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Aquariums in Bedrooms?

REDSTEVEO

REDSTEVEO

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31 Mar 2008
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Hi, I want to put a tank of roughly 400 litres in a spare bedroom which is currently used as my office at home. The tank will be 1m 30cm x 65cm x 65.

My question is will the floor boards hold the weight or will it go crashing through the floor into the ceiling below when I fill it up? There is the kitchen directly below the bedroom with no supporting wall that I can see. Would I need to get someone in to strengthen the floor boards.

Someone tell me this is easy to sort out if that is the case. Pictures would make me feel good.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
As I'm in a 1st floor flat I've done some reading up in this.

at least 1 of the rooms walls will be an outside, and therefor structurally load bearing wall. This will be the strongest wall along which to place your tank. if you stripped away the floor, would any of the other walls of the bedroom run on top of another wall in the ground floor? If yes is this ground floor wall solid rather than stud frame? If yes again this is a load bearing wall and is also a good choice to run your tank along

floors in modern houses have a non static load capacity of 1.5kN/m2 which might help in calculations. your tank is nearer 550l. It would need to be 47cm tall to be 400l. 1 litre of water is approx 1kg and your tank would weigh approx 136kg so 686kg. Add approx 75kg for the stand, sand and rocks etc and we are at 761kg (3/4 of a ton :eek: )sitting on a floor area of about 9sq ft = 84.5kg per sq ft. Rough calculations but hopefully give you an idea.

For this much weight and if your wall for the tank were solid, I'd still check with an architect.
 
[quote="James O, post: 337182, member: 11099"]floors in modern houses have a non static load capacity of 1.5kN/m2 [/quote]
Hi James, I think I understood most of what you wrote apart from the bit above. One wall is an outside wall and it is that wall where I would be placing the tank. The adjacent wall however is a stud wall and on the other side of that is the shower cubicle from the on suite in the bedroom next door. I have visions of the weight causing the boards to shift and crack the tiles on the other side of the wall, or crack the shower tray.

I have tried finding an architect but getting one to actually come out and assess it is proving to be a problem. The only reason I was looking to put it upstairs is because I have not got room for it downstairs unless I remove a small section of wall between the living room and dining room at the half way point. But getting someone to co0me out and assess this is also proving to be impossible.

I am beginning to think this might be a bad idea.
 
My tank is 200x45x40 so about 360l. The difference is our weight distribution. Mine runs along the outside wall and is only 45cm from front to back so the footprint is large for the volume of water and the weight doesn't venture too far from the wall.

If you went 130x45x45 you'd have 263l with really good front to back depth and plenty of height. Plus the weight would be around 45kg per sq ft
 
130x35x60h is 273l. Would that do?
 
I'm guessing 130 is your limit? The only way to get 400l is tall and narrow and the longer the better
 
Okay I had a think......

If the wall you plan to place the tank against is an outside, solid wall you could get a metal frame built. Using box section crate a stand made of 2 or 3 cubes. Where one of the vertical bars is against the wall bring it up behind the tank maybe 3-4ft and anchor bolt them to the wall. If the frame were just wider than the tank you could weld in a triangle between the outside uprights and the bed of the stand. A the front along the floor you'll need adjustable feet in case the floor drops a little as the tank settles as you don't want all the weight on the wall.

That's a really over engineered option :D
 
:D
 
I had a 6'x2'x2' in an upstairs bedroom when i lived with my parents......it never ended up downstairs, but thats about as technical an answer as i could give you :p
I would have thought against an outside wall and if you go across the joists you will have no issues. Perhaps also cut a board to go under the stand to help spread the weight evenly.
 
It's always best to have someone who knows to have a look. Even a good builder if you know one will be able to tell you about load bearing.

Upstairs rooms have remarkably strong floors especially against the walls if the load is spread across the joists. I could be wrong but modern houses in particular seem to have the same joists under the downstairs floors, it's just that the drop isn't as far :p.
 
harryH said:
I could be wrong but modern houses in particular seem to have the same joists under the downstairs floors
Click to expand...
Most modern houses are now floating concrete raft on downstairs floor, thus putting a 1000litre tank in middle of floor won't be an issue. Upstairs floors nowadays are supported by "engineered" beams, stronger and more fire resistant than standard wooden joists, again a tank at edge wall should be OK.

http://trussform.co.uk/download/uk_tech_complete.pdf
 
ian_m said:
Most modern houses are now floating concrete raft on downstairs floor
Click to expand...
I thought these are the standard british houses:
502328_new-zealand_dom-xobbitov_pejzazh_3943x2957_(www.GdeFon.ru).jpg

clean.gif
 

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