howze01

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Location
Bridgewater, NJ
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We have a 120g on the first floor(basement under it). As long as you have it against a load-bearing wall and preferably running perpendicular to the floor joists you shouldn't have any problems. I know someone who recently setup a 350g and had to get engineers to come in and design supports for it.
 

tentacles

cephalopod enthusiast
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38   2   0
talk to your landlord or property manager about the beam structure below you, you'll get a more concrete answer. I personally would not set up a heavy tank above the ground floor just based on what some other people have done, it can be very risky.
 

LatinP

Look at my bare bottom!
Location
Staten Island
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In this bedroom I have a 90g DT with a 30g sump/fuge a 40g breeder frag tank and a 29g quarantine. I was terrified when I was setting up the 90g since I live on a 7th floor in this building. I asked the building manager where the best place on the floor would be he assured me the floors are concrete with re-bar so I don't have to worry, so far so good. If it all caves in he told me they would hold up. My main concern was all of this was going in the same room, a fairly large room but still.
 

darod850

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Location
Elizabeth, NJ
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The foorprint is more important that actual capacity being that a tank is dead weight. Unlike having a bunch of people over your apt and walk around which would weigh as much or more than a tank. 6 grown men could weigh well over 1000lbs.
I live on the 4th floor of an apt building built in 1942 I believe.
90G +55G underneath. (The 55G is my sump) All within a 4' footprint.:sgrin:
Place them against a LBW and perpendicular to the floor beams you shuld be ok. I will NOT however go any bigger than that with that footprint. Cubes have narrow footprints so keep it at or under 90G IMO.:goldfish2
 

TRIGGERMAN

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Location
Staten Island
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cubes are nice but limit your space and like it was mentioned dead weight in small footprint..go 6 foot 150 gal distribute the weight over 6 feet instead of 3 and enjoy your huge amount of space and your fish will thank you too
 

saltwaterinbrooklyn

Pro hobby anti profit!
Location
Staten Island ny
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great points but i dont have the room to span outward, my sectional couch eats my living room, so the cube is really attractive to me at this point, and i have always liked them since i saw it at the local lfs store, but im not aiming higher than the 70 cube, or maybe the 60 just not to push the situation cause my wife wants to get me the tank for fathers day
 
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Location
Huntington
Rating - 100%
26   0   0
In most situations a 180 shouldn't even be an issue, they stopped making houses out of elmers and popsicle sticks after WW2 so you should be ok as long as it was built after that... 200+ is usually where I have the floor checked out not because I don't think it can't take it but because sometimes there could be unseen damage or issues that could compromise the structure when you park a ton or more of water on it. It's a precaution that's usually unnecessary but makes sure everyone is covered should something happen. If your floor can't hold a 90gal cube with sump safely, than you have way bigger problems to deal with.
 
R

reefmaniac

Guest
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IMO, I wouldn't go more than a 90 gallon, You have no clue how or who built the place. Remember a 90 gallon is a lot of weight in a 4 foot span. A gallon of saltwater weighs 8.8lbs. Then you have the tank,stand,rock and equipment weight. You are looking at over 1000 lbs easily.
 

Wesley

Clownfish Pimp
Rating - 100%
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I have a 125g on second floor as well, but it just happened that I found out it is sitting on the load bearing beam when I tried to drill some holes to pipe the sump to downstairs.

BTW, for 125g (6 feet long), it's 1400lb just the tank filled with water. Not counting the stand or any equipment.
90g (4 feet long) is 1050lb. So, actually, it's safer to have a 125g instead of a 90g due to the per foot weight.
 
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