Second floor apartment tank

[Cheesus]

Hello everyone!

I just moved into a new apartment and they are fine with fish tanks, I’ve always lived in a house with a slab so didn’t really worry about weight. This apartment was built this year. I’m looking at a water box marine x 90.3

Dimensions: 35.4 in x 19.7 in x 21.7 in
Height with Cabinet: 57.1 in
Display Volume: 59.3 gal
Total System Volume: 85 gal
Glass Thickness: 12 mm

Would this be safe?

 

[Saltyreef]

As long as you run the tank perpendicular across the joists instead of parallel i wouldnt worry a bit.
Also dont let your downstairs neighbors see you bring it in lol.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@Troylee

 

[landlubber]

placement is everything as you aren't able to fortify with a telepost underneath like you can with a basement and obviously don't have the peace of mind a slab gives.
I also live in a condo and placed my tank (standard 120g) in a corner which also happens to be the meeting point of 2 exterior walls. In a concrete building there is less to worry about but with framed construction you really want to be sure and as mentioned laying over as many floor joists as possible, preferably close to an exterior wall.
also... not a bad idea to ensure you have a healthy tenant package :)

 

[cdbean]

You should be fine if you’re perpendicular to the floor joists as others said. I would suggest getting a good renter’s insurance policy and make sure it covers aquariums. I carry $100k liability through Progressive for $21 a month. Well worth it for the peace of mind if the worst happens.

 

[Freenow54]

Hello everyone!

I just moved into a new apartment and they are fine with fish tanks, I’ve always lived in a house with a slab so didn’t really worry about weight. This apartment was built this year. I’m looking at a water box marine x 90.3

Dimensions: 35.4 in x 19.7 in x 21.7 in
Height with Cabinet: 57.1 in
Display Volume: 59.3 gal
Total System Volume: 85 gal
Glass Thickness: 12 mm

Would this be safe?

Depends on the age of the Apartment most even back decades ago are concrete slabs . Actually Concrete boxes that are fire proof ie don't let fires spread . Also wont let things like Roaches spread so I would discreetly ask that question

 

[Cheesus]

Hello everyone!

I just moved into a new apartment and they are fine with fish tanks, I’ve always lived in a house with a slab so didn’t really worry about weight. This apartment was built this year. I’m looking at a water box marine x 90.3

Dimensions: 35.4 in x 19.7 in x 21.7 in
Height with Cabinet: 57.1 in
Display Volume: 59.3 gal
Total System Volume: 85 gal
Glass Thickness: 12 mm

Would this be safe?

Depends on the age of the Apartment most even back decades ago are concrete slabs . Actually Concrete boxes that are fire proof ie don't let fires spread . Also wont let things like Roaches spread so I would discreetly ask that question

Thanks for the reply! They were built this year. Hopefully they are concrete that would be great.

 

[Cheesus]

As long as you run the tank perpendicular across the joists instead of parallel i wouldnt worry a bit.
Also dont let your downstairs neighbors see you bring it in lol.

Lol I am above the parking garage!

 

[Cheesus]

placement is everything as you aren't able to fortify with a telepost underneath like you can with a basement and obviously don't have the peace of mind a slab gives.
I also live in a condo and placed my tank (standard 120g) in a corner which also happens to be the meeting point of 2 exterior walls. In a concrete building there is less to worry about but with framed construction you really want to be sure and as mentioned laying over as many floor joists as possible, preferably close to an exterior wall.
also... not a bad idea to ensure you have a healthy tenant package :)

I have no way of knowing what the construction is ( I wish I did) and the managers have 0 idea about anything here lol

 

[Cheesus]

You should be fine if you’re perpendicular to the floor joists as others said. I would suggest getting a good renter’s insurance policy and make sure it covers aquariums. I carry $100k liability through Progressive for $21 a month. Well worth it for the peace of mind if the worst happens.

I do too! They required like 300k coverage on move in. When I asked about a tank all they said was "you have insurance its fine"

No other guidelines.

 

[cba191]

I had a structural engineer come out and look at my place before I finalized anything.

 

[Cheesus]

I had a structural engineer come out and look at my place before I finalized anything.

Yeah, I can see that being a good way to go. I will have to look into that.

 

[Troylee]

I don’t see it being a problem personally.. the tank filled would be around 800 pounds but it’s spanning a decent foot print it’s not all in one area..

 

[Cheesus]

I don’t see it being a problem personally.. the tank filled would be around 800 pounds but it’s spanning a decent foot print it’s not all in one area..

Thank you!

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Floor loading by code is 40lbs per square foot live load. Up to 55 lbs including static load and live load. Your tank foot print is 5sf so your max load is about 275 lbs for that foot print. At 600lbs you might be over the load rating.


Since you are over a parking garage you probably have a concrete floor that will have a higher load rating. Best to find out from the city or county the load rating for your building. It is in their files for the plans submitted by the contractor. A phone call to the respective office should give you a response.

 

[Troylee]

Floor loading by code is 40lbs per square foot live load. Up to 55 lbs including static load and live load. Your tank foot print is 5sf so your max load is about 275 lbs for that foot print. At 600lbs you might be over the load rating.


Since you are over a parking garage you probably have a concrete floor that will have a higher load rating. Best to find out from the city or county the load rating for your building. It is in their files for the plans submitted by the contractor. A phone call to the respective office should give you a response.

I could be wrong but that doesn’t sound right at all… a 200lb person standing is 200 pounds in a sq foot. I mean we had water beds on the second floors back in the early 90’s which was a couple thousand pounds lol.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I could be wrong but that doesn’t sound right at all… a 200lb person standing is 200 pounds in a sq foot. I mean we had water beds on the second floors back in the early 90’s which was a couple thousand pounds lol.

The distribution is the difference. The waterbed is a very large area across many floor joists. It seems off to me as well but maybe the math is wrong. 55lbs per square foot seems light but that is what the average shows on a search for code.

I recently had to open my downstairs ceiling and place a laminated beam in to fix a poorly designed beam that allowed our top floor to create a 5/8" inch deep "pond" between bearing walks. Jacked up the floor and placed the beam. Sealed it all up and now we have a proper flat floor again. It took about 29 years to manifest itself but it did.

The floor loads per square foot is based on second story floor loading. Not an engineer here but I do have a general contractor license in two states. So I tend to read the specs when doing upper floor aquariums.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I recommend having that free discussion with county or city office that approved the construction plans. It cost nothing to do your homework.

Live loads are a different animal. Recent pictures of parties going off the hook with to many people dancing on a second floor leading to a collapse and injury are part of the national news over the last several years.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I could be wrong but that doesn’t sound right at all… a 200lb person standing is 200 pounds in a sq foot. I mean we had water beds on the second floors back in the early 90’s which was a couple thousand pounds lol.

That actually depends the size of their feet lol. If you have pegs instead of feet you might have a problem hahaha. Honestly, the subfloor helps to distibute pounds per square foot load.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Floors also have a dead load factor that is based on the weight of the flooring and support structures like floor joists. Kind of a lot of factors for contractors to consider.

That is why we use Architects and Engineers to develop and approve building plans.