Fish tank on wood floor

[delboybully]

I have had a single story extension added to my terraced home

Once the sub floor has dried i am going to put an engineered wood floor down

I want to put a fish tank with a 6ft x 31in foot print on it. The tank is 2 ft deep. 1 gallon weighs 10lbs so the weight of the water will be approx 820Kg. On top of this is the weight of the tank (very heavy), cabinet, filters etc, plus in the tank is some gravel and rocks (higher density than water so weighs more)

Will this be ok to put on the wood floor?

 

[WoodYouLike]

Put your fish tank on exterior grade plywood of the same thickness as your wood floor to prevent any problems.

 

[delboybully]

That sounds like a great idea. The problem with that is if i ever want to move the fish tank (or move house- our long term plan is to one day buy another house and rent this one out) i will have a wood floor with a large section of ply in it.

I am making the cabinet and am going to make it such that the sides go all the way back to the wall and will have skirting board around it. Could i lay some plywood on top of the wood floor. Someone suggested in a post about self leveling the floor to put some carpet down to protect the floor. Your thoughts?

 

[WoodYouLike]

My problem with this is you will restrict the natural movement of the wooden floor when the heavy fish tank is on there. It will cause problems.

 

[delboybully]

Is there no way i can put a heavy fish tank like mine on wood floor without causing problems.

If i did put in on the wood floor what sort of problems can i expect.

The wood floor needs to be glued which will cause problems if i ever want to move the tank and fill in the space the tank occupied with spare wood floor.

If i went with the plywood idea where would be the best place to store the spare wood floor (the loft maybe?)

The wood floor will also being going in my dining room which will also have a fish tank (im fish mad). The tank is approx 75g with a footprint of 4.5ft x 15inches. This cabinet connects with floor in 6 places. Will this also need the playwood put down instead or will it be ok on the wood floor

 

[WoodYouLike]

Wood works, it adapts itself to the climate of your home: expands when the humidity increases and shrinks when it decreases. This is a natural process, no matter which method you use to install your floor.

Although wood-engineered floors are more stable than solid ones, heavy objects on the floor can cause buckling if the floor needs to expand but can't "spread" out over the whole area.

If you're willing to accept the risk of this, then by all means install the wooden floor throughout. If you decide to install plywood, the spare packs can be stored in any normal room of your house where it is not exposed to extreme conditions (very cold, hot or moist).

75 kg, does that include the water etc? If so, that's not heavier than some bookcases and should not cause as much as a problem as the big heavy fish tank in the other room

 

[delboybully]

The other tank is not 75kg its 75g (gallons). The weight if the water will be about 340Kg plus the weight of the tank, filters rocks etc

 

[WoodYouLike]

My mistake, hadn't read it correctly. That's also a no no then