Earthquake preperations

[inktomi]

Those of us who live in earthquake prone areas know the drill - cover your head, get under something substantial, keep some canned food and water on hand. But what about our tanks?

Many of us put our money and lives into our aquariums and would take steps to ensure they can make it through a medium sized earthquake - but what should we do?

I've heard that connecting the tank to a wall stud is a bad idea - they tend to break the stud out of the wall. I've heard that you should try to ensure the tank itself cannot slide off the stand - there should be a lip of some sort.

My tank is pretty large. It's built by AGE which means that it sits flat on a piece of plywood over a tubular steel welded stand. My house was built in the 1940s - I have plaster walls.

What should we do to reduce the risk posed by earthquakes to our reefs? Are there any tips?

 

[sfin52]

I would be worried about the stress on the seams, stand breaking and something falling on the tank

 

[inktomi]

I would be worried about the stress on the seams, stand breaking and something falling on the tank

Yea, all valid! Stands are not built to withstand much horizontal force. For me, there's nothing to fall on the tank other than my house - and then... all bets are off and I just want to survive myself ;Joyful

 

[ca1ore]

A properly built and braced tank should not 'rack' at all - it's actually quite simple to prevent. A good stand, robust building …. and then cross your fingers.

 

[inktomi]

I agree - it's not hard to prevent racking in stands. In an earthquake though, I think about things like:

- This looks awfully top heavy...
- Have I tested my GFCI's that are going to be doused with water lately?
- How can I try to ensure that, even if water goes everywhere, 300 lbs of glass and countless animals don't end up on the floor?

I also work from home, right in front of the tank, so I have more than enough time to imagine worst case scenarios involving video meetings and the tank flying through the frame..

 

[Foothill Corals]

I would say lip around the stand is a huge plus. During the Loma Prieta quake in 1989 my roommates salt tank almost slid off the stand, it ended up hanging 6-8" over the left side of the stand. Never broke just splashed out a lot of water. Also make sure water can not splash on to electrical equipment. That was a pretty big earthquake.

Edit: I now remember this was an acrylic tank. That is probably the only reason it didn't crack.

 

[Xam]

Those of us who live in earthquake prone areas know the drill - cover your head, get under something substantial, keep some canned food and water on hand. But what about our tanks?

Many of us put our money and lives into our aquariums and would take steps to ensure they can make it through a medium sized earthquake - but what should we do?

I've heard that connecting the tank to a wall stud is a bad idea - they tend to break the stud out of the wall. I've heard that you should try to ensure the tank itself cannot slide off the stand - there should be a lip of some sort.

My tank is pretty large. It's built by AGE which means that it sits flat on a piece of plywood over a tubular steel welded stand. My house was built in the 1940s - I have plaster walls.

What should we do to reduce the risk posed by earthquakes to our reefs? Are there any tips?

At the risk of sounding negative, (very sorry) I would imagine theres little you could do... unfortunately. Please hear me out...

I would imagine that, in a home, anything beyond bracing and power backups would require much more work, money and planning than is feasible.

The reason I say this is because I dont have the risk of an earthquake big enough to tear my house down, but we do have tornados that could strip my entire neighborhood down to a field of empty concrete foundations... so my thought process is this: i can make my aquarium sturdy, and ensure nothing falls on it for the bad storms, but if anything hits my house hard enough to damage my tank, I probably wont be thinking about my tank... well, initially.

Please dont read this as "dont take any precautions", but, just my two cents, dont worry too much about the ones that will tear walls down.

Now, with that said, I'm now invested in this thread and am very interested in what others think/do to protect their investments. Maybe ask an LFS what they do? Perhaps we could miniaturize or modify their measures?

 

[bluprntguy]

Earthquakes usually involve both vertical and horizontal movement. A small lip on the stand isn't likely to keep the tank on the stand. I'd worry that a small lip would actually be worse because the possibility that the tank could rise and shift enough to fall down with part of the tank resting on the lip and part of the bottom of the tank unsupported and likely to crack. Anchoring the stand to the wall is likely actually worse as well because the stand will stay stationary while the tank moves. The correct solution would be to anchor the tank to the stand and then anchor the stand to the floor (or alternatively the wall), but I can't think of any way to do that where it wouldn't result in stresses that would easily break the tank.

