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by **jav36** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:37 pm

if i had a 90 gallon with a 30 gallon sump on my 2nd floor could my floor collapse? its probably gonna be around 1500 lbs. but thats a very rough estamite. has it ever happened to someone?

by **gumbii** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:22 pm

how old is your pad...???

by **singapore** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:23 pm

yeah its all about how sturdy your floor is. maybe contact someone who knows the details of your floorplan/blueprints

by **jweb1369** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:23 pm

I'd say about 1300 at most. But Maybe buy a stud finder and make sure it is sitting evenly on studs. I would definately check the wood though to make sure it's clean good solid sturdy wood and not rotted. Also you can possibly buy something to disperse the weight like a larger stand or something... just a thought.

by **schigara** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 9:49 pm

The closer it sits to a load bearing wall the better. I'd worry if it were out in the middle of the floor joists.

by **jweb1369** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 10:08 pm

shigara has a good point also because the beams are better supported and have less chance of bowing if not breaking.

by **littlej2455** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:02 am

i have seen someone pull up there carpet and pour concrete down on their second floor to make sure it was sturdy enough.

by **Snowboss4492** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:11 am

ill add that ..............the more area your stand has for a foot print the better off you will be - - -i.e. 4 legs is more dangerous than 6 or even 8 legs because all that weight is distributed onto the feet........doesn't matter how massive the stand is ......it the square inches on the floor that cary the weight

my mother has a beautiful hutch in her kitchen .....it's huge and it has little tiny legs........so about 800 lbs of wood are standing on about 4 square inches ......and yes there are indent marks in their very nice hard wood floors...................so becareful

a building inspector can tell you for prolly a 50 dollar courtesy call

useless fact - - - - 100% of our body weight is carried on 2% of our bodies {our feet, lol} same principle

Boss

by **puffedupseagull** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:14 am

Hello i'm a builder from Australia, and can tell you that over here, floor BEARERS or JOIST on second level homes are generally made from 200mm x 45mm treated pine timbers, in older houses they could be made from hard wood, which makes them even tougher.The spacing of these bearers are 450mm apart. depending on the design of the home they could run front to back or side too side of the house.Assuming your tank is on a side wall and ur bearers run side to side of the house i would be running some lengths of timber long ways across the span of your tank stand. Say ur tank is 6ft then the stand would be 6ft so the length of timber would be 6ft to span between the outer legs. This will absorb the weight more evenly in a downward motion on to ur bearers. If your bearers run front to back the span timbers from front to back of your tank stand. You can use a stud finder to locate bearer direction, or look for plaster joins or nail marks in the lower roof. I think the floor on its own would be ok to support that weight on its own, because its the same as a lower level area that has not got a concrete slab, but to be sure that would be the best way.

by **jweb1369** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 1:17 am

Yea best bet is to spread the weight out. Set the stand onto a couple of massive boards that can hold that much weight and not crack or bow and make sure its near a side wall, you should be okay. I would still ask a professional though.

by **jav36** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:56 am

i know how you guys said to spread out the weight. i think the stand im getting wont have any legs? is that good?

by **newbie916** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 6:34 pm

I'm not an engineer or builder, but my parents have had a 2500 lb gun safe that has been on the second story for 20 years. We looked at the design plans and figured out where the support beams were and placed the safe along the wall. So far they haven't had a collapse yet.(knock on wood). I'm assuming that it would be the same with your tank. Best bet would be to ask a friend who is an engineer or contractor and ask them to take a look at your floor plans. THey could probably assist you in where the safest place to put your tank is. Anyways, good luck.

by **puffedupseagull** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:15 am

if it has no legs and has just a spanning front and back beam then it will distribute the weight evenly on its own, like i said before if your bearers in ur floor run front of house to back of house and u have tank on side wall then planks from the front of ur stand to the back will be fine. just space them at around 350 to 450 mm apart across the length of the tank.

Forums • Saltwater / Reef Tank Discussion • 2nd floor collapse?

2nd floor collapse?

2nd floor collapse?