3,000 lbs on Second Floor?

Suspended slab. They are strong but be careful as the slab is only designed to take a certain load and if it is not thick enough it may be prone to punching shear and cracking under the tank. You probably won't see it but the people downstairs would be most annoyed.

Chris - give us your address .... in case we hear something on the news
:D:D:D:D

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Originally Posted by chrissreef

Interesting enough - I spoke to the sales manager and the entire floor is actually cement/concrete. I'll ask the maintenance guy what's supporting the cement and where (if he knows) but I would think a 1.9kilo aquarium would be easy for this type of floor to support b/c of the dispersion (and stronger I would think). There may not be wooden joists at all.

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sorry, but your reasoning is almost certainly WRONG.

A quick Google search suggests that US residential building standards assume 40 lbs/sq.ft
your fish tank will impose a load roughly 6 times this which if placed in the middle of a span would likely lead to noticable deflection and cracking of the slab.
Note: span is related to the distance from load bearing walls not the room size. If your floor slab is prestressed concrete, it would not be unusual for the slab to only be suported at the edges.

it used to be that the "normal" safety factor for live loads was 2, but that was back in the 70s when I went to uni. Since then codes have tended to shift to "Limit State" design (which I haven't needed to keep up with, but I think it relates to the load just before the floor (in your case) fails. It would be unusual for a "limit state" design to be stronger than the old "factor of safety" design — the change was to make building cheaper.

Near a supporting wall, the floor "should" support a greater load but my advice to you is get advice from a person who is familar with local building codes and constructio methods/quality.



ian