Earthquakes + Aquariums help?

[ichthyogeek]

I'm moving to LA soon-ish (sometime in the next two months), and I'm very, very, very excited to be able to keep aquariums and not have to worry about moving every 3 months because of school. But LA has earthquakes, and I'm just...confused mostly. I don't know what my apartment is going to be like, since I still need to find one, but I'm worried about tanks falling and water damage.

I was thinking of making a stand like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx5FmgyHA2Y

since it's the cheapest option available to me. Original plans had a sump, followed by two tiers of tanks above it, with about 2 20H's on the top rank (for macroalgae growth), and 4 10's on the middle rack, with it draining top down to the bottom sump. But that won't mean squat if an earthquake has the tanks toppling down, or spilling all of their water everywhere. Does anybody have specific advice on how I can create/buy cheap stands that are earthquake tolerant for systems like this?

 

[ycnibrc]

nah if it's a big earthquake no stand or tank can survive so don't worry about it. If you want a safest stand then metal stand is better than wood. As far as tank then acrylic will give you more flexibility to deal with earthquake movement.


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[karimwassef]

Buy insurance?

 

[mwilliams62]

Personally if it was me I would not get one living in California. You never know if it will be a small earthquake or a large one. In my opinion not worth it. And insurance will not cover fish and corals. Unless you go to an underwriter and have one specially drawn up. And no telling how much earthquake insurance will cost.


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[ichthyogeek]

Full disclosure, I did ask the same question in other forums, but apparently there's a fault tracker, and according to aquarists in SoCal, it's not as big of a problem as long as you're not at the epicenter. Here's the faulttracker:

https://usgs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5a6038b3a1684561a9b0aadf88412fcf

 

[ThRoewer]

I'm literally sitting on one end of a major fault line (Hayward Fault). If that one goes off the tanks will be my lesser problems...
Essentially, the only safe stand is the ground itself.

But you will also find that most landlords and apartments don't allow fish tanks in the house or apartment. That's why my tanks are in the garage and I have to battle the heat in the summer/fall.
Chillers are not an option - too many individual tanks and maxed out power... I really could need a solar powered AC.


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[Systemwizardinc]

Earthquakes + Aquariums help?

:fish2::fish2: i have lived in So-Cal for 50+ years and have had tanks for all most 40+ years I have only had water come out of a tank 2 times from Earthquakes and even then it was only 15 on 20 gal out of a 180 tank you can get straps just make sure that you get it in the 2x4 in your walls :fish2: :fish2:

 

[ichthyogeek]

But you will also find that most landlords and apartments don't allow fish tanks in the house or apartment. That's why my tanks are in the garage and I have to battle the heat in the summer/fall.
Chillers are not an option - too many individual tanks and maxed out power... I really could need a solar powered AC.


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Ah rip. It's a must for me to be able to keep tanks. Guess I better start looking for pet friendly apartments...

 

[cody6766]

I lived in AK for three years. Small earthquakes are common, big ones happen from time to time.

I was renting and didn't set up my 120g DT for two reasons. First, I was renting and didn't want to put 120g of tank and sump on the second floor (main living space) of a house I didn't know much about. Second, I didn't want a bunch of salt water to slosh out and soak into the wood subfloors. Instead, I set up a 60 cube. I did end up filling my 120g for a period of time, but it was in the basement. I had the DT filled and was working plumbing when a big one reached out to us. It was a 7.4, but luckily it was about 200 miles away. It ended up sloshing out a couple gallons of water, but nothing broke. My 60g was fine and didn't spill anything. There were a ton of 3s and 4s, plus a couple of 5s and it all survived.

The 120 was only up for a couple of months, but I bet it would have been fine. It was going to be a frag tank, but running a 500w heater in a 50 degree basement was just too expensive for me to want to deal with.

All that to say, you'll probably be fine, but plan your tank size and placement accordingly. Consider nano tanks to minimize risk and make sure you buy a good one if you get something big. Cost cutting when the ground may move is not the way to go.