Is 90 gal too Heavy ????

[yoshi]

I want to get a 90 gal tank for my main floor of my home but I saw that the tank's weight is about 1000 lbs with water. Scared if the floor will hold all that weight. Can anyone share their experinces with me ? I would hate to see a big hole in my floor where my fish tank use to be.

Another question is lighting what type of lighting is good for goldfish? I saw aqua glow and sun glow bulbs.. I got really confused.  And would I need two bulb to well lite my 90 gal tank ?

thanks

[robinserena]

We had a 130 gallon in our family room and it was fine! I think if you position it across the catwalks (or whatever the heck theyre called! the supports in the floor) instead of between them its ok... :?:

[yoshi]

Thanks for the info .. It's very scary that it's over 1000 lbs on the floor.  

[Marc]

1000 lbs is the weight of four large men.  Most floors can handle that weight with no problem.  Of course the four large men don't usually stand in place for years on end.  :wink:

I often heard that placing a large tank along an outside wall was better than along an inner wall.  I guess this would put less stress on the crossbeams which support the floor.

Marc

[dpatte]

Id place the stand on new good quality wood boards to distribute the weight as much as posible. A 90 gallon tank is normally 4 ft x 1.5 feet. Thats 6 square feet = 6 x 144 square inches. This works out to about 1 lb. per square inch when distributed, which doesnt sound so heavy after all. Many stands for 90s use a bottom plate of wood for exactly this reason.

BTW: I was going to setup a 137 in my dining room, but got worried about its weight; and chickened out. Its now downstairs.

[yoshi]

We build the stand ourself so I hope it will would the weight  

As for the bottom of the stand are you talking about a whole sheet
of wood ? or just a frame. mine is like this, your option to it would be great since it's the first time I build one.it's made with 2 by 4 like this

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 |  |   |               |  |   |             |  |   |    Front View
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The top is two layer of 2 by 4
legs are made of 4 by 4
and the base is rectangle 2 by 4

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 |  |                  |  |                      |  |         Top View
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you think it's strong enough ?

[yoshi]

the legs didn't show up .. lose all the while spaces

[dpatte]

It has legs legs? most stands for over 500 lbs dont use legs for this reason.....

each 4x4 leg gives 64 square inches to hold the weight.
each leg will focus 250 (1000/4) lbs into the floor. The point of focus may be far from joists.

I was thinking 2 complete 4 ft x 10 inch boards going flat on the floor first. this would distribute the weight over more square inches.

This is not an issue for concrete floors/

[Troy]

yoshi : what kind of wood did you use? ..... Troy.

[yoshi]

I think it was spruce

well we'll know if the tank holds .. the tank to be in next week

[vpilieci]

...the weight evenly across a plank on the bottom.. ie: one big piece of plywood that spans the length of the tank. That way the weight is distributed over numerous joists instead of just two (one of either end where the "legs" are).
Ie: you DON'T want your stand to look anything like the one below.
www.notcatfish.com/equipment/stands.htm

Something like this is much better:
www.houseoffish.com/stands.html

Also you may want to recalulate the weight of your tank. Water is one thing. Rocks/Gravel/filters and other decorations could easily add another 300 to 500 pounds in a tank of that size. This could bring the weight up to more like 1500 pounds, which is more like what I would expect for 100 gallon. I have a 55 and it's around 900 pounds.

Don't panic, as long as you find a load bearing wall in your house and put the tank up against that you should be fine (assuming everything everyone has said is also followed).  I mean people put piano's in their homes all the time and those things weigh north of 1000 pounds easy.

good luck.

VP

[yoshi]

Thanks for the advice.

I'll have to take a picture of what I build and show you.
the tank is coming soon and i hope it will stand   I have hardwood floor so my floor beams are closer. Show you the result when I finish

I now have a problem with making the panel in the front looking nice. any suggestion ?