What are some possible signs that an aquarium is too heavy for the room it is in?

[dtruitt]

We live in a second floor apartment constructed in the late 90s. We have a 65G with 15G sump against one exterior wall, positioned perpendicular to the floor joists, and a 29g against the opposite exterior wall.

The landlord said an aquarium will be fine without even asking about the size. Generally, he doesnt cut corners when he has work done, so I'm sure the joists are reasonably strong.

Given the placement and relatively small size of the tanks, I didnt expect it to be an issue.

However, since putting the tanks in, I've noticed that my girlfriends computer shakes a little bit as I walk past, and I've been more aware of vibrations when people walk.

What's really been making me paranoid, though, is that our 30 pound Lhasa Apso / Shih Tzu mix trots around when he gets excited. That 30 pound dog trotting around makes the floor bounce noticeably.

I'm not sure whether these "issues" are new, or if I've only noticed them since putting the tanks in. I suspect that our dog trots at frequency that matches the floor's harmonics. That tiny dog shakes the apartment way more than anyone else walking or stomping around.

Do these issues sound like normal symptoms of living on a second floor that I'm just noticing now that we put in a 1200 pound aquarium?

What kind of symptoms would indicate that the aquarium has actually affected the structure of the apartment? The aquarium is a couple tenths of a degree off level - no more than when it was first installed.

Otherwise, the tanks are looking great.

 

[splitting_lanes]

If you’re against an outside wall with you heaviest aquarium, and the apartment was built to US code in the last 50 years... It should easily handle 1200 pounds.

The outside wall is solid, or mostly solid below the tank?

no signs of termites?

 

[dtruitt]

If you’re against an outside wall with you heaviest aquarium, and the apartment was built to US code in the last 50 years... It should easily handle 1200 pounds.

The outside wall is solid, or mostly solid below the tank?

no signs of termites?

No signs of termites. The outside of the wall is actually stone below the tank. Not sure if the joists are cut directly into the stone, or if there are supports underneath. Will need to do some investigating, we live above a garage so I can look around below the aquarium (within reason).

 

[Joe Anderson]

We live in a second floor apartment constructed in the late 90s. We have a 65G with 15G sump against one exterior wall, positioned perpendicular to the floor joists, and a 29g against the opposite exterior wall.

The landlord said an aquarium will be fine without even asking about the size. Generally, he doesnt cut corners when he has work done, so I'm sure the joists are reasonably strong.

Given the placement and relatively small size of the tanks, I didnt expect it to be an issue.

However, since putting the tanks in, I've noticed that my girlfriends computer shakes a little bit as I walk past, and I've been more aware of vibrations when people walk.

What's really been making me paranoid, though, is that our 30 pound Lhasa Apso / Shih Tzu mix trots around when he gets excited. That 30 pound dog trotting around makes the floor bounce noticeably.

I'm not sure whether these "issues" are new, or if I've only noticed them since putting the tanks in. I suspect that our dog trots at frequency that matches the floor's harmonics. That tiny dog shakes the apartment way more than anyone else walking or stomping around.

Do these issues sound like normal symptoms of living on a second floor that I'm just noticing now that we put in a 1200 pound aquarium?

What kind of symptoms would indicate that the aquarium has actually affected the structure of the apartment? The aquarium is a couple tenths of a degree off level - no more than when it was first installed.

Otherwise, the tanks are looking great.

The first thing I would do is check the floors level measurement. If the level is dipping toward the front the of the tank or the center of the room. Then over time the sheer weight of the system will begin to have adverse effects on your structure. If you add foot traffic then you could have an utter catastrophe.

 

[Magellan]

Just some quick math, he’s looking at about 685lbs of water, plus the weight of the aquarium and stand. If one or more people are standing next to it, easily 1000lbs + in that area. Maybe not unwise to check, but as the above post says, he is almost certainly ok if his building was built to code.

 

[dtruitt]

The first thing I would do is check the floors level measurement. If the level is dipping toward the front the of the tank or the center of the room. Then over time the sheer weight of the system will begin to have adverse effects on your structure. If you add foot traffic then you could have an utter catastrophe.

The floor dipped about 0.1 degrees towards the center of the room when the tank was installed. It still dips that same amount towards the center of the room.

 

[RobW]

Should be some sort of a ledger board that the joists either hang from with joist hangers or something to that effect. Being that you are on a second floor it probably is a floor truss system with about 2 feet of space from your floor to the ceiling below where electrical and a/c duct work passes through. If it is floor trusses, then they are fastened to the block/stone wall via a ledger board with wedge anchors and tied in with buckets. I doubt you're imparing the structural integrity of the building.

 

[Robert M]

What kind of symptoms would indicate that the aquarium has actually affected the structure of the apartment? The aquarium is a couple tenths of a degree off level - no more than when it was first installed.

I agree this is probably fine—but if you were placing any aquarium parallel to floor joists (which you are not) you might have problem eventually. And to be clear, the floor definitely won’t break at these weights. The issue is whether the floor deflection could be enough to crack your tank over time. So long as the weight is spread out over multiple joists, this shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[Joe Anderson]

The floor dipped about 0.1 degrees towards the center of the room when the tank was installed. It still dips that same amount towards the center of the room.

Over time that can be problematic. You might want to add a floor supprt system.

 

[RobW]

Floor trusses and roof trusses are designed to deflect a little. Same principle applies to when they stock the roofs with roof tiles before hanging drywall. They have to get the weight on the roof first so the trusses deflect under the weight before drywall, tapping, and finishing. If not all the seems will crack when the roof settles in. With all the webbing in the trusses, gusset plates, strongbacks, and everything anchored in, it will take a lot more than a dead load that was gradually put into place to shear things apart. Drop that same load on there all at once from a height above 10-15 feet and you have a different scenario. Weight around the edge will not cause the center of the floor to dip. If it were in the middle it would be different because the weight would be at the weakest point pulling down in the middle and away from the edges.

 

[Brian_68]

In general should not be a problem on an outside wall but that assumes it was build to code and it has not been damaged over the years both of which we cannot say from here. I have seen ledger's rotted out from slow water leaks from a window causing the floor to eventually sag and the house was only 40 years old..

 

[Aardvark1134]

If you are using an outside wall in a well built place and are perpidicular to joists you usually don't starting running into issues til you hit a 120- 4x2x2 or bigger.

 

[dtruitt]

Guys I think I figured out what was going on. I was sitting on the couch when I noticed these issues. When I stand up, the shaking is substantially less. It seems that the dog trots at just the right frequency to make the springs in the couch resonate, making it feel like the whole apartment is bouncing.

;Facepalm