Keeping a 6ft by 2ft by 2ft tank in an upstairs flat help

[Vincentaquarium]

I said worst possible consequence. It could also just put so much pressure on the floor making it sag over time making the tank unlevel. It could crack a joist etc


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Always expect the unexpected is how the saying goes, right?

I don't months down the line too see the tank through the ceiling.

It's all about risk, if there's any chance of an issue an assessor will tell you no, it covers them easily. Don't forget we live in a country that is risk assessment obsessed! This is the reason I think they'll tell you no. If you do go down that route, make sure to find a surveyor who is actually knowledgeable about Aquarium installs and is able to offer good advice.



If it will be difficult to sleep at night you should just forget it now. As I've said before this thread can not progress any further at this point, some people will tell you yes, some will tell you no, how many actually know what they're talking about? Only you can decide! Until then the thread will keep on spinning about, you'll hear more opinions and get more confused!

When can you get this dude to come to your flat and assess it?

You're right about this thread just dragging on unless there is structural engineers on the forum that could help me a bit more, I can get someone around ASAP tbh but you said that it will be a waste of time because all I will get is a "no".

yes I agree with all these points yet I've never seen them happen. This is the beauty of risk assessment, everything COULD happen, and that's what most assessors will say!

I think OP is looking for a cast iron guarantee when he himself isn't confident of the idea. Tricky situation!

I'd like assurance in the situation that's for sure. I can't just take someone's word from the internet as a guarantee.

It's a standard built flat with joists that will be average so 16" apart, all standard...

 

[Vincentaquarium]

How many kgs per foot and per square metre does a 6by2by2 tank work out to be? Sorry I just don't know the formula.

 

[jstavis]

I just wanted to clarify one thing: the idea that the tank might fall straight through the floor and kill someone has been brought up a few times, and I don't think I've seen anyone refute it. Based on my research, the probability of this happening is more or less zero. What you have to be afraid of is the floor shifting, throwing the tank off level and putting uneven pressure on the stand, the stand collapsing, and the tank coming down with it, spilling 120 gallons of water on your floor. The only way that this could prove fatal is: 1) the shift is so dramatic that a huge piece of glass comes flying off and cuts a person standing in front of the tank; 2) someone gets electrocuted trying to clean up the mess in the middle of a flood; 3) your neighbor beats you to a pulp. I'd say all three of those things are extraordinarily unlikely, although I don't know your neighbor. Thinking about this as a life or death question seems to me to be a bit overdramatic.

120 gallons of water on the floor is nothing to laugh about, of course. That much water could very easily do tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage. However, if your landlord is ok with this AND you have insurance that you are certain will cover water damage in a case like this, then I would go for it without a second thought. I would be more sympathetic to all the hand-wringing here if we were talking about a 240 or even a 180, but I would personally have no problem putting a 120 on a second floor unless there was some obvious reason to believe that the structure was weak.

*******I AM NOT A STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. ANY AND ALL OF THE INFORMATION ABOVE MAY BE INACCURATE. I'M PRETTY SURE IT'S NOT, THOUGH***********

 

[Vincentaquarium]

I just wanted to clarify one thing: the idea that the tank might fall straight through the floor and kill someone has been brought up a few times, and I don't think I've seen anyone refute it. Based on my research, the probability of this happening is more or less zero. What you have to be afraid of is the floor shifting, throwing the tank off level and putting uneven pressure on the stand, the stand collapsing, and the tank coming down with it, spilling 120 gallons of water on your floor. The only way that this could prove fatal is: 1) the shift is so dramatic that a huge piece of glass comes flying off and cuts a person standing in front of the tank; 2) someone gets electrocuted trying to clean up the mess in the middle of a flood; 3) your neighbor beats you to a pulp. I'd say all three of those things are extraordinarily unlikely, although I don't know your neighbor. Thinking about this as a life or death question seems to me to be a bit overdramatic.

120 gallons of water on the floor is nothing to laugh about, of course. That much water could very easily do tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage. However, if your landlord is ok with this AND you have insurance that you are certain will cover water damage in a case like this, then I would go for it without a second thought. I would be more sympathetic to all the hand-wringing here if we were talking about a 240 or even a 180, but I would personally have no problem putting a 120 on a second floor unless there was some obvious reason to believe that the structure was weak.

*******I AM NOT A STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. ANY AND ALL OF THE INFORMATION ABOVE MAY BE INACCURATE. I'M PRETTY SURE IT'S NOT, THOUGH***********

A 6ft tank by 2ft both ways is more than 120 gallons its 150 just the water alone, then the stand and so on, it is about 160 when full.

I need to find out how much it is per foot and metre in kg.

This size tank will weigh near enough a ton, I definitely will be getting confirmation from a structural engineer before going ahead.

I really don't want to but if the crunch comes to the crunch I will just have to put up with a 4ft tank.

 

[jstavis]

Whoops-- despite the dimensions being prominently featured in the title I got it into my head that it was 120. Actually, you have a 180. Sorry for the brainfart. (*I'll be using US gallons throughout this post, but it won't really make a difference.)

The calculations that you're asking for are easy. I'll do it in American measures (pounds/square foot and then convert to stone/square meters at the end).

