Tank weight calculator
Total weight on your floor: water, glass, substrate, hardscape, and stand. For anyone worried about putting a tank upstairs.
| Water | -- |
| Glass | -- |
| Substrate | -- |
| Hardscape | -- |
| Equipment (~) | -- |
| Stand | -- |
Why this matters
Water weighs about 1 kg per liter. A 200 L tank holds 200 kg of water before you add glass, substrate, rocks, and the stand. That's roughly 350 kg (770 lbs) concentrated on a footprint smaller than a desk.
Most residential floors handle 150 to 250 kg per square meter without issues. A 75 L tank on a standard cabinet is fine almost everywhere. A 400 L tank on a second floor apartment needs thought. A 1000 L tank needs an engineer.
What this calculates
Enter your tank dimensions and what's going in it. The calculator estimates the total weight and the load per square meter of floor contact. It flags setups that approach or exceed typical residential floor limits.
The glass weight estimate assumes standard soda-lime aquarium glass at 2.5 g per cubic centimeter. If your tank uses low-iron glass or acrylic, the weight is slightly different but not enough to change the floor-load verdict.
Substrate densities
Wet substrate weighs more than the bag label suggests. Sand settles and packs; aquasoil absorbs water and gets heavier over the first few weeks. The densities here are post-settling wet weights, not dry bag weights.
When to worry
Below 200 kg/m2 on the stand footprint: safe on any standard residential floor, including upper stories.
200 to 400 kg/m2: safe on concrete slab or ground-floor joisted construction. Upper floors in wood-frame buildings should be checked; place the tank perpendicular to the floor joists if possible.
Above 400 kg/m2: get a structural assessment before filling the tank. This is large-tank territory (500 L+) and the cost of a floor repair dwarfs the cost of an engineer's opinion.