Quake proofing aquariums

[Caryl]

As a result of the weekend quake in ChCh, I have been reading up on info regarding how to quake proof your tank. Many suggest bolting or strapping the tank and stand to a wall or floor but a structural engineer said he didn't recommend anchoring them to the wall or floor... let them move with everything else. Worst thing is that you will have some water slosh around if the quake is of reasonable size. The higher up you are in a building - the more movement you can expect - e.g. a person living on the 3rd floor will experience greater movement during the same quake than someone living a few floors down. The dynamics of an earthquake are so varying, strapping anything to a wall isn't going to make a difference.

It was also suggesting attaching them to a wall would tend to cause more structural damage than actually save the tank and/or stand from toppling.

Would those who have pics of their damaged tanks, or water mess, please email them to me for use in an article I hope to write for the next AW?

If your tank fell over... Why? (I don't mean you to reply "because of the earthquake" either :roll: ). Was it higher than it was wide? How big was it? Was it a tank and stand combo or a tank sitting on a dresser or something? Did some of your tanks break but not others? Do you know why? What direction were they facing (the quake ran west to east)? Anything else you can think of that would increase our knowledge of what happens in a large quake.

[bdspider]

I think where in the city we are really affected things, like the surrounding few blocks here in Shirley look fine, but then neighbouring suburbs, mere minutes drive away, (New Brighton, Dallington, St Albans) were some of the worst hit.

My 4ft only lost 3-4cm of water, it's lengthways east-west and sitting on a desk.

I'll ask permission from the other friends sharing their photos.

[Caryl]

Thanks bdspider. I think the type of ground houses were on had a big effect too as those with liquefaction had more problems.

[antwan]

This is my damage:

I knew it wasn't sturdy and just kept putting off trying to make it more stable, and I paid the price for being lazy. I was in Dunedin at the time so wasn't there for it, but my flatmate told me the rack on the left of the photo fell onto the wall on the right of the picture. There were two full tanks on the rack (the smashed one, and the one left on the rack (emptied too, huge crack down the front pane of glass)), and two empty tanks on the very top which survived thankfully. The tank at the top right of the photo was so lucky, bits of wood and glass all around it and it only has a small chip in the top (was the only tank with fish in except for one baby apisto in another tank). My other two tanks, 135L and ~80L were on a sturdy wooden desk and are absolutely fine.

The stand the tanks were on was a $30 Bunnings one and is about 4ft high by 70cm by 30cm. The pic I have posted is only 640x480 on my computer so I can't email you a larger copy sorry.

[Aquila]

It's a tough call to make considering the aquarium-stand combo is naturally top heavy and glass is relatively delicate...

Structural engineers would be the best people to listen to!

Would corner brackets installed onto the top surface of the stand help hold the tank in place? I noticed that many people reported their tanks sliding several centimeters off their stands.

Another idea I had was, instead of securing the tank to the wall and directing the strain directly onto the joints of the glass) is to also have wheels installed (in addition to the brackets mentioned above) on the bottom of the stand if it is sitting on carpet. I don't think the wheels would support the weight of really huge tanks, but may help most setups absorb the force of the back-and-forth movement. This may backfire if you have the tank set up on the smooth surface like a wooden floor with other big objects on either side that it can crash into...I would think that in those cases the bottom surface of a stand on its own would provide enough slide.

[nicholai]

We're stuffed if the big one hits Wellington, we have a narrow, top heavy tank and stand combo. The the thing that makes it popular with us is the small footprint of the stand and the aesthetically pleasing appearance. I guess if a large earthquake hits owners of such tanks must simply expect destruction and do the least by ensuring the water wont end up all over electrical cords or something. And if the fish for some reason are important enough to warrant high levels of risk minimisation, a lower, broader stand with wide footprint would be advisable.

[Chantal]

I live in Rolleston, so not far from epicentre. My tank fell over & smashed into a zillion tiny pieces!

