Upstairs tanks?

[AlexKilpatrick]

I was wondering if anyone has experience with putting large aquariums upstairs in a house (not apartment)?

I had a 135 upstairs for about a year, and I monitored it carefully, and it never caused any sag in the floor. It was not a fun task to get it upstairs, though.

I have read a fair amount on the engineering on this, and I see opinions all over the map. Some people say it is suicide, and others say it is absoluely not a problem. At this point, I am ready to bad the engineering and just look for success (or failure) stories.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

Alex

[Ram_Puppy]

Alex,

From what i have heard, placement is critical. The tank should be against a load bearing wall, and run across, not along the joists.

I can't speak to success in a home, though my apartment complex signed off on my 115 cube, turns out we have light weight concrete floors (second story) and they don't consider it a problem... crossing fingers.

[TexasState]

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_weight.php

[Isis]

I had my 72 in our apartment, but it also helps if you use a stand that displaces the weight over a larger area. Obviously a four legged stand on a 100-gallon tank might be risky versus a wooden stand with an open bottom and versus one that has a completely flat bottom, like the one for the bowfront from Oceanic.

[prof]

I believe that most buildings will support most tanks. I am mot implying that you should throw caution to the wind and put that new 300g tank in the middle of your 3rd floor apartment.

Use flat bottom stands and be aware of what your tank is going to weight when you fill it up.

I have never read any story about a floor failing due to a fish tank. Has anyone else?

[alexwolf]

like the one for the bowfront from Oceanic.

See you need to get my tank ;)

[brewercm]

Alright Vinh, just read that article and now my head is spinning and I feel no better if I'd decide to put a large tank upstairs. :shock: ;)

[astrong]

What is the floor made of on the second floor, concrete, steel, wood? Wood suports typically 50lbs/ft2. A 135 weighs about 150lbs/ft2. My woodworker/carpenter cousin has told me that they derive this number by finding the breaking point of the floor then dividing by 10 to derive the load your wooden floor should handle. This is to account for irregularities in wood. (Steel and concrete are much more predictable and the factor is more liker 1.5-3.)
So now you are 3x the load for the floor. Not to bad probably.
I put a 180 on a pier and beam floor, thats the same lbs/ft as a 135 and had no problems. The first thing you will see are cracks in the drywall. Thats means the floor has shifted appreciably.

If the floors are concrete or steel, its not an issue. The best thing to do is call an architect. They can tell you for sure if you don't know the specifics of the floor. They will of course tell you not to do it, but maybe they can tell you where to put the tank.

And like it says in the article, "If your tank is over 125 gallons, then it is highly likely that you should consider adding supports under your wood framed floor. "

[captexas]

As Aaron mentioned, it all depends on the construction of the home and of course the area where you want to put the tank. Some houses are just built better than others and the materials used as well as how the area where the tank will go was constructed will play a big part. If possible, I would try to either find a set of blueprints for the house or look in the crawl space between floors and see what is there to support the weight.

[::pete::]

This is a topic that has been beat to death :) and there is still not an answer to put everyone at ease. I am origionally from NY and there are basements so your first floor is the second floor in a sense. I have seen tanks on 2x8 floor joist and up @ 16" on center.

Wood "spans" are set by an amount of flex that a board will give for that particular span so the floor doesnt bounce or give way. So if the tank was to go against a wall (perpinducular to floor joist )that is also supported below either with a header or another wall it would in my opinion be fine.

There was a great post with all the technical info on RC a while back done by an engineer and people still were not satisified :shock: If I can dig it up Ill post the link.

Then there are waterbeds which are put on second floors and higher. A queen would be roughly 187 gallons. In the past I had set it up a few times in apartments on second floors and never thought twice about the load or the framing :shock:

[AlexKilpatrick]

like the one for the bowfront from Oceanic.

See you need to get my tank ;)

Heh. I am sorely tempted to get your tank, but it was such a nightmare to get a 135 upstairs. A 170 would be even worse. It took 3 strong men to move it upstairs, and those friends won't move tanks for me anymore. :(

[alexwolf]

LOL yeah i hear ya. I went from a 135 to a 175. Wasnt a bad switch.