biggest tank i could buy?

keiferd

keiferd

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I want to have a marine tank in my room but its on the second floor of a fairly old house. Whats the largest tank i could have without it falling through the floor? thanx
 
Lets ask this. How big would you like and what is your budget?

It will also depend on where you would like to put it in conjunction to suporting walls under the floor. To be honest, I would trust an older house over a new house for structural integrity.
 
i'm looking for a 55 gallon, and i'll try and put it in the safest place possible. later on I plan to add a lot of live rock and possibly a sump. Would that be dangerous?
 
well when I asked the woman that runs the aquariums at a local Petco if the 55 would be safe uptairs she gave me a crazy look and said no, that it would bow my floor and it might snap. I thought LFS would lie about something like that to get the sale and was surprized that she said what she did. Now with this 55, can i go all out and get a 30 gal sump also? doesn't a full 55 weight like 800 lbs?
 
I wouldn't trust putting a 55 G plus a 30 G sump on the bottom. You are looking at 10 lbs per gallon not including the substrate, the tank the LR the hood the stand and even the salt you put into your water. I wouldn't invest that much money without making 100% sure your floor support are in great shape and that you have a supporting wall near the tank.

There are too many factors to consider if the floor is safe for your tank I would investigate the thinkness of your "joices" as well as if they ever received water damage.

Just a heads up as 55 G tank going through your floor isnt' pretty.

Jc
 
Couple of options--you can have the floor inspected for soundness. In all likelihood, you'll be fine. Wood is amazingly strong. All together, a 55 with a 30 gallon sump will probably weigh about 800 pounds (water, rocks, stand, sand, everything). I would take precautions to make sure the stand distributes the weight across it's entire base (not just the edges) and that you are perpendicular to the joists. I have 2 55's stepped on my 2nd floor, and there is no bowing or disortion on the floor.

There's a detailed explaination of how to determine if your floor will support the weight at: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_weight.php
 
Originally posted by keiferd
she gave me a crazy look and said no, that it would bow my floor and it might snap.
Click to expand...

I think that lady is loony... (you know what they say about not listenting to people at pet stores)

It takes an incredible amount of weight to 'snap' a floor. Put the tank near a load bearing wall and perpendicular to the joists and you can get at least a 150 gallon tank with no problems.
 
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I live on the third floor of a 1950's apartment building and I have a 100g reef, 30g sump, 200# of live rock, etc. and haven't had any problems at all - sturdy as a rock. It is against a load bearing wall and sits across 3 floor joists; even been through some mild earthquakes with no troubles.

I've still never heard of a tank falling through any floor....I just don't see it happening. If it had, we'd all have heard about, I'm sure.
 
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