Im on the 2nd level and I worry about the weight of these tanks all the darn time. Where the 36 bow front sits is a weight bearing wall. I want to move my other stand to be next to that one but am worried about all the weight being concentrated in one area. Can anyone tell me they've done this before with bigger tanks to give me peace of mind😂 its roughly 100gals all together. (I know they all need top offs it's water change day)
Posted by Potential-Air8000
13 Comments
I’m surprised your apartment allows you all of those tanks.
yes
I have had larger tanks clustered together in an apartment plus a water bed. I didn’t have any problems. My landlord was aware of what I had in the apt. and I took responsibility for damages. I doubt renters insurance would cover it whether the owner was aware the tanks were there or not.
I think it’s going to depend on the build of your apartment. If you’re in one of these brand new modern builds that are comprised entirely of toothpicks, duct tape, and spackle then I probably wouldn’t.
We live in a converted warehouse, where all of the floors are made up of massive, 2 ft thick old growth beams and reinforce steel. I feel perfectly confident having my tanks on the beams, seeing as how there used to be industrial machines on those same floors.
Maybe a bit , let’s say you have 100 gallons that’s 1000-1500 lbs
Do you know wich way your joists are running?
100 gallons is only 1000-1200 pounds.
Wood is pretty strong. I remember in engineering school building beams that were 15 inches or so that could support hundreds to thousand of pounds of weight. Forget the exact number.
If you’ve ever had a few people over and you guys didn’t fall through the floor you should be ok.
I had apartments made out of concrete that you could, probably, put anything you wanted on the top floor and apartments made of wood that sounded like the top floor was about to come down on my head every time the upstairs neighbor went to the kitchen.
Currently, however, I am in a wood house with about the same amount of water in glass boxes as you and I ultimately reinforced my basement to prevent any issues.
This very well could be too much weight.
I wouldn’t be surprised if your floors are concrete. Just depends what type of construction method they used.
How many floors total? Does any of the flooring creak?
Think of all your tanks like people.
A twenty gallon is a tall guy who works out. A 35 gallon is obese. 10 and 15 gallons are those two women who are best friends but the shorter one is like 4’10 and never stops moving around. 5.5 gallons is someone’s kindergartener they brought along.
You don’t even have a proper party yet. Gotta invite more people. :p
On a more serious note, though – it isn’t really about the total volume of your tanks. It’s about the weight on each square foot of floor space the tanks use (and when that nears the limit the floor is rated for, you look at each joist and what it’s supporting).
If you know you’re dealing with a load bearing wall, then every 16” or so of space along that wall has its own joist support. So putting all your tanks on that wall is not concentrating the weight in one area – it actually spreads it across the whole room in effect.
And that’s the strongest supporting area on that joist (the weakest being in the centre of the room).
When you start dealing with tanks that are 24”+ tall, or stick out that far into the room on a load bearing wall, or you’ve got over 50 gallons of tanks on one joist (which actually you might, on the non load bearing wall; but keep in mind the furniture and floor are spreading the load over multiple joists), then you’re dealing with an amount of weight where it may be worth checking on the specific load support in the room you’re in (or before that point if it’s a particularly old building).
I don’t think you have an issue currently.
Source: I’m a structural designer by trade.
I have a ~100gal in a similar amount of space in a second story apartment, but my building is concrete not wood. If you’re worried about it, ask your landlord. That way it’s not 100% your fault if there is a problem
I’d say no more tanks
Oo, you have a Fluval Flex! I was eyeing that tank, what do you think of it?