Dangers of 135 gallon tank on 2nd floor

[undertcontrolj]

Okay so i know that this has been a topic on here before but i am just curious if anyone thinks there would be an issue with having a 135 gallon tank on the second floor. The tanks it about 6' long by roughly 22" wide with the stand and everything. My concern would be that this is going to weigh 1500- 1600 lbs by the time its all said and done and there could be an issue.

Any thoughts on the matter? Any engineers out there that want to come take a look at the spot i am going to put it in? Any help would be great.

 

[scbauer]

I'm no engineer, but I would think of it this way... would you feel comfortable having 8 guys (each ~200 lbs) standing in that same spot?

One thing I've read of people who have big tanks upstairs is that they simply make sure they have the tank going perpendicular to their floor joists as opposed to parallel. This causes the weight to be distributed across multiple joists that then distribute the load onto the load bearing wall (which is hopefully close). So you would need to figure out which direction your joists are running, first.

Once that's done, there are probably a few more things you would need to know like age of the house, where the load bearing wall is, what's the support like below, etc...

If it were me, I wouldn't take any chances. I would pay an engineer to come out and double-check (or triple-check) everything to make sure the load can be supported. More than likely it will be fine, but if it's not....... well, let's just say it would suck when you found out.

-Scott

 

[nightfire]

it is a house or appartment....when was it bult....where is the place located? a second story place can easily hold that weight....however how was the place built and were corners cut it putting it together.....i had to redue the floor in our bathroom because there was a minor leak a good while back to the point out toilet was falling through when i took up the floor and sub i saw they used an under sized cheap sub floor and put a thicker but even crapier partical board as a floor in......water and partical board dont mix as ya can see when ya buy a store bought tank stand and get the smallest amount of water on it.....we dont even have cut off to any of the plumbing here other then the ones i made.....either way find those things out and if ya know for sure its all good then to make it even safer id make sure the floor beams are running across the the tank and not long ways if ya can....thank way you should have it laying over 5 beams maybe even 6....depends on how they spaced them.........all cause a house/appartment passes code doesnt mean it actually passes codes....much less todays codes

 

[zef004]

Justin if remember right how your house was built. You should be ok after reading scbauer and Mario post.
His house is less then 8months old. And the wall behind the tank is a load bearing wall underneath with stairs on the other side of the wall. Maybe this info will help you guys help my friend.

 

[Jennifier615]

Dude the water for a 135gallon tank is 1200lbs alone!

 

[Pickupman66]

I would be hesitant with it. is this going to be the same wall as your current tank is on? if so, that room is above the garage correct? that being the case, ifit were me, I would not do it. that is alot of weight that will have to span the entire width of the garage. it would be very different if it were over a bedroom or a smaller room below it with less of a span of cieling

 

[zef004]

You can always put a support polls ( that you see in basements) in garage under the tank. If you have your heart set on haveing it upstairs.

 

[undertcontrolj]

Jennifer the tank maybe 135 gallons but there would not be that much water due to displacment from rock and sand. I am betting that it gets down to about 100 gallons of water.

Pickman. The tank actually would have the back of the garage door underneath one end and another wall from my master closet on the other end. I am going to do some measuring when I get home to see about where these walls are but I think that's about right.

 

[tkimmons85]

Ive had the same size tank on a second floor with no issues for over a year.

 

[nightfire]

justin as long as you go by whats been said and if need be and actually want the tank there then ya may need supports under the room....it's no big deal though but remember also that putting rock in may or may not be less weight then the water thats put in there....if it were me i'd actually would weight all the rock that was going in there and then keep count of how many gallons comes out of your tank....each gallon of water would be around 11 lbs i think....maybe more lol im not gonna check it out because how much the salinity is in it makes the diff....anyways long story short you can do it by taking the right steps because being on the second floor if there is a mishap in some way you probably wont just be out of $$$$$$$ for the tank for also a huge hole in the floor lol......i say go for it if ya can and if ya do it i volenteer with helping to move it ofcourse i charge a small frag/fish fee lol