Don't forget about rockwork tumbling during an earthquake as well and breaking the tank.

IMO, make sure you have some spare water, a way to aerate the tank without power, pellet food that won't thaw, and plenty of spare buckets. Beyond that, hope for the best...

 

[inktomi]

The one plus side to an AGE tank like mine is that the bottom is PVC - so it's very unlikely that the bottom of the tank itself will break. Everything else though...

I do have a bin full of battery powered air pumps - useful to have even just for run of the mill power outages. I have enough batteries for a day or two of no power.

In a large enough earthquake, we'll probably have more to worry about - but I still don't want to be a bad owner and not consider the lives of the fish and coral.

 

[sfin52]

Earthquakes usually involve both vertical and horizontal movement. A small lip on the stand isn't likely to keep the tank on the stand. I'd worry that a small lip would actually be worse because the possibility that the tank could rise and shift enough to fall down with part of the tank resting on the lip and part of the bottom of the tank unsupported and likely to crack. Anchoring the stand to the wall is likely actually worse as well because the stand will stay stationary while the tank moves. The correct solution would be to anchor the tank to the stand and then anchor the stand to the floor (or alternatively the wall), but I can't think of any way to do that where it wouldn't result in stresses that would easily break the tank.

Don't forget about rockwork tumbling during an earthquake as well and breaking the tank.

IMO, make sure you have some spare water, a way to aerate the tank without power, pellet food that won't thaw, and plenty of spare buckets. Beyond that, hope for the best...

Great point on the rock work. That could be fixed with epoxy. It can still move in the tank.

 

[ca1ore]

If an earthquake is bad enough to ‘hop’ your tank off the stand I’d imagine the house is going down too .... in other words, bigger things to worry about.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

A properly built and braced tank should not 'rack' at all - it's actually quite simple to prevent. A good stand, robust building …. and then cross your fingers.

Properky built... 99% of the stands out there are stands mass produced.. They consist of super dry pine wood. Held together by long staples and those are the (better) built stands lol... the other stands are made of ironicly press board which falls apart when water touches them lol...

The other 1% of stands are the ugly stands made out of 2x4s with real screws that homeowner bob makes himself. Or the occasional steel/aluminum stand.

The mass produced stands are wobbly.. zi can grab my tanks that use them and wobble them and they will wobble... imagine an earthquake lol. My 92g corner tank.. the stand consists of 2 little stilts in the back and 1 little thing stilt in the front and 1 on the left and right corner with a flat top outline. The stand weighs like 15lbs lol.. made out of dry pine from perfecto... it wobble soooo badly if you shake it.. due to the cheesy construction.

My 135g stand is beusutiful.. but its the same thing.. cheap pine wood long staples.. its a little more secure but i can get it to wobble if i wanted.

The stand i previously though had was a solid angle iron as they called it aka steel stand.. it used 3/16th gauge steel which fyi is thicker then a frame on a pickuptruck.. It had a upper and lower section welded to the legs. And for added support i welded flat plate bottoms on the legs.. youd need a huge earthquake to tip this over and i have a feeling the tank would slide off before the stand fell.

But ive alao heard you need acrylic tanks for earthquake areas as well

 

[Paul Sands]

If an earthquake is bad enough to ‘hop’ your tank off the stand I’d imagine the house is going down too .... in other words, bigger things to worry about.

A 3.8 earthquake (relatively minor) in LA shifted my 150 gallon tank about an inch on the stand. Had to drain it entirely and have 4 guys help me shift it back. The pad saved that tank for sure.

A fish store in downtown Napa lost almost all their tanks to a 6.0 earthquake in 2014. There were very few buildings damaged during that quake.

I think you are vastly underestimating the power of 1,000 pounds of water sloshing around...

 

[inktomi]

A 3.8 earthquake (relatively minor) in LA shifted my 150 gallon tank about an inch on the stand. Had to drain it entirely and have 4 guys help me shift it back. The pad saved that tank for sure.

A fish store in downtown Napa lost almost all their tanks to a 6.0 earthquake in 2014. There were very few buildings damaged during that quake.

I think you are vastly underestimating the power of 1,000 pounds of water sloshing around...

