• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Tank Weight

Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Messages
294
Location
Upstate NY, USA
Now that I have my tank (75 gallons), I've been giving some thought to weight. The spot that I'd like to set it up is in my dining room. I'm a little worried that the sheer weight of it will be a tremendous strain on my flooring and the thing will crash into my basement. This may be silly of me, I know. A brief stab at it with the calculator gives me something like 624.75 lbs. just filled with water, no factoring in of rock, sand or stand/lights. I could set it up in the basement--but thats going to get pretty cold pretty quick and its out of the way. My floors are hardwood, the house was built in the 40's. Any one else have this potential fear? I tried searching the forums for "tank weight" and several variations but couldnt find anything.
 
Tank weight is a consideration and discussed with some of the bigger tanks (over 100 gallons) but no rule of thumb is suggested on any of the forums here (that I know of). Some of the reef forums may have suggestions. When we got our first water bed there was considerable rumor about the added weight and problems. One of the things we did find is that a waterbed adds no more weight per square foot than a refrigerator. However, an aquarium is much deeper so theoretically weights more than a waterbed. We located our 140 gallon reef in a corner supported by an outside wall and have had not problems (it is on a tile floor so any sag would crack the tile). On the other hand, we have one 35 that sits on top of a counter top with simple 2x2 bracing. I no longer have the numbers for the per square foot weight of a frig but that might give you a starting point for what the average floor is known to easily support and go from there.
 
As a recently recommended aside to two other new aquarium set ups on something other than tile, you may want to consider a protective mat on that hardwood. The messiest times are during clean-up and water change and these mats absorb and catch a lot of water. I would not leave them down all the time on the hardwood but I would seriously think about using one during maintenance.
 
You mention that putting the tank in the basement would be cold and out of the way. I've never been to your home but it sounds as though your basement is unfinished. If so you have nothing to worry about. Buy yourself a cheap basement jack and brace it directly under your tank. About $40 for insurance.

Living in TX these days has cost me the luxury of a basement. How I miss having the extra space. My last home here was built in about 1910 and was a horrible stick pier and beam home. Basically when clearing the land you leave as many tree stumps as possible and then build the house on top of the stops, adding some piers as necessary from the trees that you cut down. Thankfully our crawl space was almost 4' tall where I put our 240g tank. I went under there and added a few patio blocks, a full sized construction scaffold on screw jacks and cut the top flush so that a row of 4x4's where able to touch the floor boards directly. I then raised the screw jacks until the floor was forced up about 3/8" of an inch. When I filled it with water everything settled in perfectly. That area proved to be the most stable area in the house.

Also I can remember that even in our unfinished basements back home in MI, that we had some walls to hide things like the furnace, water heater, and laundry room. If your house has any, the area you may be planning on the tank might be near one of those walls. If so, the weight will transfer through the supporting walls and to the slab below.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top