Earthquake stories
- Thread starter adimal
- Start date
MorandiWine
Premium Member
We had a very interesting situation after the '89 quake here at the store.
Our entire store was pretty well trashed with all the fallen tanks, terrariums, and pond tidal waves! The most comic of the entire ordeal was our back room.
With mostly acrylic tanks in the back, the frequency of the quake made the face panels of the tanks blow out. We had a floor drain in the room with everything sloping to that point. A piece of plexi-glass ended up covering the screen on the drain creating "Lake Dolphin". The funny thing was that we were cycling some bio balls with about three hundred giant danios for a large custom aquarium, the holding tank that they were in totally blew apart. We came in to find the lake already stocked with fish swimming around in a big school.
Maybe not a funny story but one that I thought was interesting.
tyler
Our entire store was pretty well trashed with all the fallen tanks, terrariums, and pond tidal waves! The most comic of the entire ordeal was our back room.
With mostly acrylic tanks in the back, the frequency of the quake made the face panels of the tanks blow out. We had a floor drain in the room with everything sloping to that point. A piece of plexi-glass ended up covering the screen on the drain creating "Lake Dolphin". The funny thing was that we were cycling some bio balls with about three hundred giant danios for a large custom aquarium, the holding tank that they were in totally blew apart. We came in to find the lake already stocked with fish swimming around in a big school.
Maybe not a funny story but one that I thought was interesting.
tyler
sfsuphysics
Active member
hehe Tyler, I dunno I would think that would be pretty dangerous... dangerous to give some ideas for a huge pond! 
MorandiWine
Premium Member
When we were planning our recent move, I suggested that we make one of the free-form ponds that we normally have set up for Koi into a giant tidepool! That got shot down ...... for the moment.
OK one more story!!
Same quake, same store, same visit.
I dont know if any of your are familiar with the layout of the original store, but it looked like the inside of an old wooden ship in the fish room. Complete with sloped walls and support ribs, cedar planks, various nautical items and the general feel of being "below deck". After the quake, after the tanks were blown away and water everywhere we ventured back into the main sales area. Lights out, water dripping, the smell of the ocean, water sloshing at your feet and the frequest aftershocks made the whole ship feel become more real. A very surreal feeling.
tyler
OK one more story!!
Same quake, same store, same visit.
I dont know if any of your are familiar with the layout of the original store, but it looked like the inside of an old wooden ship in the fish room. Complete with sloped walls and support ribs, cedar planks, various nautical items and the general feel of being "below deck". After the quake, after the tanks were blown away and water everywhere we ventured back into the main sales area. Lights out, water dripping, the smell of the ocean, water sloshing at your feet and the frequest aftershocks made the whole ship feel become more real. A very surreal feeling.
tyler
Nuuze
New member
I read or heard somewhere that if you can, is to setup the width of your tank north and south versus west and east. Reason is during an earthquake around here the shake will shift north and south, so if your tank width is setup north and south there's less of a chance that your tank will tip. But if a big quake occurs I don't think there's much of a chance a tank will stay put...
sfsuphysics
Active member
Correct, just live your life as you see fit and know that before the 1989 quake the previous "big one" was 1906, so we have until 2072 until the next big one is scheduled
Vincerama2
Active member
One small thing you can do to help the tank is to use flexible tubing (vinyl or flex pvc) instead of hard pvc for the plumbing so that it has some "give" if things move around. Obviously this only applies to tanks with sumps or other external equipment.
Also you can probably try and set up your electrical system so that it is protected from water pouring down on it from a broken tank.
(Obviously, use gfci outlets)
I'm sure that tanks with hanging pendants probably won't take as much damage as tanks with canopies too ... unless the pendants fall down into the tank!
I need to move my tank soon, but I'm going to build a stronger stand with an actual LIP around the top (currently, the tank perimeter is almost exactly the size of the lipless stand top! (That's what you get for buying a stand instead of building it!)
Perhaps bolting your tank to your floor would help? I dunno.
Though as Eileen said, you gotta take care of yourself first, but if there is something you can do to help your tank, you should do it.
as part of preparedness, it might even help to just have enough buckets around to hold stuff if your tank breaks!
V
Also you can probably try and set up your electrical system so that it is protected from water pouring down on it from a broken tank.
(Obviously, use gfci outlets)
I'm sure that tanks with hanging pendants probably won't take as much damage as tanks with canopies too ... unless the pendants fall down into the tank!
I need to move my tank soon, but I'm going to build a stronger stand with an actual LIP around the top (currently, the tank perimeter is almost exactly the size of the lipless stand top! (That's what you get for buying a stand instead of building it!)
Perhaps bolting your tank to your floor would help? I dunno.
Though as Eileen said, you gotta take care of yourself first, but if there is something you can do to help your tank, you should do it.
as part of preparedness, it might even help to just have enough buckets around to hold stuff if your tank breaks!
V
Similar threads
