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I am thinking of getting another tank for my house. However, large tanks carry lots of water and water is pretty heavy. My biggest problem with tanks is not being able to afford it or having space but the weight of the tank. I live in a flat (apartment) with wooden floors.
I was curious to know if anyone else had encountered problems with tanks on wooden floors. At least in Britain houses and flats with wooden floors are very coomon even on the ground floor. Our flooring can take the weight of a full bath of water so presumably it can also take the weight of a decent sized tank. How much does a gallon of water weigh?
jason

1 US gallon of water=8.3 lbs (3.8 kg)
1 Imperial gallon of water=10 lbs (4.5 kg)

Hi!

A friend of mine bought a 500 Litre tank (~130 gallons) and wanted to set it up in a flat but the houseowner prohibited that explaining that the statics of the floor would only support 200 kg/m²...hes now sitting on a huge tank...if you really have doubt it would be best to try find out the statics dude for you house...

Figure on about 10 lbs/gallon of tank capacity, because your gravel, etc., will all add to the weight. IME, you should not have a problem with a tank <150 gals, especially if you can position it perpendicularly to your floor beams.

There's a good article on this subject written by an engineer on the Cichlid Forum.

Dinyar

Jason

I too live in a maisonette in london (north west). I have considered getting a larger tank than my current 150 litre one, and thought about the weight issue. My current tank is supported on a built in shelf attached on three sides to the wall (in an alcove) and supported on the outer edge by a substantial crossmember. It was carefully levelled and set up so the tank was fully supported around the edge with no rocking, and hence the floor is not under any load.

Luckily my father is a building surveyor, so I asked him about the floor. The bath issue is true, although they are apparently always near a wall for safety. However the bath and the floor all flex when loaded with water and a human, and this would not be acceptable with a glass tank. In an old flat with wooden floors, particularily from the 30's, the floor would probably have too much flex to support a very large tank without re-inforcing the floor or using a very rigid stand.

Hope this helps

Hi Jason,

Getting all metric, 1 cubic metre of water weighs 1 ton (1 litre = 1 kg). What Edward said about older houses having springy floors is quite true (mine is late 1940s). Without getting too technical, the wall plates where the joists sit on the supporting walls are generally made of wood. On the ground floor youâ??ll find supports for the joists at approx. 1.5 to 2m intervals. Nailed to joists are your floorboards. If youâ??re going for a big tank, make sure it runs with the direction of the floorboards against a solid (not a stud wall). This way it will be spanning the maximum number of joists close to where they sit on the wall plates. You can see how many joists youâ??re covering by the nails in the floorboards. It limits you to using 2 walls of a rooms though. If youâ??re going for a very big tank, consider lifting a couple of the boards (not so easy if tongue and groove) and build more supports under the joists. PM me if you want further advice on doing this!

What about settling for a goldfish bowl next to the telephone?!

Guy

PS This only really applies if you're on the ground floor!

guy

Thanks for being a bit more technical - my dad did explain some of this, but I'm only an industrial pharmacist and chemistry is more my line than building construction!

Should be more help than I was for Jason.

Dad did suggest re-inforcing piers for me, but I'm on the first floor..... the people downstairs might not be impressed!

cheers

thanks guys, I wish I could say that has put my mind at ease lol
anyway I dont think Ill be going for a massive tank now anyways Im looking at maximum 55 gallons about 4 by 2 by 2. But probably a bit smaller. It will be situated next to the maiin wall at the back of our flat. btw I live on the first floor so I really cant go bigger than this, combined with the fact that older houses tend to be better built this one is a sixties block and usually have concrete floors... alas this is wood and quite puny at that! Ill do some tests and check the building specs and let you know how it goes. Thanks.

Jason

One of our customers recently put a lge aquarium upstairs and within a few weeks it started to sink into the floor. Needless to say the tank had to be moved. You can always check the state of the floorboards first and replace if need be. To spread the load of the tank always remove the cabinet feet if present this will help spread the load of the tank more evenly across the floor. Finally check the tank will fit up the stairs in the first place we once delivered an aquarium where the new owners planned to place it in a cellar.Unfortunately said tank was too heavy to safely lower down so a tank had to be built on site.