Is 48" Long Turtle Aquarium Too Heavy to Set on A Regular Dresser?

[kendra30752]

Hi Tortoise folks!

I'm the owner of an adult red eared slider. I'm a new member here who is looking for some turtle set-up advice. I frequent the threads here quite often, but haven't ever made an account to join in until now (I figured I wouldn't have any valuable information to share, so I am a lurker, you could say).

My question is about my turtle set up. I've had my adult RES aquarium sitting on a regular ol' 6-drawer dresser, but I've grown more worried over time about whether or not this heavy/large of an aquarium is safe on a dresser. I've asked around, but still have my doubts.

The tank is about 48" long and about 21 1/2 inches from front to back of the tank and takes up most of the top surface of the dresser except for maybe a couple of inches at the sides, if that makes sense. In other words, the tank does not hang over the sides of the dresser. There's a little (by little I mean only a few/several inches) of dresser space left over on the front and back side. I'm pretty sure it's made of particle board (the dresser, not the aquarium [lol]). The dresser is waist high with 6 drawers, 3 on each side (if that's important.) The dresser drawers are full of my clothing and such. I'm not sure if having it full with clothes would make a difference in its ability to hold up a big tank or not.

I've always worried if this is a proper way to keep an aquarium of this size. So I thought I'd go ahead and ask here since I had a little time to explain my concerns...

I have taken a few quick, not-great-quality photos of the tank set-up that I can transfer to my computer (from my camera) and upload here if that would make it easier to understand and share your thoughts... I will come back and do that if it would help.

I've seen a lot of folks with large tanks on not-so-sturdy looking stands with the tank ends overlapping the actual stand! Mine does not overlap, but I still wonder is a dresser a sturdy enough place to hold this sucker? Especially with it filled all the way up with water. It scares me to think this thing could collapse or something. I have looked into stands for aquariums online and they do not look extremely sturdy to me... It seems like my dresser allows more room and a thicker area than if it was just a slab of whatever those aquarium stands are made of... wood?

Thank you a million, in advance for any suggestions, ideas, or advice!

 

[Yvonne G]

If you want to alleviate your fears, buy a sheet of plywood and have it cut so that it is about 2" bigger all around than the top of the dresser. Naturally, the dresser is stronger on the edges where it is supported by the sides of the piece, so if you have a piece of heavy plywood sitting on those side edges, the weight will be distributed more evenly and the weight would not be too much. I think half inch or 3/4" plywood would work.

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh, and - Welcome to the Forum! We have some pretty knowledgeable water turtle folks here who mainly lurk like you, so you should feel right at home!

 

[leigti]

He had a 50 gallon 48 inch long aquarium on a large eight drawer dresser. I did what Yvonne suggested and had a piece of plywood cut so it was 2 inches bigger all the way around then the aquarium. The base of the aquarium was exactly the same as the top of the dresser. The dresser was completely full of all sorts of different things. And it was very very heavy, I think it was Oak.
I never had an issue but I admit I was a little concerned also. And aquarium full of water is awful heavy and you add the gravel etc. and it gets to be ridiculously heavy. But I had it set up like that for about five years until I gave it away to make room for a tortoise

 

[Markw84]

Really depends upon how the dresser is built. IF your tank is 48 x 21 and I let's say 18" deep, that is about 80 gallons which weighs 640 lbs. With a glass aquarium, all the weight is entirely borne on the edges of the tank only - so it the top of the dresser is in decent shape and the tank sounds like it rests within a few inches of the sides of the dresser - that part is fine. Don't need extra plywood unless you just want to protect the surface of the dresser. The extra weight of clothes inside is not an issue.

The pure compressive (pressure straight down) strength of wood is really great. If you dresser has any type of wood supports that go from floor to the top on the four corners - that would be best. Even a piece of 3/4" particle board that is the vertical sides to your dresser would be strong. The issue will be the lateral movement. If the dresser is not solidly built and it can wobble at all - I would not do it. Anything starting to move things laterally will start to pull apart something not well built with that much weight on top. The cheap tank stands you see do use particle board and cheaper materials, but they have the supports and the back well attached to the sides to give that lateral support needed.

SO... a well built, solid dresser can make a great tank stand, but it has to be properly constructed. Hope this helps

 

[Tom]

Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. Calculate the weight of the water, tank and any gravel or decorations and try it out. You can put more than that weight in people on the dresser and see how it fares. But don't sue me if the dresser collapses and you fall down!

There is really no way for us to know if your dresser can support that wieght. Some are built sturdy and some are built flimsy. We can't know how yours is built without examining it.

 

[chaseswife]

I think I would worry more about it being top heavy and possibly tipping over. But I have little kids and I am constantly hearing to anchor everything to the wall in fear that it will get tipped over from kids climbing on stuff.