Simple Question About Large Aquariums On Second Floor

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Jon M

Jon M

Polypterus
MFK Member
Dec 18, 2010
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Port Saint John, FL
I currently have a 125g TALL acrylic tank that is really heavy on the second floor. Also has a 30g sump underneath. It's only 4.5' long.

Simple question. Am I thinking correctly when I think that a longer 72" 125g will be less strain on my floor since it's stretched out over further floor surface? And, if my floor can maintain my 125g acrylic 4.5' long tank then it can definitely handle a 72" long 125g tank that is glass in the same spot.

These assumptions correct? Please don't respond if you're just guessing. I need some knowledgeable responses.

Thanks for reading.
 
Are you running both tanks perpendicular to the floor joists?
 
Well I don't know which way the floor joints run in this building man. SO technically my 125g is caddy cornered in the corner which I absolutely hate. See.

View attachment 704601

If I trade for this new one I would like to just run it length wise across the wall right where the window is. It's an outside wall if that makes a difference.
 
Being an outside wall doesn't help as half of the walls will run parallel and half will run perpendicular with the floor joists.
 
It should be fine my dad had a 200 in a 2nd storie apt, it leaked won time an alot of water got down to the secound storie
 
I did a lot of research on this question a while ago and the answer is that there is no simple answer and that no one can give you an authoritative answer without checking your floor. It's also important to keep in mind that the risk here is not so much the tank falling through the floor as it is that the tank will very slowly damage the floor, render it unstable, and cause a catastrophic failure of the tank that would send 100+ gallons of water through the floor and quite likely do an enormous amount of damage. So the fact that one tank has set there for a while without that happening doesn't necessarily mean that the floor was strong enough.

That being said, these are things I would tend to think about a lot if I owned my home. If you are a renter, however, the important thing to do is to make sure that you're not in violation of your lease and to make sure you are insured for damages caused by the very, very unlikely event of a tank failure. If my landlord was ok with it and it was insured I would put a 125 on a second floor in a heartbeat.

EDIT: Yes, your assumption is correct--- a longer/wider tank will distribute weight more evenly than a tall one.
 
Okay then. I'm going to take a look at this other guys tank tomorrow at noon that said he wants to trade because he needs a shorter 125g for his den. I am actually in the market of just selling the tank as well. When I was at work today my intake from my sump to my tank somehow managed to fall out of the top of the canopy (I'm thinking cats might be involved) and it literally poured all like 25-30g of water all over my apartment and leaked a bit threw the floor to the downstairs neighbors. I am still pretty pissed about it but as soon as I posted this for sale someone responded to my trade thread from weeks and weeks ago so we'll see.
 
it should be very easy to pull up some carpet. then check the nails in the plywood to see where the joists are. you're safest putting it on an outside wall if you don't know which interior walls are supportive
 
Glabe said:
it should be very easy to pull up some carpet. then check the nails in the plywood to see where the joists are. you're safest putting it on an outside wall if you don't know which interior walls are supportive
Click to expand...

As much as love pulling up the carpet, I'll go ahead and do this and see if I can make out what I'm looking at. I don't understand the difference if it's against a wall. Either way it's running with the support beams, or against. Either way it has the support of them, right?...
 
Can't be worse than what you already have there.

Weight is the same but distributed over a larger surface area (less pressure or force on a given area).
 
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