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1.Would i be able to support a 75 gallon on my second floor of my house in my bedroom?


2.Also... where does everyone get such awesome driftwood?

1. Probably, depends on you're house. 70 gallons is about 1/4 of a metric tonne so 250kg which is about 4 people.

2. I'm not really sure tbh.

I was scared putting a 55 gallon on a second floor before. I used the people conversion. If you think about it that way it seems more realistic to test. Get four people upstairs and stand in one spot if the floor seems ok, i wouldnt see a problem. The water is about 625 pounds, plus rocks the tank and the stand. So all said and done your probably looking at about 700-750 pounds. I am not sure where your at, but if your in earthquake country you might want to strap it to the wall. Put a couple big hooks into the studs in the wall on the side of the tank and use a large strap to hold it to the wall a little more. I did that before and I dont know if it would have actually held during an earthquake but it made me feel better.

I have a 55 gallon upstairs and it seems ok. But I would get a stand that spreads ou the weight good.


-Vincent

Here's a thought.

You know those thick slabs of wood that are ready shaped for kitchen work tops, that you cut to size to fit your kitchen? Here in the UK they're over an inch thick. I've got one upstairs waiting to be pressed into service if I ever upgrade the Panda Fun Palace to a 4ft setup.

Get one that's slightly too big (so if your stand is for a 48" x 18" wide tank, get a piece that's 50" x 20" ). Put the stand on that. Then, mount the aquarium on the stand.

The large, flat piece of wood will spread the load across several joists. Make sure it's positioned so that it DOES lie across several joists, though!

Incidentally, as an example of what is possible (but in this case only with a HUGE amount of money!), Liverpool Museum has its aquarium section on the third floor of the building. Among the exhibits are two 2,000 gallon reef aquaria and a 1,000 gallon mangrove swamp setup. But they have the advantage that their aquaria are supported by floors that consist of three feet of reinforced concrete with 18 inch thick steel girders adding strength! Mind you, they DID have £34 million to play with for the building courtesy of the National Lottery, so engineering solutions of this magnitude were open to them ...

Needless to say, if I win the Lottery and can afford to have a house built to order, it's going to be built to the same kind of spec. Reinforced concrete construction throughout with the floors rated to take 100 ton loads. It will take some aquarium to overstress a structure built to those standards!

Oops, almost forgot. The above assumes you're using an open construction metal stand for your aquarium such as the one holding my Panda Fun Palace. If your aquarium is mated to an integrated stand that contains cabinets, that should spread the load automatically. Post a pic of the stand you're intending to use - if it's a simple open metal frame, go with the slab of wood on the floor. If it's an integrated stand that is, in effect, a piece of reinforced furniture, it should spread the load for you. However, I cannot stress this enough - CHECK the design to make sure it DOES rest on the floor with a large contact area if it's an integrated stand, and doesn't have unequasl pressure points that would place excessive loading on one or two joists.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

it is going to come with a metal stand but i am going to buy a wood one i think just so there is no worries