Can my floor handle the weight of a 150g tank?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon...
150 gallons is 1251 lbs...
Now if you lay down a 3/4" thick piece of plywood sheet,
approx 72" x 24" (the footprint of a typical 150 gal. tank)
you'd have approx. 1728 square inches of area to distribute the weight of the tank, and all your goodies (rocks, the tank itself, etc...) on.

Even if that all adds up to 1728lbs...you'd still only be putting 1 pound per square load on the floor...
You could even add an additional 800 lbs and still be at less than 1.5 lbs per sq. inch

Not a problem IMO...


...think waterbed, gunsafe, a party in the living room with all the fat chicks(dudes) wearing pumps :eek: standing against the same wall...:ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:
can you imagine what the PSI on the floor is when they are standing on that little high heel? And they don't fall through...:thumbsup:

No offence, but read the article and you'll see why your pumps theory is a little off.
Myth #10: "I weigh 250 pounds and can stand on one foot anywhere on the floor without crashing through the floor. My foot is about 36 square inches (0.25 sq ft) so that is 1000 psf. Therefore Kevin's 40 psf makes no sense." Like I said above, the subfloor is very strong in punching shear. And an isolated bearing pressure of 1000 psf on the subfloor has nothing at all to do with a uniform floor design load of 40 psf on the floor joists. The floor joists must be able to support the 250 lb man not the 1000 psf foot pressure. The subfloor easily supports the 1000 psf in punching shear and carries the 250 lb weight to the floor joists.


well I read that article and all it really did was add to my fear of killing someone in the apartment below me and the only thing it reasured me on was LESS SLEEP!

Fear is good, remember you're almost at a ton of weight, that's ALOT for a couple boards to hold up. Have you spoke to your building owners? If you're leasing or have any form of contract that states no water beds you might be violating it.

Be safe, and think long term, no sense in ruining your credit rebuilding 3 apartments just for a tank (wow that's hard to say, because I'd hate to be in your position.)
 
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