Too much weight?

[VAFishGal]

Hi Everyone!

I know this might not be the best place for this... but figured that you guys might know more about the weight of tanks, etc better than myself.

I have had a 55 gallon set up for years and was given a 75 gallon with stand by a friend. I will be moving shortly and so the tanks are currently down. Problem is that I am moving to a trailor until land can be cleared and a house built (with my luck the process will end up taking 2 years! lol)... The trailor is an older one... the floor seems stable but I am not 100% if it can support the weight of either tank.. any advice? I am not sure that I can really stand not having a tank set up in the house. I thought about going for like a 29 gallon tank because I know the floor will be fine with it... but I am going to miss my larger tanks. Any advice?

[fischfan13]

I think that it would all depend where you are placing the weight.
A filled 55g will weigh about 550lbs. If you placed a sofa on the floor and added two big guys on it you will have about the same weight.
Personally I think that you would be fine with one large tank.

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

You could put cinderblocks underneat where you putting the tank and take up the extra space with some plywood or something.

[CJC]

I would disperse the wieght, cut 3/4" ply wood the size of the stand and place the stand on top of the ply wood.

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

I agree with CJC. I did a lot of work on my mom's trailer she had for a dew years and the old ones are not built well.

[KutztownCichlids]

Make sure the tank isnt placed the same direction as the floor joists are running, so it will span of 3 or 4 joists to distribute the weight evenly. I personally would use cinder blocks, make sure there are joist hangers and if the joists are 2X6 or less id double them up. If there are no joist hangers, and you purchase some there are nails made specifically to be used with them, DO NOT use screws they have low tolerence for downward pressure and will break easily. If you double up the joists use 1/2 nuts and bolts. This is just my opinion and is probably over kill, but its better to be safe then sorry. Hope this helps.

Bruce

[Afreakin]

All great points. Good Luck.

[foamerdave]

Back when I just got out of high school me and a friend bought a OLD trailer. We had two water beds and a 125g tank in the thing. We put three stacks (2 blocks one way, 2 blocks the other way and so forth till each stack was tight to the floor) under the fish tank, never had a problem

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

This is probably a waste of time Va made this post and never came back.

[VAFishGal]

Actually I am still here... just waiting to get into the trailor so that I can see exactly what I have to work with. I appreciate all the ideas and will hopefully be able to put them to use. I would love to have both tanks set up but not sure my other half will go for it. He thinks that we will be fine with a 10 gallon.

If all goes right we should be moving in on the 20th and so hopefully by the first of Feb I will have had time to get the furniture somewhat arranged and figure out where I want the tanks and know what exactly I have to work with.

[emartin]

Well, either way good luck! You could always just put the other tanks in storage though until your new house is ready though...