# What weight tank will go through the floor?



## Kaosone (Jun 29, 2009)

Hi,
I am looking to add a 75G to an upstairs room in my house, should I be worried about it falling through the floor & ending up in my kitchen? It's 4ft long so should spread the load over the joists nicely, it's still a lot of weight though.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

600 lbs. more or less
42-43 stone
272 Kg
If a modern structure, it should hold.


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## Kaosone (Jun 29, 2009)

Hi,
Thanks for the response, the word "should" really doesn't fill me with confidnce! 

Is this fish tanks falling through floors a common occurance?

any idea how much a bathtub full of water with & a fat person in it weighs? (I'd think it'd be pritty heavy).

Thanks,
Stuart


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

Given your location, and the age of some structures, is why I worded my answer carefully.
I have never heard of a tank moving downstairs, by way of the â€œthrough ceiling expressâ€


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## Kaosone (Jun 29, 2009)

I think m house is quite old but I'dgo as far to say they were hardier than the more modern structures, I think I'll reasearch this one carefully.

Thanks.


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## Kaosone (Jun 29, 2009)

I just consulted a friends dad who's a builder who said no way 300KG will go through a floor the joists are 18" thick & 18" apart & if it's next to a wall its at the strongest point as the it's by the fixings 90not in the centre of the beam).

he also then said how heavy do you think a waterbed is with 2 people in ir or a bath tub which is spread over 4 small feet? Dont event let the though enter your head, Reassuring!!!


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## love-my-fish (Nov 26, 2009)

Kaosone said:


> I just consulted a friends dad who's a builder who said no way 300KG will go through a floor the joists are 18" thich & 18" apart & if it's next to a wall its at the strongest point as the it's by the fixings 90not in the centre of the beam).
> 
> he also then said how heavy do you think a waterbed is with 2 people in ir or a bath tub which is spread over 4 small feet? Dont event let the though enter your head, Reassuring!!!


I agree with you... wow never heard of floor joists that thick...I guess the stongest point would be to make sure your tank is along a path that is perpendicular to your floor joists and not paralelle with them. Maybe some extra cross bracing can be put in if required... I wouldn't worry to much unless your putting in like a 150 gallon + tank......

cheers and good luck
sheldon


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## vfc (Feb 13, 2007)

The problem is not that the tank will fall through the floor The issue is that over time the floor will sag and put stress on your tank; possibly causing it to split a seam.

It only takes a fraction of an inch sag under one leg to cause the stand/tank to twist. The twisting force puts considerable force on the silicon seams and center brace.

The safest place for a large tank is on a concrete floor.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I'm assuming most have never tried moving a cast iron tub. If you have you can tell the weight of a tub filled with water and a person will weight far more than a tank. Two men can easily carry most tanks. Two men cannot carry a cast iron tub. Fill both with water and the tub is much heavier than the tank. This is one of those silly discussions based on what somebody thought rather than what they knew. If tanks fell through floors, the building codes would have been totally reworked long ago.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

Would be a good submission to "Myth Busters"


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

KaiserSousay said:


> Would be a good submission to "Myth Busters"


I'm all for that. An 'Aquarium myth busters' show. There would be a lot of content for a lot of shows. Aquarium keeping myths are more numerous than the sands on the sea. :lol:


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## MCKP (Aug 17, 2009)

We had to move our tank from the 'perfect' spot because it went parallel with the joists...... just make sure you have your tank going across the joists instead of along them and make sure you are using at least two of the joists and you should be fine.... spreading the weight out along multiple joists will highly lesson the chances of anything happening....I have a 55 up here now but started with a 75 and had no issues with it showing any duress on my floor.... we live in an upper level with a basement.... 1970's home....


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## 12 Volt Man (Sep 22, 2008)

I think the issue here is what size tanks are we talking about.

for 50s, 65s, 75s etc no problem.

its the 150's, 180's and 220's that is more the issue. its like parking a small car in your living room and leaving it there for 10+ years.

most residential wood floors were not designed to handle that kind of weight in such a small area for a period of years and years.

sure, you can have a couch, sit 4 people on it, and you probably equal the weight of a 100g tank.

but that couch with those people on it does not remain as is for years.

that, apparently, is the issue with the potential long term damage to the flooring.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

When you say you had to move a tank to another location, what made you do it? Was the floor giving way or sagging? Or was the move more due to someone saying it would? There seems to be a far larger group saying it but have never seen it than the group who have actually seen it happen. More rumor and myth than fact seems to be the case. I have bought, repaired and sold old houses for many years and never seen a floor that had been damaged by the weight placed on it. Show me a house where people claim the floor gave out due to the weight placed on it and I'll show you a case of shoddy building, floor supports removed, or deteriorated, etc.. A well built fireproof safe weights far more per square inch than any tank, water or not. My safe has rollers on the bottom. That's because nobody will ever consider picking it up. Very rarely do fish tank stands come with rollers. :wink:


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## aandfsoccr04 (Sep 2, 2009)

I live in a college house that is atleast a 100 years old. I have a 125 gallon fish tank. 75 gallon reptile tank. 2 wooden 6x3x4 wooden reptile tanks stacked on top of each other. and a 75 gallon fish tank in the room over from me. I doubt the floor is going to fall through because of one fish tank.


