New Fish Tank Is Too Heavy

[dingweding]

I moved in a new flat which on second floor and decided to upgrade my tank, so I ordered a new 350L 4 feet tank. It come with cabinet etc.

I am bit worried it will be too heavy once set up, consider there is another 250L tank in the other side of sitting room.

I do not know what the floor of it is, but the building is a ex counil flat build in 1960,looks quite solid.

I was told it is not how heavy it matters, it is how heavy per square feet, as the tank cabinet come with 6 tiny feet, so if i get rid of
these feet and let the bottom board of the cabinet sit on the floor will help the situation?


Many thanks

 

[iantaylor]

It will possibly be be ok as most council flats in the sixties had concrete floors, if its floor boards put the tank the oppisite way, i used to have a 5x2x1.5 qaquarium in my spare bed roon with no prolems.
Hope this helps

 

[dingweding]

Thanks Ian, so do I need to get rid of the 6 tiny feet? will it help?

 

[CezzaXV]

It definitely wouldn't hurt to lose the feet so that the weight of the tank is more spread out.

 

[iantaylor]

As said above if you remove the feet the load spread is more evenly spread

 

[Inchworm]

It will possibly be be ok as most council flats in the sixties had concrete floors,

If the floors are concrete, you won't have to worry. I live on the second story and my floors are concrete. If you'd like to see what I have in my apartment, click the link here. A few years ago, the property manager got worried about them and brought in the guy who designed the apartment complex. He looked them over and said everything was fine.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I'd be wary about removing the feet - the cabinet may be specifically designed to channel the load into those areas.

as for the flooring - there's no real easy way to assess your floor and tell you it's ok, other than to have someone who knows (structural engineer) take a look for you.

 

[dingweding]

It will possibly be be ok as most council flats in the sixties had concrete floors,

If the floors are concrete, you won't have to worry. I live on the second story and my floors are concrete. If you'd like to see what I have in my apartment, click the link here. A few years ago, the property manager got worried about them and brought in the guy who designed the apartment complex. He looked them over and said everything was fine.

wow, you have a lot tanks, however, most of them are not too big, so that will help..


I am not sure whether my floor is concrete or not. I lift the carpet, and see the floor board, not sure what underneath that

 

[ZoddyZod]

I am not sure whether my floor is concrete or not. I lift the carpet, and see the floor board, not sure what underneath that

and that's the problem - even if you can tell us what you can see - nobody will be able to accurately assess if it is ok or not - you need someone with the proper knowledge to actually view it.

 

[KrazyKuhli]

Try and find a join in the boards and prize one up, this will help to find which way the joists go if its not concrete.

Best of luck!

 

[Rorie]

spreading the load is not as easy as it sounds. If there are six feet that are, say 1 inch square, then that will be quite a lot of load on a small area. You can put it on top of some wood cuttings, say 4x2" beams. But this will only increase the load distribution to about 3 inch square (ish) as the load will still travel down, not across the beam..

So best thing is to check your floor. If its concrete there is not as much of a problem. If its wooden joists then you need to make sure the load is going into the joists, by means of placing the tank there, or by adding someone under the legs to split the load between two joists. BUt as i mentioned, this cannot just be a 1 inch thick board as it will simply bend.

If you lift the carpet and walk over a bit stamping your foot. It will sound different in different areas as you stamp on top of a joist, then in-between them. hard to judge without being there, but it may help you.

An aquarium being at the other side of the room won't make a difference though. You are correct, its not the load, but the distribution of it....unless you are talking really large!

 

[dingweding]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I think it should be concrete, as I do not live in a house, it is ex council bulding, inside there are many flats, all the stairs I can see are concrete. even the balcony are made from bricks... I lifted the carpet off last night, I can not see any wood or concrete, I see some kinda very dense solid white/grey plastic layer.

 

[KISSfn]

If the floors are concrete, you won't have to worry. I live on the second story and my floors are concrete. If you'd like to see what I have in my apartment, click the link here. A few years ago, the property manager got worried about them and brought in the guy who designed the apartment complex. He looked them over and said everything was fine.

Amazing amount of tanks!

 

[dingweding]

I talked to a few builders, they told me it should be alright. However, on the safe side, I plan to get rid of the big tank and may swap it for two small tanks.

But the problem is, I just think the small tanks is not much safer than the bigger one as well.

For example, a big tank weigh 960 pounds, the base cabinet is 4feet long and 1.5 feet wide, thus give me 960/4*1.5= 160 pounds per square feet.


a small tank, say 3 feet weigh around 480 pounds, the base is 3feet long and 1 feet wide, thus give me 480/3*1=160 pounds per square feet.

Thus, the small tank seems not better than the big one?

 

[Tizer]