big tanks in apartments

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polosniffer

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Jun 12, 2003
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I'm going to be moving to Philadelphia this summer and my lease says that I'm allowed to have an aquarium in my 5th floor apartment, with no size restriction specified! There was a 90-100g in the landlord's office and I asked if I could have one that size, to which she nonchalantly replied, "oh sure", leading me to believe that a larger one would also be ok. Just how large an aquarium do you think I could get without compromising floor strength in a relatively modern high rise (10 stories or so). I know I would need to talk to a structural engineer if I really wanted exact numbers, but I'm just looking for a rough estimate - what's the largest one you've had/seen in an apartment?
 

Leopardess

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Aug 13, 2003
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My apartment building's office has a 150g on the second floor. Though, my apartment's floors are concrete, I believe. I guess it would depend on how old your building is and whether or not you plant to put it against a wall - perpendicular to the floor joists.

I wonder how much a large, four poster type bed, made of heavy wood, with two...."large" people weighing 300 lbs each would weigh? I haven't heard of any floors collapsing from that....hehe

Water weighs about 8 lbs per gallon....
 

schiejr

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Mar 18, 2004
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Most modern building should take a large one like that with no problem. It is those old rickety apartments where codes were often not in place or enforced that would be a problem. 125 is the largest I have heard about. The weight is spread out over a wide area so it is usually not critical. In older buildings with wood joists, the best location is perpendicular to the joists near a wall. Now leaks from the tank in the apartment above I have heard a few times-get that renters insurance.

Say 1200 pounds over 6x1.5=133 pounds per square foot. You take five guys my size, a svelte 250, in that same area-no problem in a good building.If you really want to be sure, have them jump up and down:D (A much more strenuous test than two 300 hundred pounders in a bed which covers a much larger area)
 
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Ozark Joe

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Apr 9, 2004
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The weight exerted on the floor by an aquarium is less than that exerted on the floor by a refrigerator.

If a refrigerator can be used, an aquarium can be used.

There are some things you can do to make sure, though. Setting the aquarium cross-wise to the beams is a good choice. Watch for sagging floor joists. And if the downstairs neighbor calls you, mad like a wet cat from the catastrophic failure of your aquarium and the hole in her ceiling, well....
 

Macromatt

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Your refrigerator must be very small if it is heavier then an aquarium. I have a 60 gallon, and I have esimated its weight, (tank, water, rocks, stand, filters, etc.) somewhere between 600-800 pounds. I know my refrigerator fully loaded doesn't weigh that much.

Matt
 

gbolton

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A refrigerator as a reference for a large tank is not good at all. I know I can pick my fridge up with only two people. The same two people could not pick up my 110 gallon with 20 gallon sump.
 

OrionGirl

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While the fridge won't weigh the same as a large tank, isn't the pounds per square inch going to be close? Since the fridge just has 4 small feet (well, mine does, anyway) and the tank will be on a stand with much more surface area than those four feet, I'd imagine it would be pretty close. For the 120's I'm setting up, I figure there's about 216 square inches of contact between the bottom of the stand and the floor. Then, figure about 2,000 pounds for the tank, rock, water, equipment, for about 9 pounds per square inch. For a fridge, being generous, there's maybe 10 square inches of space on the feet, and 350 pounds (according to Home Depot's Webpage, a stainless steel GE Profile weighs 287 pounds empty), loaded, that's 35 pounds per square inch of force, much much greater force than the tank.
 

Macromatt

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Orion, I was suprised by your answer....You are the one who told me about the residential framing page from the chichlid forum, and what you just said goes against most of that stuff there.

Yes, each little foot has more pounds per square inch, but it is distributed through the plywood underlayment/flooring to the joists, and in the view of the entire flooring system, it isn't very much weight. A large aquarium, however, has a lot more weight in a smaller space, not counting the actual size of the feet on the floor. The size of the feet takes into account the puncture strength of the flooring, not the actual rating of the floor system.

Of course I may be wrong about all of this, as I am learning new stuff every day, :D But without these great conversations on here, none of us would learn anything and we'd always be beginners forever. :p

Matt
 

OrionGirl

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The size of the foot does matter--the webpage points that out. The weight will be distributed from a larger surface area better than from a smaller point. The math above is my logic--certainly fallible. I used the math to figure out if the tile I put down for my tanks would support the weight--they are rated up to 50 pounds per square inch. I talked about this with the sales rep, and he assured me the tile would take the weight with ease, and used the same math. :scratch: I know the sub-floor makes a huge difference--the concrete under mine means I don't worry about the floor failing, but would have had to make some serious modifications to put the same tank on another floor.
 
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