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## MCKP (Aug 17, 2009)

PfunMo said:


> When you say you had to move a tank to another location, what made you do it? Was the floor giving way or sagging? Or was the move more due to someone saying it would? There seems to be a far larger group saying it but have never seen it than the group who have actually seen it happen. More rumor and myth than fact seems to be the case. I have bought, repaired and sold old houses for many years and never seen a floor that had been damaged by the weight placed on it. Show me a house where people claim the floor gave out due to the weight placed on it and I'll show you a case of shoddy building, floor supports removed, or deteriorated, etc.. A well built fireproof safe weights far more per square inch than any tank, water or not. My safe has rollers on the bottom. That's because nobody will ever consider picking it up. Very rarely do fish tank stands come with rollers. :wink:


Actually, we moved ours because we did notice a slight sag.... our tank was level when we put it there, and over the course of a few months, it sagged on the right hand side... We had no real concerns with it falling through the floor persay, but more with the tank cracking, and overall felt better having it sitting on two beams vs none.... Our tank was sitting directly between two beams.. :roll: Great spot for a tank but bad design in building!


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## playboy8710 (Apr 14, 2007)

just my input, i havd my 150 upstairs with now problem ,,,,but we also buid my upstairs so i know how its built


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

MCKP -Thanks for that info. That is the sort of thing I need to hear from a person who has actually had the problem rather than hearing about it. There may still be some questions in my mind about what was giving to make the tilt but I'm sure you have made the correct decision. When I have checked on friends who thought they had a floor problem it took just a bit to explain what was happening. In their case they thought the floor was sagging when the tank began to get off level but it was a rather simple matter to fix. The stand had been placed so that the base was totally against the baseboard and on a carpeted floor. They did not know that carpeting has a wooden tack strip around the perimeter to hold it in place. The carpeting and pad under the inside of the stand compressed but the tack strip under the outer edge did not. I think this probably happened shortly after the tank was filled but they didn't notice for a few weeks which made them think the floor was sinking. They wanted me to put more support under the floor. The easy solution was to place a wooden strip under the inner edge so the the stand was level again. 
Sometimes we get so many warnings about disaster that "might" happen that it deterrs us from looking at what really happens. I may get caught with a tank that falls through the floor but in the meantime I will have had a good time with the ones that did not. :dancing:


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## Kaosone (Jun 29, 2009)

WOW, I didn't know this would spark such a debate! Anyway I moved the tank into place, filled it up & I haven't given it a second thought since.

:thumb:


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## wlyons9856 (Sep 16, 2010)

I have a 90 Gallon in my bedroom, a tiny bedroom at that. No problems yet.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

:thumb: You will be fine


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## 18fisher (Mar 2, 2006)

if you still atrent shure cut a pecice of 3/4 and fit to bottom of stand,thay way instead off all the weight coming down on four corners it is spread out over the ply which comes down to nothing per square inch,andyou should be golden,done it before for 180,and no probs since,do make sure floor joist are going the right way,just my exp,hope that helps :thumb: 18fisheralso if on first floor you could ad some 4x4 to the floor then anchor to cement dont know if you have that option :-?


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## matt30012 (Oct 24, 2010)

hello people. i have just signed up to this forum.

i my experiance with tanks and floors, i would only ever have small tanks up stairs.

my current trigon 190l set-up (diamond fronted not bow) has approx 25-30kg of rocks, 30kg of coral sand , so including water and fish weighs past the 250kg mark.
not a major big tank, but over time say 1-2 yaers of it being set-up. i noticed it moveing away from the wall at the top. 
sorry i should say it is located in my left corner of my chimney breast. due to the corner style it was only resting on 2 joists apporx 2'' wide and 4'' deep. when i noticed the movement i wnet under the floor (i have 18'' under boards to true floor lvl) and low and behold, the joists had cracked horizontally along some 3-4ft length from supporting wall toward center of room. OMG i was a bit miffed to say the least. house is a typical 1950's build for the uk duel brick with outter red nori brick!!!

lucky i had a 2nd tank that i could put my fish in do a full drain down and move the trigon. i cut a trap under where tank were, and slowly (i had 1 working arm at time long story) proped up the joists using breese blocks, the last 2-3 cm of space were taken up by jacking the joists up and filling with solid oak chocks and lowering the beams back to them, after getting it lvl, i replaced everything. job is good and has fully secured the floor. no movement now in prob 4 years.

My advise is never place a tank anywhere unless you know what is underneath. roll back the carpet and pull a board up. do the checks before haveing a fully stocked tank do the moveing game on you.

