earth quake inforcing your tank?

[JmLee]

I dont know if many people thought about this topic. But i live in northern California area where we are known for earth quakes. Well my question is how many people have there tanks / stands bolted to the wall or secured in some kind of fashion?. If you do please share some of your ideas or even pictures if you have them!. I would love to get some ideas.

 

[JmLee]

nobody cares?

 

[DHyslop]

Thinking about how brittle glass is and how much load there is, I think the glass would fail before it tipped, so securing it wouldn't help much.

Dan

 

[JmLee]

what if my fish tank is acrylic DUH and glass wouldnt just shatter from a earth quake... its the tipping that is the concern.

 

[inlandreef]

It would take alot for the glass to fail. If that was the case everyone in CA would be replacing windows every time there was a quake. I lived out in the east bay in 89 when the "big one" hit. My dad had a 110 acrylic tank built into the wall with three side viewable. The quake walked it out 4" diagonally and we didnt loose any water. If you strap the stand and the canopy (if you have one) to the studs in the wall you should be ok. If a 7.2 quake only moved it that far you should be ok. A quake bigger than that you got other things to worry about.

 

[JmLee]

good point inlandreef. thanks for the input

 

[inlandreef]

Your welcome JmLee

 

[Wiggawam]

I live in socal ad have considered it, all my tanks are up against walls and I make sure they are stable before water is put in. Also you can try strapping it to the wall but Honestly if you tank is big enough I would worry about the shear load on those beams in an earthquake. Kinda ahope and pray situation.

 

[JmLee]

yeah just kinda worried because i have this strange feeling sooner or later a big ones gona hit and my tanks in my room, and my room isnt all that big so if it fell over that would be a disaster. I used to have a 125 gal in my room and came home one night and found the return hose for my canister came off and pumped a good 40 gallons of water on my carpet..... man.. that sucked....

 

[BrentN]

I'm using eye-bolts and cables to secure my tank to the wall behind it. A waste? maybe, but it's cheap and easy and can't hurt!

 

[kalare]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6697511#post6697511 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by inlandreef
If you strap the stand and the canopy (if you have one) to the studs in the wall you should be ok. If a 7.2 quake only moved it that far you should be ok. A quake bigger than that you got other things to worry about.

I disagree. I'm a structural engineer and most houses only have 2x_ lumber as studs in the wall...and usually poor quality at that (non load bearing so lesser quality). It you strap a large tank...say 150 gallons to a stud or two, there are several problems. First, the nominal depth of the 2x is only around 1.5 inches, so a small bolt isn't going to do it. A larger bolt will have too small an edge distance to make a safe and proper connection to the face of a 2x. Now, even if you made a structurally sound connection, the force of a say, 6.5 earthquake moving around 1800 pounds is going to be quite large...say 2000 pounds conservative. Putting that stress on a stud could quite possible be asking for wall failure.

My opinion would to just leave it as is. I lived in berkeley durring the "big one" and all of my tanks were fine. Just don't put anything on wheels :eek1:

 

[gnrlee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6697318#post6697318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JmLee
what if my fish tank is acrylic DUH and glass wouldnt just shatter from a earth quake... its the tipping that is the concern.

DUH. DUH. DUH. That's not necessary now is it?

 

[asnatlas]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6703752#post6703752 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gnrlee
DUH. DUH. DUH. That's not necessary now is it?

Nope...

 

[Wiggawam]

Ya I think the tank would rip the wall down if it is big enough.

 

[JmLee]

what cant take a DUH? if you take it so seriously thats sounds like thats your problem buddy.

 

[bklynmet]

another structural engineer here... the best thing to do is leave it as is... the tank is a huge mass.... but it will act as a damper in your home with water splashing out as being the worst I would expect to happen - assuming you have a sturdy stand...

I wouldn't worry about it tipping over unless you have a tall and skinny tank where it's center of mass is relatively tall compared to its base width... even then, you'd need a pretty hefty side-to-side motion earthquake to cause it to produce enough motion to tip it over... i would expect the tank and stand to slide a little bit from it's original position...

I would agree with the comment above from the other stuctural engineer about atchment to the wall would cause possible damage to the drywall/wall studs during an earthquake...

that's my two cents...