My tank has been through a few small quakes in LA as well - enough that my radions have been rattling on their rails a bit, but so far nothing more major than that. I've only been here a few years. Given how my tank is built - tubular steel, flat plywood top, then the tank - I'm certain it'll shift front to back or side to side, and even overhang a few inches without toppling.

I've considered having someone weld some tabs to the tank to help keep it aligned, but really I think then instead of sliding it'll just topple the whole thing over as it's 40" off the ground. I'm not sure - hence this thread hah

 

[sfin52]

I live close enough to a major fault that in 2008 we had a 5.2 quake that shook things. The New Madrid fault is the area that these quakes come from

 

[ca1ore]

Properky built... 99% of the stands out there are stands mass produced.. They consist of super dry pine wood. Held together by long staples and those are the (better) built stands lol... the other stands are made of ironicly press board which falls apart when water touches them lol...

The other 1% of stands are the ugly stands made out of 2x4s with real screws that homeowner bob makes himself. Or the occasional steel/aluminum stand.

The mass produced stands are wobbly.. zi can grab my tanks that use them and wobble them and they will wobble... imagine an earthquake lol. My 92g corner tank.. the stand consists of 2 little stilts in the back and 1 little thing stilt in the front and 1 on the left and right corner with a flat top outline. The stand weighs like 15lbs lol.. made out of dry pine from perfecto... it wobble soooo badly if you shake it.. due to the cheesy construction.

My 135g stand is beusutiful.. but its the same thing.. cheap pine wood long staples.. its a little more secure but i can get it to wobble if i wanted.

The stand i previously though had was a solid angle iron as they called it aka steel stand.. it used 3/16th gauge steel which fyi is thicker then a frame on a pickuptruck.. It had a upper and lower section welded to the legs. And for added support i welded flat plate bottoms on the legs.. youd need a huge earthquake to tip this over and i have a feeling the tank would slide off before the stand fell.

But ive alao heard you need acrylic tanks for earthquake areas as well

Of course, most of that is not actually true. I don’t disagree that there are crappy quality stands, thus my use of the term properly (no k), but it’s certainly not 99% LOL. Plenty of them don’t rack, and plenty of the DIY stands look really nice. My point, apparently missed, is that if living in an earthquake zone, a really robust stand would seem like a good idea. Acrylic tanks certainly are stronger, and probably a good idea.

 

[ca1ore]

I think you are vastly underestimating the power of 1,000 pounds of water sloshing around...

Perhaps so .... though a buddy of mines tank (acrylic) has survived such quakes without shifting. I’d imagine there are a lot of factors at play.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Of course, most of that is not actually true. I don’t disagree that there are crappy quality stands, thus my use of the term properly (no k), but it’s certainly not 99% LOL. Plenty of them don’t rack, and plenty of the DIY stands look really nice. My point, apparently missed, is that if living in an earthquake zone, a really robust stand would seem like a good idea. Acrylic tanks certainly are stronger, and probably a good idea.

Most EVERY stand is made by perfecto or some similar company that mass produces. There all trashy stands that wobble if you actually care to try one day.. been doing this alot longer then most of you and ive seen some really bad stands and most all of them are all held together by staples or are made of pressboard.

Plenty isnt the majority... most people who make diy stands make em out of 2x4s and do nothing to make them look good besides toss a sheet over em.. Ill garuntee you that.. the few posts you see of ppl actually making them spiffy doesnt represent the majority who i can garuntee you dont do that.. becauss simply put most people dont have the skills to do so.

And of course everything i said is true. You jist dont agree with it.. thats where we stand..

Mass produced tanks are all made by marineland. Top fin. And aqueon.. these are the big 3 in box stores.. and the stands they all use are scary.

 

[inktomi]

A lot of you have pointed out that acrylic fares better than glass in disasters. Why is this? Surely it can't bend/etc? Is it that acrylic is more resilient against something hitting the face of a panel?

 

[Bayareareefer18]

To me it would seem build quality of tank and stand can be helpful but is there really anything you can do, depending on the size of the quake and your proximity to the epicenter.

I didn't have a fish tank at the time of Loma Prieda but I do remember the destruction. I mean if we have bridges collapsing, swimming pools being emptied from water sloshing out etc, is there much we can do other than prepare for our own safety? I live within 40 miles of the San Andreas fault so this topic definitely is of interest.