Water weighs about 8.35 lb. Since you need to factor in the weight of the (glass) tank, stand, and other things (substrate, filters, etc.), let's round that up to 12 pounds/gallon total.

So the full setup weight is 2,160 lbs.

The tank dimensions are 6x2, which means that you have twelve square feet. You're talking about 180 pounds/square foot.

[Someone please check my math here! 2160 pounds= about 154 stone; 12 square feet= 1.1 square meters---- that yields 140 stone/square meter]

That's a lot of weight. I have no idea whether or not your floor can safely hold that load. I suspect that the risk of a catastrophic failure are very low, but that's just speculation. I am, however, virtually certain that the tank won't go shooting through the floor, hitting your neighbors as they watch TV. Worst case scenario is you flood the apartment and cause massive water damage. Again, that's nothing to laugh about. But, again, if you have landlord approval and insurance that you are certain would cover you here, then I don't see why you wouldn't take the small risk. If the folks who own/manage the property are comfortable with that risk, I don't really see why you wouldn't be.

 

[Vincentaquarium]

Whoops-- despite the dimensions being prominently featured in the title I got it into my head that it was 120. Actually, you have a 180. Sorry for the brainfart. (*I'll be using US gallons throughout this post, but it won't really make a difference.)

The calculations that you're asking for are easy. I'll do it in American measures (pounds/square foot and then convert to stone/square meters at the end).

Water weighs about 8.35 lb. Since you need to factor in the weight of the (glass) tank, stand, and other things (substrate, filters, etc.), let's round that up to 12 pounds/gallon total.

So the full setup weight is 2,160 lbs.

The tank dimensions are 6x2, which means that you have twelve square feet. You're talking about 180 pounds/square foot.

[Someone please check my math here! 2160 pounds= about 154 stone; 12 square feet= 1.1 square meters---- that yields 140 stone/square meter]

That's a lot of weight. I have no idea whether or not your floor can safely hold that load. I suspect that the risk of a catastrophic failure are very low, but that's just speculation. I am, however, virtually certain that the tank won't go shooting through the floor, hitting your neighbors as they watch TV. Worst case scenario is you flood the apartment and cause massive water damage. Again, that's nothing to laugh about. But, again, if you have landlord approval and insurance that you are certain would cover you here, then I don't see why you wouldn't take the small risk. If the folks who own/manage the property are comfortable with that risk, I don't really see why you wouldn't be.

The average house hold floor is advised to have 40 pounds per square foot, I'm way way above the limit.

I'm British not American although I know it's 650 litres approx water alone and British 150g water.

Although you might be right it might not cave through the ceiling straight away, imagine if I came in from work and it had...

Plus the joists are 16" apart standard so it will only be over four joists its alot of weight.

 

[jstavis]

One point-- My understanding is that the 40 lbs/sq. ft. refers to uniform live load. That is, if you filled every square foot of the floor with weights above 40lbs/sq. foot then you would be in trouble. Figuring out whether or not a particular load in a particular area will cause problems is much more complicated.

"Although you might be right it might not cave through the ceiling straight away, imagine if I came in from work and it had..."

And imagine if you came in and found Bulgarian terrorists stealing your carpets? I'd say that's about as likely as the tank actually going through the floor. I'll repeat: the disaster you're worried about is a flood, not a complete collapse of the floor.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; The issue of damage compared to catastropic failure has been discussed before.
Some have taken the view that apparently no one has posted about a tank falling thru a floor. In this view point the entire issue seems to focus on sudden events sich as a total collapse of the floor or sime such similar event. While total failure may be less likely, any damage to someone else's property can be expensive.
My take is that any damage to a floor counts to some degree. If it is limited to dents in a hardwood floor, that is minor damage. Even minor damage has a repair cost.
Damage up to to distortion/breaking of floor joists, floors pulling away from the wall, cracks in floor joists and such will be of a greater degree. The repair cost for this sort of damage could possibly approach that of a total failure as the nature of such repairs may involve replacing major floor components just as in a collapse. I would check to see just precisely what the renters insurance covers and if there are exceptions for pets or tanks. There may also be a deductible.
It would seem to me that a trusted engineer/contractor can confirm one way or the other if the weight of the tank, it's components and the other furniture will approach a risky level.
As stated by others the risk of water damage is with any tank setup. I have learned my lesson about tanks and carpet the hard way. Never again will I place a tank on carpet.

 

[Jreeper]

hey guys ,

just need to tell you i'm not an ENG , but i know alot about civil engineering and if the floor was a wood are some thing don't do it it wont stand the wight but its simple if the floor was a concrete with rocks and stuff it will stand the wight .... i have a 150g tank in a only concrete floor and its good for 2 years and it will handle a bigger tanks like 220 and 400 and even 800g

 

[Hart1985]

hey guys ,

just need to tell you i'm not an ENG , but i know alot about civil engineering and if the floor was a wood are some thing don't do it it wont stand the wight but its simple if the floor was a concrete with rocks and stuff it will stand the wight .... i have a 150g tank in a only concrete floor and its good for 2 years and it will handle a bigger tanks like 220 and 400 and even 800g

ROFL concrete floors have weight limits too you can't just say if it concrete with "rocks and stuff" lol it will be ok clearly you have no idea of engineering and civil engineering is all to do with roads bridges etc!!!


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