180 gallon fish tank in my second floor living room.

[ecoli73]

A responsible response would be "depends"...

The tank won't crash through the floor; but if not careful, the floor could bow and thus cause even stress on the tank and cause a leak.

Take a look at your sub floor and locate the weight bearing wall; if you run perpendicular to the joists close to the wall, you *should* be okay; but no one can guarantee anything without a qualified structural engineer looking at it.

 

[ecoli73]

Would you be afraid to cram 100 people into your living room? I wouldnt. This is always what I think about when people talk about heavy tanks on the 2nd floor. When I was a teenager, I had 8, 55's and 2, 125's in my upstairs bedroom. The 55's were 2 per stand as were the 125's. I had these tanks like that for at least 4 years with no issue. And the visible water level in the tanks were always level.

The problem is not 100 people in the room...it is one hundred people in a space of 6x2 and be there forever

 

[dpete88]

The problem is not 100 people in the room...it is one hundred people in a space of 6x2 and be there forever

I'm about to put a 225 on my second story. When you do the math a 180 gallon tank weighs about 1440 lbs of just water weight so after sand and filters tank weight and stand we can say an even 2000 lbs. In that area we have a square footage of 12. Now let's say in that same exact spot you had 6 friends standing close together who each weighed 200 lbs. Apart from that being a little awkward would you think twice about the floor being able to handle the weight? I know this argument doesn't answer the "over time bowing" question but if set perpendicular to the joists and against a load bearing wall I highly doubt there will be any sag. The joists are typically set at 16" apart so you will have several supporting your tank and the will be little leverage weight placed on them since you are close to the wall.

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