Aquarium weight limits

[BlueSallymandr]

I see a number of members on here with larger tanks - do you have them on the ground floor? I'm asking because I'm starting to get worried about my planned aquarium upgrade. Right now, I have a 40 gallon breeder freshwater tank set up in my living room with a 16 gallon BioCube reef next to it. I was planning on replacing the Biocube with a 40 gallon IM tank, in place, so that two 40 gallon tanks would be side by side. That's like, 500 lbs a pop, once filled and decorated I think, not counting the stands. Basically my problem is that I live in a condo, above my garage. I did some reading about aquariums vs structure, and where they are now, both aquariums are running parallel to the floor joists (they should be perpendicular for a big tank).

My current thinking is that I should put the new tank across the living room from the existing 40g, so that even though they are in the same room, the weight is distributed over more joists. It would be a tight fit but I think I could make it work. (It's a very small living room, lol) This would have the small bonus of making the actual tank transfer a lot easier, too.

Am I way overthinking this? Would you worry about having the tanks side by side, too?

 

[MichaelB]

I see a number of members on here with larger tanks - do you have them on the ground floor? I'm asking because I'm starting to get worried about my planned aquarium upgrade. Right now, I have a 40 gallon breeder freshwater tank set up in my living room with a 16 gallon BioCube reef next to it. I was planning on replacing the Biocube with a 40 gallon IM tank, in place, so that two 40 gallon tanks would be side by side. That's like, 500 lbs a pop, once filled and decorated I think, not counting the stands. Basically my problem is that I live in a condo, above my garage. I did some reading about aquariums vs structure, and where they are now, both aquariums are running parallel to the floor joists (they should be perpendicular for a big tank).

My current thinking is that I should put the new tank across the living room from the existing 40g, so that even though they are in the same room, the weight is distributed over more joists. It would be a tight fit but I think I could make it work. (It's a very small living room, lol) This would have the small bonus of making the actual tank transfer a lot easier, too.

Am I way overthinking this? Would you worry about having the tanks side by side, too?

I would be concerned if the floor squeaks when you walk on it, or say it's a pretty old building, if you combined both tanks and had 80 gallons plus a sump i wouldn't be worried. Once you cross the barrier of 150 gallons i would be concerned on the second floor. There are guys here with 225 gallon tanks some 500 gallon ones they have to be concerned even on ground level unless they are on a solid slab foundation.

If you could place it across the joist that couldn't hurt. Neither could your plan of placing them across from each other.

I would only label it a light- moderate amount of concern if they were side by side. Just my opinion not based on research or data - which probably isn't worth alot.