Basically, it was a tank and stand (will try to find before pic too), it was sitting against a wall facing north so effectively the side that "shouldn't" cause things to fall over quite so much. My guess is the momentum of the water once it got going toppled the whole thing. Tank and stand both fell, stand is ok, just one hinge broken. Tank, as pictures will show was a complete write off. It was a 160L Sunsun tank with tropical fish in. It was higher than wide. We are a single story house & floor it was on is a concrete slab foundation, carpeted. Um, anything else that might be useful that I've forgotten to say just ask!

Aside from the tank falling causing very very wet carpet we had no other damage, some stuff fell over but isn't broken. It is possible the stand was a little too far back, now I look at carpet under it there is a slight rise up near the wall so if it was on the slightest of lean that would contribute to it falling.

The water covers our whole lounge, except for about 1 metre at the end furtherest away from the tank! Certainly made a good mess, we now smell awesome in my house - warm, wet, fishy carpet!

I am more than happy for any of my pictures to be in articles, if you want them emailed that's no trouble

And just so you can all mourn, the fish were left on the floor at 4:30am. I could hear them flapping but it was pitch black, I was beyond scared & not in any state to look for fish to save. Plus hubby is a volly fireman out here so we had to get to station for him to help out. One cat was found hiding but very wet so the flood from the tank found her! All the fish (2 angels, 2 clown loaches, 1 siamese flying fox, 1 britlenose plec, 1 borneo sucker, several swordtails, tetras, & danios) are now residing in fishy heaven

Before pic - I don't seem to be able to find one showing stand but I'm sure I can do an internet search for it. And it did have a lid on, just not in this picture...

[foamy]

OH MY GOD! Did any fish survived? My friend juvenile discus died after his tank broke:(

[Jennifer]

Most of you have seen my pics of the heap of twisted metal and broken glass, and I can't really bear to post them again. The pics below are of the big tanks I have set up now. During the quake it seems the house moved very strongly in an east to west direction. Everything on the west walls were ok, but everything on the east walls went over, including the two racks with 10 tanks. The shelly tank on the east wall was secure although it lost a lot of water and there is evidence the tank slid in the 'tray' which split in the corner from the pressure. The base of the tank is wide and stable:

The big tank is on a north/south facing wall. During the quake, large waves flew out of he ends (onto me) but there is no evidence of the tank sliding at all in the 'tray' - the base is also wide and stable and the tank and stand are not overly tall:

This AR850 was empty (now houses all of the refugees that were scooped off the floor). It was on the same wall as the shellies and the racks but it didn't slide or go over (although again, it was empty). The base is not flat on the ground, it is raised off on 4 (or 6?) legs. The tank has no 'tray' so theoretically it can slide off easily. I have loved this tank, but considering my experiences this weekend, I am not sure I would trust it to stay upright compared to the other big tanks:

Still investigating safe alternatives for racks/tanks so please share your ideas if you have any.

[Insect Direct]

i wonder if bracing with a flexible material (like a bike tube) , would be a good way to go. that way tanks/stands arnt completely restricted in such an event. but atleast has something holding them more or less in place...

[Stella]

Wow, dramatic photos!

As an aside:

Last summer I flooded my entire house (filling a tank with a hose, forgot, and went out - stupid!). Anyway, after it was all dry there was bit of a wet carpet smell. I sprinkled baking soda fairly liberally on the carpets and left it for 24 hours then vacuumed. No more smell!

Baking soda is amazing multi-purpose stuff!

[Zev]

There was a lot of investigation into quake proofing buildings that sat on rubber that flexed with the movement, rather than being rigidly braced - not dis-similar to engine mounts, I suppose.

So ID might be onto something there, would allow for some movement but not to topple over

Two of my shelves (Hammer Lock) are bolted together in an L shape in an effort to try an prevent them toppling over - also in case kids decide they need to climb them to look at fish :-?

[burrowssj]

Just some info on those racking you guys are talking about.absolutely rubbish.perfect for holding things that don't matter, but they are cheap flimsy pieces of crap.

