How much tank weight can my floor take???

[Arianne02]

I live in a three story townhouse (if you include the basement)------the basement is the art studio, and my first floor is where the fishtanks are. All the tanks are against load bearing walls. Right now I have a 65gal high and wide, 60 gal high and long and a 40gal, 2.5 dwarf puffer tank, 5gal beta tank, and a 10 gal sick tank.

The problem is----I really want to get rid of the formal dining room-----to me it is wasted space and we really do not use it. I'd like to turn it into a library/ fish room--with a large tank being the focal point. Right now the only tank in that room is my 65 Flowerhorn tank.

The husband is afraid that anything beyond 65gal might be too much for our flooring.

Dad took a look and said we have the following: 16" on center floor joyces, 3/4" inch flooring/ plywood, 2"W X 10"L floor joyces. I'd really like to get a 125 gallon tank, but don't want to cave my floor in-----if I can't have that------how about a 75gal?

I know absolutely nothing about construction-------so any ideas or advice would be wonderful.

Any advise would be greatly appriciated.

Oh---this would be a freshwater tank.

 

[vr6fan]

You can have a 125 no problem....just make sure it's running perpendicular to the floor joists. Don't underestimate your house think about a bathtub full of water, or water beds back in the day...lots of weight..in my many years of fish keeping I've never heard of a tank crashing through a floor...doesn't happen

 

[Bderick67]

It'll be fine, just make sure you place the tank perpendicular across the floor joists. A 6 foot tank would be able to be placed across 5 of your joists. With a 125g tank weighing around 1200 pounds this means each joists is going to carry about 240 pounds of the tank weight. Biggest thing will be having a stand that transfers the weight evenly to the floor. Best to avoid stands that have either 4 or 6 individual legs.

 

[David R]

The shape of the tank has as much bearing as the over-all weight, you'd get away with an 8'x20"x2' LxWxH tank with the weight spread across the joists, but not a 4'x20"x4' LxWxH even though they are the same volume.