Weight Of Fish Tank.

[Fiwi.x]

How will I know if a piece of furniture is suitable to have a tank on top of it?

 

[mike455555]

how heavy is the tank?

with mine there all reinforced (besides one for a 20l) with wood

 

[Seed_Lord]

Guess it depends how well its made? what its made of? How thick the 'supporting' things are? Ive had a 15-20 (dunno exact size) on a chest of draws, made the top bow but i put books in the top shelf to take some strain, so maybe (not condoning it would be safe!) get a couple of people to stand on top, or find something bloody heavy to put on top, if it feels/looks like it struggling then id be careful, remember a fish tank the weights spread out over the whole thing so if its got stable vertical supports and the tanks not dwarfed by it meaning all the weight is the in the middle you should be good, depending on size of tank obv.

 

[ShinySideUp]

How will I know if a piece of furniture is suitable to have a tank on top of it?

If it doesn't collapse when you fill the tank with water!!

Seriously, water is very heavy; one litre weighs one kilogram to all intents and purposes. Can you lift 50 bags of sugar? That is only fifty litres which is enough water for a very shallow bath. My tank is 240 litres and so is about the weight of three full-grown men so a perhaps a good guide would be to stand on, then jump up and down on the furniture in question and see if it will hold the weight.Bear in mind however that a constant weight over several years will cause wood to bend unless it's designed to resist that. Once it starts to bend you will get increased pressure on parts of the the tank which will far exceed it's designed load specification leading to a suddenly shattering tank -- nasty!

Cheers

Martin

 

[Fiwi.x]

Thank you for your help I have been looking at a sideboard, unit thingy which I like..... Im not sure what kind of wood it is made from altho surely any type of wood could hold it as long as it is designed correctly? I mean Many stands made to support fish tanks are made from chip board aren't they? Maybe I'll take a couple of good sized men with me and get them to stand on it for a while and see what happens? I'm going to be careful, although I haven't kept fish for a while, but when I was young I didn't think about support, I'd put a fish tank anywhere there was space and always managed to get away with it!!

After a few years out of fishkeeping I think I am going to go back to a tropical community, not too big, maybe 100 litres I have kept coldwater, all kinds of trops and marines..... I even left my mother with a 6footer with a couple of oscars in, in what was my bedroom!!!! But I recently had a son and I think he will like watching the fish in the tank

 

[Seed_Lord]

If the sizings right and the frames secure if the tank goes over the supports there shouldnt be a prob, unless your floor is really unleveled

 

[Fiwi.x]

The floor is concrete with laminate on top, pretty sure it is level. If the tank isn't as wide as the piece of furniture, for example the sideboard was 4 ft wide and the tank is 3ft, do I still place the tank in the middle to distribute the wright evenly? Or would this be unsuitable due to bowing??x

 

[onidrase]

How will I know if a piece of furniture is suitable to have a tank on top of it?

If the piece of furniture is made to hold a fish tank, then it's suitable to hold a fish tank. If it's 20 or more gallons, I'd aim to have a tank stand rather than trying to stick it on whatever it'll fit on. If it's less, then I think it'll be fine depending on what sort of furniture you're thinking of putting it on.

 

[ShinySideUp]

How will I know if a piece of furniture is suitable to have a tank on top of it?

If the piece of furniture is made to hold a fish tank, then it's suitable to hold a fish tank. If it's 20 or more gallons, I'd aim to have a tank stand rather than trying to stick it on whatever it'll fit on. If it's less, then I think it'll be fine depending on what sort of furniture you're thinking of putting it on.

I love it -- gallons! -- so quaint. Only joshing with you American types

 

[onidrase]

How will I know if a piece of furniture is suitable to have a tank on top of it?

If the piece of furniture is made to hold a fish tank, then it's suitable to hold a fish tank. If it's 20 or more gallons, I'd aim to have a tank stand rather than trying to stick it on whatever it'll fit on. If it's less, then I think it'll be fine depending on what sort of furniture you're thinking of putting it on.

I love it -- gallons! -- so quaint. Only joshing with you American types

I still have to go to a translator to convert liters to gallons or the other way around, just going with what I'm familiar with

 

[Fiwi.x]

Me too! .x

 

[Akasha72]

I think the calculator on here tells you what the water weight will be when you put in the tank dimensions. Might help you work out how many men to take to stand on said piece of furnicture if nothing else