Moving my 300g

ChimolaFish

New member
Hi, All,

I'm finishing up my master's in the spring and will be moving somewhere in New England, possibly to Boston metro area and was wondering about how to deal with finding an apartment that would support the weight of my 300g. Right now I'm in a house with a basement and have it down there, but was wondering if most highrises (that would allow a 300g) would be able to support the weight of a 300g not being reinforced. Don't they generally have concrete slabs inbetween each floor plate?
Ideally I'd find a house to rent somewhere, but don't know where I'm going to end up. Does anyone use floor jacks on each corner to reinforce their large aquariums? I know someone who kept their 240 (8') on an outside wall on the ground floor with one jack under each side of the tank and it was fine there for 10 years, but my tank is a tad larger and spaced worse. How does everyone else not in a house they own and on a concrete foundation dealing with their large tanks?

6'x3'x30" Penninsula
 
I would be EXTREMELY leery about putting a 300 anywhere other than ground floor. Without proper reinforcement specifically under the aquarium, it is just inviting a MAJOR disaster. We are talking in the 4000lbs (2 ton) range after water, rocks, equipment, and the tank itself. I had a 300 on the ground floor with a steel stand (weighed ~1000lbs) and it put dents in the concrete. I would sure not want that in a highrise!
 
Thanks for the reply, guys.

I'm aware of how much they weigh, haha. So, ground floor is rather ambiguous, at least where I am now. Ground floor is never actually on the ground, there's either a basement underneath or a crawl space. Obviously the ground floor can support more weight, but no standard floor from wood construction is going to be able to support a 300g.

How did your tank put dents in the concrete? How long was it there? Also, your stand weight 1000 lbs?

Anybody rent and have a large aquarium?
 
Thanks for the reply, guys.

I'm aware of how much they weigh, haha. So, ground floor is rather ambiguous, at least where I am now. Ground floor is never actually on the ground, there's either a basement underneath or a crawl space. Obviously the ground floor can support more weight, but no standard floor from wood construction is going to be able to support a 300g.

How did your tank put dents in the concrete? How long was it there? Also, your stand weight 1000 lbs?

Anybody rent and have a large aquarium?


I had a 300 gallon(about to start it up again) in my basement. Even though it was in the basement I was concerned about a leak as it would ruin my carpet, drywall and possibly even start a fire. Now imagine if something went wrong in an apartment with people living below you. If it leaked you would be stuck with one hell of a mess and have some angry neighbors on your hand.... or worse. I would not put a 300 on anything other than a ground floor. Meaning no crawl space, dead weight straight into the earth. Unless it was seriously reinforced underneath. Like others said, I did notice a few cracks in the concrete where the tank was sitting(it was only up for 6 months). Maybe they were already there, but I'm sure I would've noticed. Plus I'm not sure any apartments will allow a tank that big.
 
You need to figure out pounds per square inch in the footprint of the stand. That needs to include total weight of a full stocked tank.
Then you can figure out if the floor can support it. Part of that will be age of construction. Different methods of construction was used over the years.
You may be surprised what you find out.
 
Largest I went in an apartment was a 180. Only had an issue once in an old building that had wood floors and supports, it actually made the floor sag and bouncy lol tank ended up busting a seam due to that.

Luckily it was an ex gf so she lost the deposit!
 
A guy I bought a fish from had his 180 in a high rise in south beach Miami with no issues as they are all concrete and steel. But still a 300 almost double...
 
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