90 gallon on second floor

Dcal · Jul 28, 2020

Is 90 gallons in the range where I should check more in-depth at the layout and structure of my house or should I be comfortable assuming it will be able to support it?

Bryknicks · Jul 28, 2020

Do you know where you want to put the tank? If you can but it up against a load bearing wall then I think you would be fine. If you are not near a load bearing wall or don't know what to look for then I would bring in a second set of eyes or an engineer to help out.

GlassMunky · Jul 28, 2020

I personally wouldn’t worry until your around the 150+ range.
a 90g tank isn’t that big, and doesn’t weight THAT much.

Dcal · Jul 28, 2020

Bryknicks said:
Do you know where you want to put the tank? If you can but it up against a load bearing wall then I think you would be fine. If you are not near a load bearing wall or don't know what to look for then I would bring in a second set of eyes or an engineer to help out.

It will be up against an exterior wall so I'm assuming that's load bearing?

GlassMunky said:
I personally wouldn’t worry until your around the 150+ range.
a 90g tank isn’t that big, and doesn’t weight THAT much.

Thats what I was hoping for

Bryknicks · Jul 28, 2020

Dcal said:
It will be up against an exterior wall so I'm assuming that's load bearing?

Thats what I was hoping for

Yes that would be a load bearing wall then. I think you will be fine. I agree that a 90 gallon is under the threshold I would worry about. But I always like to play it safe. Considering your going along a load bearing wall I would feel comfortable moving forward as is.

Dcal · Jul 28, 2020

Bryknicks said:
Yes that would be a load bearing wall then. I think you will be fine. I agree that a 90 gallon is under the threshold I would worry about. But I always like to play it safe. Considering your going along a load bearing wall I would feel comfortable moving forward as is.

Great, thank you

Scoob · Jul 28, 2020

I'm not sure if this is right. I look at it as weight per square foot, for example a 90g tank x 8.3ish = 747lb

Mine is 6 square feet, so it comes out to about 125lb per square foot.

Dcal · Jul 28, 2020

Scoob said:
I'm not sure if this is right. I look at it as weight per square foot, for example a 90g tank x 8.3ish = 747lb

Mine is 6 square feet, so it comes out to about 125lb per square foot.

@Bryknicks ?

Its just standard 4ft acrylic

Bryknicks · Jul 28, 2020

If you are looking for the weight load there is more involved. Factor in the stand, tank, rock, substrate, water, sump, livestock, filtration, etc. and divide by the foot print of the tank. I would round to 1800 pounds in total (going overboard with all estimations) dividing by 8 as the footprint sf would give you a load of 225 lbs per square foot. Factor in the liveload of the house and that is no where near the load limit of the floor when properly constructed.

jtf74 · Jul 28, 2020

You are looking at about 125 psf for the water alone so as Bryknicks said after rocks, etc you are probably closer to 200 psf. You should be fine, but you should try and orient the tank perpendicular to floor joists if possible. Also look at your floor thickness. I would expect 12-14" , but if you have an older house then smaller joists could have been used than would would be allowed today. Outside wall would be preferred or locate it near the end of a floor joist span rather than the middle.

Dcal · Jul 28, 2020

jtf74 said:
You are looking at about 125 psf for the water alone so as Bryknicks said after rocks, etc you are probably closer to 200 psf. You should be fine, but you should try and orient the tank perpendicular to floor joists if possible. Also look at your floor thickness. I would expect 12-14" , but if you have an older house then smaller joists could have been used than would would be allowed today. Outside wall would be preferred or locate it near the end of a floor joist span rather than the middle.

If i had it in the corner of two exterior walls would that be best?

jtf74 · Jul 29, 2020

Dcal said:
If i had it in the corner of two exterior walls would that be best?

I'd try to go for perpendicular to floor joists more so than anything (if you know which way they run). Corner is good but any exterior wall with orientation perp to joists will work, as its at the end of a floor span.