Ever Think About How Much your Tank Weighs??

I live in a double wide trailer. I was worried to set up my 40 breeder and reugium, The wife was more worried, because the floor is particle board. So I made sure to build my stand with a flat bottom to help distribute the weight. I checked and there are good floor joist under the floor, and I have the tank spread over a few of them.

 

Weight of the aquarium itself is missed in some of these. As is rock/sand displacement.


I have no idea which way my floor joists run on my second floor - so I never considered putting the tank up there. I'll know in the house we're building now though.


I think my bed, my wife's dresser each probably weigh more than my tank does. They're big solid wood things full of clothes and people ;D

Then I was thinking about my theater room. We put it together several years ago so it has the rear projection 62" and the stack of electronics next to it. Then my speakers/subs are really really heavy. All that is spread a bit more than my tank is but probably weighs similar amount - I never even had a second though about putting that upstairs... hypocrite me :laughings

I'd guess my bathtub is quite a bit heavier - I don't actually know how much water it'll hold, but it looks to me to be much bigger than my 55.


Just my thoughts around the subject.

 

Floor joists run in the same direction, so if you have a basement and can see the direction of the first floor you then know the second floor. If you do not have a basement but have an attic the same is “generally” true for roof trusses but not always the case so I would not ever rely on this.

How interesting this thread has become ....

 

true, but the fridge is necessary, where the tanks aren't (I'm sure we could debate "necessary" though). The slap from your significant other would be much lighter when the fridge leaks all over the floor as opposed to your 300g tank bursting on the carpet

P you sound like you have quite the mancave! Just the nature of a tank is way more dangerous than the floor shifting underneath your electronics though, unless your TV is full of water

 

Good point.

 

I bet a water bed out weighs our tanks .... but once again, you need to consider the footprint and thus the displacement of the weight.

 

Seen a water bed on top of plywood setting on up side down wax paper Pepsi cups years ago when they first came out [ I know I am old ] great selling point. Because that's all my dad said when I was buying one when living home. Now he looks at me and the 125 gal in dinning room and says glad its your house not mine.

 

What's a basement? J/k. I've been in/seen one basement in my life (residential basement I mean). At my great grandmother's in Missouri when I was about 5 years old.

Our attic is over the garage and not over any of the living area; so I can't see that. Given the slope of our roof, I can say what way the roof joists are going but not sure that is very indicative of floor joists.

It's not really an issue for me, since we're building a new place; but still interesting.

But, nevertheless, a valid point Crimson!

Thanks; I try to do my part to keep the economy going ;D

Does fake water count? (Finding Nemo, Jaws, etc)

The monitor, if I remember right weighs something like 320-360lbs (I might be remembering wrong). It was exhausting to get it upstairs with the help of one buddy - I definitely remember that part!

In the house we're building, the theater is on the third floor but will be using a front projector. Same heavy speakers though ;D

 

I was going to mention that most people keep water heaters in their basements but then I remembered that not everybody's got one

 

Great points Mojo.

When i first installed my tank, I noticed the floor had sunk the further from the wall it went. I had about a 1.25 inch gap between the water level on one side of the tank vs the other.

After hearing some horror stories about how 'all goes well for a year then bam water everywhere' I emptied the tank, went down to Home Depot and got some chucks of wood to put under the furniture I use as a stand.

Now that I think about it, the 'stand' has small 1 or 1.5 inch inch circumference pin for it's 'feet' At least the 'low side' now has 3x3 inch wood bits (that raise the stand and help) to lower PSI on the floor.

My past 3 places, I've found that the floor 'sunk' the closer to the center of the room you got. On at least one occasion, I Had to move tanks from one position to another to account for this.