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Aquariums: My mum is convinced my aquarium is going to fall through the floor

So I've just filled up this 240 litre in my bedroom and my mum has got me paranoid that it's going to break my dresser (it's oak) and/or fall through the floor, just wanted some opinions/reassurences if anyone has a similar set up, there is also a 75 litre right next to it which is adding to the worry 😅

Posted by GradeFormal9884

9 Comments

  1. CaptchaSolvingRobot on

    It is not going to fall through the floor. Would she be worried if 3-4 people stood in the same spot in your room?

    Wether or not the stand holds is another question. It would have looked stronger if that middle beam went all the way through, and didn’t split at the top.

    Also, are you sure it is solid oak, and not just MDF laminated with oak? Does the grain at the end of the top show the wood grain has been cut through, or does the grain run along the length, just as the side and top?

  2. sharpauthenticator on

    It wont fall through the floor but the issue is you have nearly 700lbs on top of a dresser. Dressers are not and never have been rated for that level of weight, it will sad and bow the dresser and absolutely can (and will) compromise the integrity of that tank. 

    Get a proper stand.

  3. TheFuzzyShark on

    The floor, no.(Assuming the building was built after 1990, most houses built after 1990 are rated for heavy ass loads. Thanks 400lb box tvs)

    Personally, I wouldn’t trust a tank over 150 liters on a stand that is not expressly built for aquariums. So I would get a new stand.

  4. DecidedUser on

    I would advise a lot of caution and probably recommend taking it down before you add any fish.

    240L is 240kg, and that is the water. If you add the tank, sand / rocks / driftwood you are at maybe 270kg. The tank itself is around 15kg so 285kg, then we get to the oak dresser which I would guess weighs 60-70kg. So well over 350kg, and possibly nearing 400kg.

    400kg of constant weight is not a negligible amount of weight for your flooring, and it requires you looking at the joists and blocking of your floors. Additionally with the dresser, dressers aren’t designed for aquarium weights. They can be strong, but they could also fail, especially when they get wet and the wood slowly degrades.

    The good news is you have no fish in there yet so it’ll be an easy fix, I just recommend breaking down the tank for a bit and doing some more analysis into your house situation. Measure twice cut once sort of thing, as 240L of water on your floor would be pretty objectively bad.

  7. adagna on

    If she is worried about the tank, make sure to never have a holiday dinner with 5-6 adults around the dinner table. You’re looking at a combined weight of around 1000 lbs with water and tank.

  8. Siphen_ on

    Drain that tank yesterday. I can’t believe you put that much weight on a dresser. This will fail.

  9. anon172649 on

    If you don’t have construction/engineering background, grab a friend who does to give it a peek. My parents have a 30 gallon on an antique dresser with 4 short legs as ground contact. Definitely not designed for an aquarium. It began to sag so my dad (engineer) added a few supports in key places and it’s fine to this day. Over 30 years on that old thing.

    Doomsayers saying it won’t work just don’t realize a box is a box, what matters is how it’s supported–and you can always add extra supports. A single beam of the right kind of wood in the right kind of orientation is much stronger than people give it credit.

    Tl;dr: yeah the dresser may fail in a few years, slowly, so might wanna beef it up a tad. The floor will only fail if it’s poorly constructed or has suffered significant damage

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