Tank weight/placement

[spikehs]

I have a nagging concern about the weight of my tank and was looking for some opinions. The tank is 36w x 30d x 20h (90gal)... by the time I add sumps, topoff water etc. etc. I would say the system volume would be close to 150gal.

I live in a new condo (westhills) that was made in the late 90's (98 i believe). The tank will be going against a weight bearing wall, and will be ontop of another platform that will probably extended a foot or so on either side to help spread the weight across a few more beams. I figure this will ok, but wanted to get some opinions. Thanks.

[mr_alberta]

Is it a concrete building or wood frame construction? As long as it is along a load bearing wall and spans a few joists in the floor it should be fine (assuming your building is made of wood). If it is made of concrete, then you could probably park your car up there without any incident!

[b_james]

Do you know which way the joists go? If they run perpendicular to your tank thaen no problem, If not, IME (not a structural engineer) it should still be ok as well. I had a 135G 6' tank with a sump in my kitched placed along an exterior wall with the joists running lengthwise with no problems.

[BMW Rider]

I don't think the platform is neccessary. You should be fine with the tank set up directly on the existing floor. The joists system is capable of carrying much greater loading than a tank creates. If you figure your tank will weigh somwhere around 1600-1700 lbs, that seems like a lot, but works out to a load of under 250 pounds per square foot, or about the same as a large adult standing in one spot. Since the tank does not have a habit of jumping and moving around (I hope) it is a static load, which puts much less stress on the floor joists. Given the size of your tank, the weight will all ready be spread over at least three joists.

Most modern constructuion methods use adhesives to help attach the subfloor to the joists. This basically causes the the entire floor to become one large structural component. It can actually suffer a significant failure in an area, and still remain strong enough to support major loading since the load is spread out over a larger area than it would actually appear. This is the reason that engineers are able to create large spans with seemingly flimsy materials.

[Pan]

i'd get aquarium insurance nonetheless...that is of course if your current insurance doesn't include large aquariums.

[spikehs]

Originally Posted by Subdued

i'd get aquarium insurance nonetheless...that is of course if your current insurance doesn't include large aquariums.

is there such a thing? what does that entail?

[spikehs]

what is the formula for approximating tank weight? give or take obviously...

[b_james]

Originally Posted by spikehs

is there such a thing? what does that entail?

I just aksed with my insurance company it was covered. Although policies differ between insurance providers its best you call them yourself. I ended up bumping my plan to a more comprehensive level, for the extra $75 a year its well worth it... you never know..

[vanreefer]

Originally Posted by spikehs

what is the formula for approximating tank weight? give or take obviously...

This link should help
http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/T...d=~&lbsStand=~

[spikehs]

perfect, thanks! Looks like i am at about 150pounds per square foot. I guess if thats a problem, I shoulda fallen through the floor a while ago.