Placing a 55 Gallon Aquarium in my room...?

Question

...on the 2nd floor. I don't have a stand for it but I will be placing it on top of my dresser. The 55 Gallon would fit perfectly with a few inches of room to spare. My question is, would the floor be able to hold 1000lbs? Just say the 55 Gallon filled up is around 500+lbs and the dresser is 400+lbs.

The house was built in 2003.

Answer 1

Actually, a 55 gallon aquarium, with just water, weighs about 625 lbs. and then you need to add probably 60 lbs. for gravel and a little more for decorations. How much depends on whether they're plastic or real rock, etc. But, unless you have one gigantic, solid wood dresser, I doubt it weighs 400 lbs, especially as you said the aquarium only barely fits on it. Others have voiced concern about the sturdiness of your dresser. If it really, truly weighs 400 lbs, it would surely be solid enough to hold a full aquarium, but still, a center support is advised. Some dressers do have center supports, so check that. But, your overall estimate of 1,000 lbs is still a good high weight estimate. Choosing areas of rooms for aquarium placement that are near the most structural support, i.e., corners and doors, is best. So, if your dresser is in a corner and/or near a door and your dresser is a solid wood, you should be fine.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

55 Gallon Aquarium

Answer 4

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RE:
Placing a 55 Gallon Aquarium in my room...?
...on the 2nd floor. I don't have a stand for it but I will be placing it on top of my dresser. The 55 Gallon would fit perfectly with a few inches of room to spare. My question is, would the floor be able to hold 1000lbs? Just say the 55 Gallon filled up is around 500+lbs and the dresser is...

Answer 5

The weight on the second floor does not concern me. A house built that recently should not have a structural issue such as that. 55 gallon tank filled would have a total weight displacement of 458.15 lbs + tank weigh of about 165 lbs= 625 lbs.
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandtables/l/bltanksize.htm

That much weight is considerbly less then say a waterbed which you can find on many second floor places. It's the dresser that some have mentioned that concerns me.

You really want to focus on your span. 48 inches is basically 4 feet, and as long as there is no overhang on the width or the lenght on the dresser, the the full 625 lbs is being displaces over the 4 foot surface area. This yeilds the following: 48 inches x 13 inches, span of the tank = 624 square inches, and a total weight of 625 lbs, gives you approximatly 1 lb per square inch on the surface of your dresser.

I have 2 Engineers that work for me here at my job, but they are not accessable to me to verify my findings. However, I do not feel that the pressure on this dresser is in any way going to collapse it. If the surface area of the dresser exceeds the tank, then the lbs per square inch on the dresser will be even lower. I don't feel this is going to cause an issue, but without knowing the make of the dresser, and thickness of the wood, I can't give you an accurate and postive yes, but if I had to make a guess, I say you are ok. I'll try to give you a follow up when I can reach my engineers later.

FOLLOW UP:

After running this by a NAPSEB certified engineer, the lbs per square inch and even the lbs per square foot should not over tax any modern built dressers. There is one assumption being made, which is not stated in your information however, and that is the surface area covered by your dresser. About 90% certain this will work out fine.

Answer 6

Hi pnoize1, At present I have a 40 gallon long in a first floor flat, I'm planning on getting a 100 gallon next year & this is no problem whatsoever as long as you follow a few common-sense rules:

1. Site tank alongside a load bearing wall.
2. Site at right angles to & over as many joists as possible.
3. Ensure the base unit has a 'running' base ie NOT legs.

The only thing that slightly concerns me about your plans is the integrity of your dresser & even though yours sounds substantial & is holding your tank at present I wonder if it will do the same for many years to come?

Unless you are certain of it's strength I would advise a purpose-built base unit for your tank if you are handy with wood or get a carpenter to make one up for you. The attached link may be of interest-written by a structural engineer regarding this very subject.

Answer 7

I can guarantee you with 99% certainty that your floor can handle the weight. As long as it's a solid dresser that can handle the tank, you're good to go (largest tank i've kept on a dresser was 25) Unless you live in a straw hut or an ancient wood house eaten out by termites, the standard building codes of any developed country can handle this.

In fact, in a second floor bedroom of my last townhome I kept a 90 gallon tank and a 40 gallon tank, both on the same wall.

Answer 8

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I keep a 20 gallon aquarium on a table in my room whenever I have to quarantine a fish, and it holds just fine. The only issue is, your tank is nearly 3x the size of my quarantine tank. Full of water, your tank could weigh in excess of 500 pounds. It all depends on what kind of counter yours is, how much support it has under it (a major thing if it has some kind of overhang without supports under it), and the type of wood your counter is made of. Remember, it will get wet at times! Also, don't forget that most aquarium stands are built to sustain the weight that an aquarium exerts.. most counters in homes can't support that kind of weight. You might have to have it looked at by a carpenter or something. Best of luck to you!

Answer 9

As long as you're spanning across multiple floor joists, (instead of running along 2 of them) you should be good. Try and position it along a supporting wall (extereor wall typically) as opposed to a partition wall. Those two things will help prevent a floor collapse in case of overloading. A 4 foot wide tank should be able to span across at least 3 floor joists if not 4 depending on your construction.

The Minimum federal specification for modern homes floor loading when evenly distributed is 40lbs/squre foot. Most newly constructed, average sized bedrooms rooms support a good 4000 lbs without much hastle (as long as its not all sitting on one board).

I'd be concerned about using the dresser as a tank stand. The tank must only bow a little bit over a surface that doesn't support its weight 100% evenly (on the edges of the tank) in order to stress the glass.

It must not bow in the middle under pressure, or your tank can explode. Over the period of a year, do you think the 500lbs of the tank will cause the dresser to warp in the middle? If so, just go with a cheap pine stand instead.

Answer 10

I would NOT put a 55g on a dresser under any circumstances.

Dressers are not made to hold that kind of weight. It doesn't have center supports! You are risking a huge disaster that could wreck everything in your room, leak through the floor and ruin the ceiling and things underneath.

Get yourself a proper aquarium stand that has center supports. That is key. Don't even put another though about placing that thing on a dresser.