To set up or not to set up?

First it was the landlord now my wife thinks the 72g tank will be to heavy for the 2nd story floor also. So now I am beating myself up over on the idea are they right or wrong.
I decided to try a figure weight per sq inch.

I broke it down like this.
72 gallons at 8lbs per gal, minus water displacement of roughly 150 lbs of live rock and about 70 lbs of sand, my guess is a displacement of 20 gallons would give me 52 gallons of water = 416 lbs water + rock & sand = 636lbs.

I just read that the Oak Stand is only good for 720 lbs, this will not do if thats true. I'm sure I worry to much.

Anyways there would be about 86.4lbs per sq ft the floor would have to hold or .60lbs per sq inch, hahaha!! eeehhhh!!

 

I'm not a structural engineer, but I would read this article to help guide you. It's a great resource.

Where do I put the Aquarium? - InterNACHI Inspection Forum

 

Not to sure about the construction of the stand either, looks shaky to me.

 

Hard to tell from the photos but it may be a little sketchy. Can you provide a wide shot of the whole structure from a standing position?

 

From what I read in the link above, perhaps not a good idea.

 

If I understood that right floors are designed to hold about 40lbs psf, if I done my math right my tank is/would be double that.

 

I believe the 40 lbs per square foot is over the entire area of the floor, or total weight. It says, "do you know the span of your floor joists", if they are 2x8's or 2x10's, that could help. And you may be able to design a tank stand to spread that weight out considerably more.

If you do the calculations and show your landlord, he may feel more at ease. He may ask you to sign a water damage clause. Don't give up yet, but also I would engineer it "worst case".

I noticed you removed 20% water weight for rock, then added the rock separately. This may not be a good idea. Do your math with full water weight to engineer for the "worst case". Remember, live rock is porous and may hold more water than you think. And certainly sand is very porous. =D

Good luck.

 

If that were correct, a 5-year-old child jumping on one foot would fall through. Furthermore, I've never heard of an aquarium of any size crashing through a floor, and I have serious doubt yours would be the first.

 

Like Mr. Bill says it will probably be fine. Maybe even the stand would work, just be sure.

But multi-level apartments aren't all built the same, who knows what they put in that floor, or how old it is. Just do your homework and cover your butt. Never just assume and put a tank up anywhere, on any stand.

 

Think about it this way, would you even put a thought about having 4 adults standing next to each other? Because that is going to put the same load on a floor as the tank