor of the house and see if any of your rooms on the second floor would be setup so that the tank could rest very nearly ontop of that load bearing wall.

With regards to the weight specifically, I'm not sure. My largest tank is a 29g and it is on the second floor. With everything I have sitting in the tank stand, as well as heavy furniture along that wall, it must be well over 500lbs in that area. It is sitting directly ontop of an I-beam though, so I was never worried about it at all.
 
#4 ·
what kinda car are you driveing? 1500lbs......

The floor should be fine as long as its over or close to a wall underneeth. Putting it in a room that would put the tank center over the liveing room would be a bad idea, over time it would sag. Also, keep an eye on the levelness of the tank, add shimms to corect.
 
#5 ·
well ive got a 35 or 37 or 39 i dont even know.. upper 30's.. tank where im planning on putting it.. but we're talking about doubling the weight soo yea.. Its on a wall right between me and my sisters room so i would guess that there is some sort of beam right under.. I know that my room is on top of the Dining room.. What if i was to put it on an External wall? Theres bound to be support there, right? Or better yet, i can have it near the corner of the house where there is DEFINITELY plenty of support.. My room is on the outer corner of the house soo there should be quite a bit of support there.. Anyhow, i might just rearrange my room so that its near one of the outer walls. I was just at petsmart because i wanted to see what tanks they had and for how much.. no 75 gallons or anything near it.. jumped from like 36 to 120.. for 300 plus 300 for a stand so 600 for the tank and i think lighting is included as it was inside the tank.. so 600 plus a filtering system isnt too bad.. but theres no way in hell that the 2nd floor can support that much weight in that little space lol..
 
#28 ·
I understand why people think this is comparable... but the trouble is that heavy objects in one spot over a very long time cause stress and settling. It is not the same as a few guys jumping around for a few minutes.

I will say that you are likely fine, but because I understand construction methods. Even in a very old house it would prob be safe.
 
#17 ·
Home floors are only designed to hold 40 lbs per square foot. I just added a 75 to my home. The first floor joists are only 2 X 8's. I was told by my engineer friend that I needed to add a laminated beam across where the tank sits. I also have a 65 kitty corner to this tank so that added to the problem.
Outside wall are your best bet and try to put the tank across several joists not sitting the same way the joists are running. This will let you hit probably 3 of them. Running parallel with the joists you will probably only be sitting on one.
 
#18 ·
How can i tell what direction the joists are going? And yea youd be on 3 of them if its spaced exactly.. definately two though, considering its 16" spacing in between each, and the tank without the stand is 48" wide so pretty good chance youll be on 3 joists..
 
#21 ·
40 lbs. per square foot? So if a 200 lb person stood on one foot the floor couldn't hold them? Are you sure that isn't 40lbs per square inch?

I've put 3000 lbs worth of industrial batteries ( 2x 1500 lbs. batteries) on a crappy, old pine pallet without it breaking. I can't believe a 600 lbs fish tank is going to fall through any properly constructed floor. People tend to place their tanks up against walls also. Just pick a structural wall.

i think you will be fine, get 3 fat guys and have them jump where ever you are gonna put the tank, if they dont go through the floor you are fine. We use the fat guy test at work pretty often.
:thumbsup: That's great.:)
 
#22 ·
Floors generally won't fail episodically, but rather over time. Enough weight applied over time can cause all kinds of problems from joists cracking to floors sagging. A 200 pound man standing temporarily on one foot isn't a very good test to determine if a floor will fail over time. I suspect most average homes will have no problems with 750 pounds, as empirical evidence here is suggesting, but it's worth taking seriously if you aren't sure about your home.
 
#23 ·
true.. but im not sure about the quality of my home.. my parents bought it off of the original owner that had the house built in the 70's or something.. and we've been in it for around 4 years.. I dont doubt the structure of the house because as of yet i dont see any problems, but its a relatively "new" house and 750 pounds would probably make it shift like hell.. What if i built a structure out of a few 4"x4"x8' beams? sorta like a deck? to help distribute the weight.. if i made it lets say 8 feet wide thats a good 6 or so joists lol.. build a deck in my bedroom haha.. I should have a stud finder somewhere from all of the work my dad did on the house when we got it.
 
#24 ·
I just found this http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html . It looks like in most cases aquariums 125 gallons or under are not a cause for worry.

I misinterpreted the 40 lbs/square foot rating. It refers to a theoretical condition in which 40 lbs. is applied to every square foot of the entire floor. (4,000 lbs in a 10'x10' room for example, but spread across the entire surface.) I live on the second floor of a building that has concrete floors, so I've never worried about the weight before.
 
#27 ·
Thanks for that link, by the way. Its great! And yea i know what you mean.. When i lived in israel for a few months, we had a concrete house.. over there there is barely any wood, but plenty of rocks and mountains, so concrete is standard for everything.. All of the houses and buildings were made of concrete and steel.. definately a lot safer during wars too.. in the US a 50cal can blow apart a house.. in Israel you need a missile.. haha
 
#25 ·
You don't need a deck. Just put it as close to the outside wall as possible and across the 3 joists. In all but a few instances this will be fine. Like stated, if your 400lb aunt comes over and walks across the floor it's not going to fail. It's long term weight applied in one area.
As to the fish tank stand. You want one that is flat, or is touching the floor all the way around the stand. This will distribute the weight. One that has 4 points of contact like a dresser is going to cause problems unless all 4 feet are on joists.
I was talking with my engineer friend last night and he said that in many cases where joists fail they actually slip out or flip sideways if you will. In many cases the floor will start to sag first or crack.
In my case with the 2 large fish tanks (on 2 X 8 joists ) in a 10 foot square area, he told me exactly what joist would fail and where. The 50 dollar micro-lam from Menard's was well worth not having any problems down the road. This beam, if you will, was sandwiched in next to the joist that needed the extra strength and screwed in every two feet. 2 x 8 floor joists in not very common in most homes. The people that built this house cheeped it out. This is where problems start. Well constructed homes usually don't have too many problems. When in doubt have someone check it out.
 
#26 ·
Ill ask my dad.. He opened up the floor in the bathroom which has a common wall with my room while renovating the house, so ill ask him if it was 2x8's or 2x10's there.. Anyhow, yea if i get one its going to be a solid bottom. one with 4 points of contacts is nowhere near as safe as one thats solid on bottom, regardless of the floor.. too much weight and itll do a split haha.. I dont even know what the stand i was offered looks like, but ill definately ask the guy if its solid- bottomed.. Thats what i have right now with my 37g so its not really causing any problems, although its not against an outer wall.. It is against the wall but its an inner wall... flat bottom will help prevent noticeable damage too..(sagging, etc)
 
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