Iam about to order a new fish tank, nice 5ft x 2ft x 2ft from nd aquatics in uk. i have in my back room a removed chimney breast which were cut off at floor level. its at least 4ft x18inch but i will be bricking it up to at least 5ft 5'' and 30 inch wide before getting new tank. also gonna place a drain under there as well, so iam not carrying 100+L once a week out. might set up a storage tank (stainless steel 90gallon 400l) in the garage and use a pump to transfer new water to tank to avoid carrying so much.

hope this helps you!!!


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

It is always better to check what the floor is built of before placing or even before buying the house. A house here would not be allowed to use only 2X4 floor joists. I should think the floor would be a hazard with even the most common furniture. Due to the difference in age of our houses and your area, things have to be treated quite different.


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## a7oneal (Dec 30, 2004)

I checked with my apartment complex, just to be a good tenant, and mine is a slab. I'm not too tremendously concerned at this point.

I also don't think I've ever heard of a tank actually going through the floor, but it's not my stuff in the room below.

I do, however, question the analogy of the bath tubs, as I've been given to understand that there is (or used to be) often extra support in that region due to design. Can anyone with building experience corroborate that?


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

Unless it is a large soaking tub no extra support is added for a normal sized 32" x 60" bath tub be it cast iron or steel. Some times the plumber even drills or notches the fl jst if it is in his way when installing the drain. We nail a ledger up against one wall and the tub rests on that and the floor.

I have stacked 4 x 12 gypsum 2 foot high on 2nd level floors after booming it thru a window, granted it is only there for mebbe a week or two but no floors have failed on me.


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## Zoban (Apr 6, 2007)

One of the best articles on Floors and tanks weights I have read over the years..

http://www.african-cichlid.com/Structure.htm

Hope it helps...


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

When we get into these discussions there is always a wide array of answers and much of that is due to how long ago the buildings were built. In the US we can most likely trust any building less than 50-60 years old to have been built well enough to hold the load of most any tank we can carry up the stairs. We are a new country. When dealing with many other countries, the houses are often much much older. The assumptions for one country often do not fit for others. It just pays to check the situation for your own peace of mind if nothing else.


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## wadman (Mar 4, 2010)

KaiserSousay said:


> Would be a good submission to "Myth Busters"


thats a good idea, did any one send it in to them?


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## Smakberry (Oct 25, 2010)

I want to get a 120g tank but am pretty scared about putting this on my main floor. It's about 5' long so would go over about 4 joists. I think I'm going to have to call someone in to check it out. I don't know anything about adding supports to my floor either and I wouldn't trust myself if I did. More research for me I guess.

EDIT: So I asked my dad about this issue, and he thinks the 120 is going to be too much for my floors (he builds houses for a living) I'm pretty sad now as he said 90g would be about the most my floors could handle safely.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I would hate to go against a father's advise if he has actually checked. But on the other hand, there is normally a place in the house where that size tank will fit with no question. He may be a very good carpenter that doesn't know how big tanks can get without falling through the floor. He may also be trying to tell you not to spend so much money!!! Fathers do that some times.

You may have created a problem by asking. If you want to check a bit further, there are some things we can tell you to check on that may make a difference in the answer. 
Some things to check-- How old is the house and what shape is it in. Old farm houses poorly built 80-100 years ago may not work. Reasonably young well built houses will hold a tank that size if well built. 
What type house foundation do you have? Slab of concrete, stacked rock, poured concrete with a crawlspace or is it over a basement?

Can you get under the part where you might want the tank to see what type and size of floor joists were used?


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

Smakberry said:


> I want to get a 120g tank but am pretty scared about putting this on my main floor. It's about 5' long so would go over about 4 joists. I think I'm going to have to call someone in to check it out. I don't know anything about adding supports to my floor either and I wouldn't trust myself if I did. More research for me I guess.
> 
> EDIT: So I asked my dad about this issue, and he thinks the 120 is going to be too much for my floors (he builds houses for a living) I'm pretty sad now as he said 90g would be about the most my floors could handle safely.


I think I recall an advisory (against) about water beds in our current house - and it's brand new. Course, it was also only $65/sqft - 2667sqft


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## superemone (Mar 16, 2010)

I live on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex. I have 150 gallon, 55 gallon, 10 gallon cube, and 10 gallon sump, all in the living room. If anyone's floor is falling through, it'd be mine! 8)


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Any current builder that doesn't build well enough to support a water bed is just too funky for me. Maybe it is not the weight that he is concerned about but the subfloor. Water beds do tend to leak and if he is using a subfloor that doesn't stand up to water they may want to have as many outs as the legal folks can arrange. We are getting to a point where warning labels are becoming meaningless. They are written so broadly that they cover even the recommended uses. Read the label on a tube of caulking to see what I mean.

The question of tank weight comes back to the basics with me. How often is there a real problem that you hear about? We hear about people hit by meteors, runaway Toyotas, and lots of other hazards but how many times have you heard about someone getting hit by a falling fish tank?

We currently have an Austin person selling his tanks because he doesn't want to move from his upstairs apartment but he let the water run downstairs rather than the tanks.

He had 90,75,55,30 gallon tanks. http://austin.craigslist.org/for/2063650252.html


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