Aquarium And Floor

[stevey87]

I live on top floor and my room I think was designed as den for office stuff. I use it as bedroom and I have a big bed with 29 gallon and a desk already. Now I'm going to add 65 gallon to the room. I'm concerened about the floor cracking or collapsing. Some parts of the room floor already has cracking noise when I go on particular spots. I'm planning on putting my 65 gal in the corner of the room but it's directly over a bed and I don't want the tank collapsing on my family member's head while sleeping. Even if it doesn't collapse. I don't want it to leave permenant damage.

My Big Al's Aquarium is 60 pound
65 gallon tank with water is 775 according to http/www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6...rt-120459.html
with fluorite and stuff I'll add 25lb because even tho 4 bags of fluorite is heavier than that, they're replacing the water weight in the tank. Water weight for the volume of those 4 bags are quite a bit also so....

So total I got 860 lb for area of 4.5 square foot because it's 36 inch by 18 inch. So is the floor gonna collapse or put permanent damage? Any weight will cause a little damage, nothing is 100% perfect. I'm just wondering about significant damage. Please help me before I set up my tank, even tho I already bought the tank. I tend to over worry about everything but I think this is a legitimate thing to be worried about.

Another thing is, I hear cracking sound all over my room right now as the winds are very strong.

How can I find out which way the joists under the room run so that I can put the tank perpendicular to the joists so I use as many joists as possible to distribute the weight as much as possible?

 

[rdd1952]

For the most part, any floor should hold the weight of a tank. That comes out to barely over 1lb per square inch which isn't much THe only way to be absolutely sure that there aren't any structural issues though is to have a structural engineer look at it. Floor joists will almost always span the narrowest width of the house. So if your house is say 60' long and 30' wide, the joists will run the 30' length.

 

[stevey87]

But don't ppl say 40lb square FOOT is maxminum? I get 191 lb/sq ft because 860 lb / 4.5 sq foot.

 

[rdd1952]

I've never heard the thing about 40 lb/sf before. Even a dresser full of clothes would probably exceed that. Even a common refrigerator would probably be over 40 lb/sf. Almost any aquarium over 30 gallons will exceed that. Even a 20 gallon long (about 220 lb) would be about 80 lb/sf.

 

[stevey87]

I'm putting it perpendicular to window wall and parallel to another window wall therefore it's the 'bearing' wall? So that's one safe thing about this whole thing I guess???

 

[onebto]

I know some advise using some ply wood as a base to the stand to help levelling things out and also it helps to spread the load over as many joists as possible

This advise I have heeded on my very first tank

 

[Truck]

yes good advice^^ although sometimes it doesnt apply as the tank has a flat stand(without little legs) but could be used if you dont mind having a peice of ply proud around the edges

 

[stevey87]

So most people are saying it's ok to put 65 gallon in corner of my room? My stand is flat on the bottom.

 

[drobbyb]

So most people are saying it's ok to put 65 gallon in corner of my room? My stand is flat on the bottom.

It should be fine. The floor is strongest next to an outside wall. You might want to make sure that you are spanning several floor joists to spread the load out more. I had my 72 gallon tank on an inside wall on the 2nd floor with zero problems.

 

[stevey87]

Majority of fish keepers on net are saying it will be ok. What's the green fish you have?

 

[drobbyb]

Majority of fish keepers on net are saying it will be ok. What's the green fish you have?

Melanotaenia Lacustris (Lake Kubutu Rainbowfish)