Tank weight in room questions

[2manytanks]

And if you did feel safer having more support underneath but can't build any permanent structure, you could always put a screw jack underneath, that way you have the jack acting as an extra beam underneath the floor the tank sits and you can just remove it at any time in the future.

[darkangel]

At one point I had a 72, 55, 3x25, 1-29, 1-33, and 2-10gal tanks all in my livingroom. The room is 12ft x 16ft and has 2x12 joists that are only at the young age of 65 years old. The tanks were in there for about 2 years or so with no sagging or other problems. As long as you have a well constructed floor you should be ok. Or for your own piece of mind you could build a 2x6 or 2x8 3 ply beam and use a couple teleposts to support it. If you want to get creative you can build a closet enclosure around the teleposts and beam with a bifold door and you will have a nice place to hide all your fish goodies.

[BooUrns!]

Any house of 25-30 yrs age would have been built using 2x10s or 2x12s for joists (engineered joists were not typically used or available back then). Engineered flooring products deform much more easily under compressive forces so I would not place large tanks on the floor of a newer home unless the floor has been designed for the weight. If your house is over 25' wide, then chances are the joists are spaced on 12" or 16" centres giving you a live load (the weight of the occupants, furniture, and objects not physically attached to the house) of 30-50. You can roughly (very roughly) estimate the safe loading of a room by calculating the square footage and multiplying it by 50lbs or 30lbs for bedrooms (average live load lb/sq.ft). Now I'm sure your structure can hold much more than that weight as engineers typically over engineer their designs to cover their asses but why would you want to push the limits and risk a failure?

Now let's get into how many tanks are appropriate. People have fishrooms usually in their basements because the concrete floor can hold a lot of weight and the basement zone is less susceptible to moisture buildup than a small room as it is usually a less confined space. Moisture can buildup in drywall and cause dampness issues in wall insulation which can lead to frost buildup in the winter. If you're using open top tanks, you might want to consider limiting the numbers of tanks in a finished room. Tank covers will reduce but not eliminate evaporation.

Loading a floor might not cause a failure but over time the weight will cause the floor joists to compress, leaving you with a low spot on the floor and possibly leading to drywall cracks and door jambs gettiing tight. Also keep in mind that if you load up a second floor, the main floor and basement are also accepting that weight.

eg.

A room 10'x16' = 160 sq.ft. x 30 = 4800 lbs

tank weight per gallon plus substrate (roughly) 8.8lbs + 3.2lbs x 90 gallons = 1080 lbs

2-90G= 2160lbs. 3-90G= 3240lbs. You'd be pushing your luck by going anywhere over 50% of a room's estimated live load bearing capacity. Remember there is furniture and people to add into this calculation.

Don't interpret this as an exact calculation but rather a rough guide line for estimating safe practices.

Edited November 11, 2008 by BooUrns!

[catshanon]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I am asking this question as this thread is the most appropriate place for this..

I live on the 3rd floor of a condo in downtown Edmonton and my building is more than 30 years old. I am thinking of putting a 60G tank (filled weight = 600 lbs) in my living room and I will have another 25G in the kitchen space. Reading this thread and the mentioned articles, I don't think the 60G will cause any problems, but if anyone has any words of caution/assurance, I will gladly heed them.

Thanks in advance.

Raj

[BooUrns!]

Probably not an issue. I've kept a 60G in a second floor bedroom along with some 37s and 15s. I did notice the floor had sunken a bit but this was a poorly done second floor addition so I doubt the joists were properly laid out.

[rocker85675]

it will be holding either a 75 or a 90, plus a 20 gallon, and a 15 gallon.

thats nothing. when is the last time you heard of tank going through the floor anyways?

[terrors r us]

I have some questions I would like to ask those who know about tank weight and floor weight capacity.

I just bought a gorilla rack from costco today, in the hopes of setting it up in the same room I already have my 2 90 gallon tanks. Both 90's I currently have are on the outside load bearing wall about 2 feet apart from one another. I was planning on setting the rack up on the wall opposite of the tanks, which I believe isn't a load bearing wall. I was inquiring about a 75 gallon tank to go on the gorilla rack, but might go with another 90 instead. I was also planning on putting a couple 10 gallon tanks, and a couple 20 gallon tanks on the same rack.

The house is about 30 years old, the rack will be sitting so that the floor joists will be perpendicular to it. And the room is approximately 10-12 feet long (sorry, couldn't find my tape measure). I live upstairs as well (if you haven't figured it out by now). My question and would be, is this possibly going to be a problem? I am just worried with the weight of all the tanks in the same room will cause the floor to collapse, and really don't want my fish and tanks to end up in the basement lol. Can anyone tell me from a floor expert perspective if this will be possible, or whether I shouldn't risk it? Thanks

You should not have a problem. It is VERY IMPORTANT not to use a stand with feet.

You need a stand where the feet are actually horizontal on the floor and across

as many joists as possible........Not the common 4 pointy feet type....

[firestorm]

Ok, well the joists are 2x10s the house is around 30 years old, there is a wall not directly underneath the wall it would be going against, but only about 1' further over underneath it. The room is about 13 3/4' long (joists are parallel) and about 9 1/2' wide (joists are perpendicular). I have my 2 90's both 4' long on stands that DO NOT have feet, they are flat bottoms spread across the whole area of the floor, and they both run against the outside wall which is load bearing and they are perpendicular to the joists. The gorilla rack I bought also has a flat bottom, which means it would also cover the entire span of the floor surface are the tank would take up. The tank will be against the wall opposite from my other 2 90's, which means it will be lengthwise perpendicular to the joists as well. The joists are about 1' apart from each other, which means the stand should run across at least 5-6 joists. I was planning on putting another 4 foot 90 gallon tank on the stand, with 2 10 gallons, a 5 gallon, and a 15 gallon tank sitting on the shelf underneath of it. If the weight will be too much with the added smaller tanks, I can always put them in another room. Also I guess I should add that in this room the only furniture other than the tanks is my computer desk (cheap light weight desk) and a small filing cabinet with my printer on it...oh and my chair lol. So it's not like it has any really heavy furniture (and I don't weight 300 pounds, only a mere 130 lol). I just want an expert opinion on this, because I need another larger tank, but can't really place it anywhere else. Do you guys think it will be safe? I don't think I will be in this house much longer than another year or 2. Thanks for your help so far guys, I just wanted to get as much info as I could so you all know what I am dealing with here.

Oh and the stand is 6' long. I only have 1 open top tank in this room, which I am going to get some temporary lids to put on it for the winter. I plan on running canisters on all the tanks, as they don't cause as much evaporation as the HOBs, and the room is basically wide open connecting with the living room, so it's not like it's a small enclosed room.

Edited November 16, 2008 by firestorm