I have had a few people email me asking about placing a fish tank on their kitchen counter so I thought it was time to answer this question.
There are so many things that could go into this article but I am going to keep it as simple as possible.
Fish tanks tend to drip water all over the place and this will cause water to continuously be on your countertops surrounding your fish tank. For this reason, I advise against it especially if you have a saltwater fish tank.
I advise against placing a fish tank on your kitchen counter especially if you have natural stone such as granite, marble, or quartzite. Quartz will handle a bit better because it is more durable in terms of porosity and the liquid will likely cause less harm.
I used to own a saltwater fish tank and I know how the salt likes to creep out of the tank onto the tank sides and floor.
A small fish tank should be fine, but you need to know how much your fish tank weighs before you can safely answer this question.
Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon and depending on the volume of your fish tank you can decide if it is safe to place your fish tank on your kitchen counter or bar.
I don't recommend anything more than 40 gallons to be placed on your kitchen counter as that would be about 332 pounds sitting on your countertops. If your countertop has a stress fracture you are unaware of then it would crack and fall through overtime.
The national recommendation is about 600 pounds but I like to cut that in half to 300 pounds just to ensure that you do not overreach the weight capacity. This includes granite, marble, quartz, and even less for laminate countertops.
A bar with an overhang should never have weight placed on it. This includes a person leaning to get up and a fish tank. The added weight could cause the entire countertop to come loose and fall causing injury or even death. For that reason, I suggest skipping out on any overhanging areas of your countertop of more than 1.5 inches.
I would imagine that it would be. I don't know about you but all of the chemicals that must be added to a fish tank to clear cloudy water, bacteria, and salt need to stay away from where I prepare food. I feel that it is a bad idea.
Hey, I am not a doctor but I do have common sense and you should not take this as medical advice.
You may be able to get away with placing a fish tank on your kitchen countertop but I don't recommend it. Anything could happen especially if you place a fish tank on a bar with an overhang.