Today at work I cleaned up after 2 of those full of stock had fallen down, anything that was breakable broke(even most sealed in boxes with polystyrene protection)

after seeing how our warehouse did I can only recommend the heavy duty shelfing, big thick steel cross beams.

this stuff

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farmi ... 000064.htm

not one of them is bent or moved in anyway an they held up very well.an not 1 piece of stock has moved from them.its not cheap but in the long run, it could save you thousands on remaking tanks

----

unrelated to the shelfing, my 170L tank sits on a 50year old wooden dresser,solidly built but the unfortunate thing is it has 4 feet on the bottom. When I walk up to the tank I can see my movements shaking the water an if I jump up an down the whole thing shakes dangerously.This moved ALOT during the quake, so much so that I put all my weight on the dresser when I was sprung into action on saturday.Although the tank an dresser both moved heaps it didn't give in an the tank is hanging off the edge a wee bit but apart from that it surprisingly held up well.My other 2 tanks sit on a flimsy old table about 3cm thick with 4 big long legs, it also held up well considering the amount it moved.I am amazed they held up an seriously worried about another quake hitting.but yea if you can get your hands on some solid old furniture its definitely worth the buy.I'd also avoid putting anything hard up against walls as this is probably one of the reasons I came off so well.SO GLAD because my peacock female had just gotten eggs on friday night!

[supasi]

There was a lot of investigation into quake proofing buildings that sat on rubber that flexed with the movement, rather than being rigidly braced - not dis-similar to engine mounts, I suppose.

This is how the new parts of the Wanganui Hospital were built. I believe its the first in the world. My mate was a block layer so I got to see it all before it was built and basically the whole building is resting on a dozen large rubber feet called RoGliders, See link for more info http://www.frst.govt.nz/news/earthquake-protection

[Insect Direct]

think the beehive has some fancy foundation similar..

[paekakboyz]

base isolation or similar? Wellington hospital and police station have it as well. The plugs at the hospital are massive, you can see some of them in the underground carpark.

[Deepsound]

As a result of the weekend quake in ChCh, I have been reading up on info regarding how to quake proof your tank. Many suggest bolting or strapping the tank and stand to a wall or floor but a structural engineer said he didn't recommend anchoring them to the wall or floor...

I tried to find all the advices I could through the net about quake proofing the tanks.

what you wrote is right Caryl.

Jennifer wrote : "During the quake it seems the house moved very strongly in an east to west direction." That's why it's not good to strap and stand the tanks to a wall because the walls move. So it's gonna break the glass.

But it seems possible to strap the stand to the wall it it's not done too rigid. Here's what I read from an aquarist who lives in California if I remember well :

One thing to remember when strapping your stand, you don't want it to be rigid to the wall. You want it to be able to move some. This may not sound right, but if the stand is rigid, it will toss the aquarium right off the stand with just a little jolt. If the stand is allowed to rock some, you will loose water, by maybe not the entire aquarium. Strapping is a great idea, just enough so it doesn't topple over.

Another idea :

Your best quake proofing for an aquarium in California is to just have a very strong stand on a concrete slab of a house. Forget tying it to the wall. Walls move in a large quake. The concrete slab will rise and fall with the quake and the most you will get is water slopping over the top. The only other problem would be if the stand is not perfectly flat on top, you may consider having some very strong, High density foam along the edges of a glass tank. Not touching the bottom glass though since that would create a pressure point on the glass. If you loose a tank to a quake after you have it on a firm stand, you have lost your home as well.

If some of you know a structural engineer, ask her/him what does she/he think about it. I'm gonna find one by my side.

Acrylic tanks seems to be a solution too.

And according to me, may be it's a good idea to have some plastic containers (like rubbish pins or the ones we use for the rain, I forgot the exact name, sorry) of 80 / 200 liters if it's possible. In order to put fishes in it if a tank smash.

Another problem is how to do water changes if the sewage pipe breaks ? Stock water in jerrycans just in case ?

[Caryl]

Both sewage and water mains have broken in some areas Deepsound so water changes are not possible. Donna is having major problems with all her turtle tanks. There is no spare water to put into containers for water changes.

I hear the first of the gastrointestinal bugs have hit too

[fishplants]

My house is built on a solid concrete pad. The three main tanks I have all face the same way, but in three different rooms.

Tank 1, is a 180l tank on a recycled rimu stand with a solid lip around the base of the tank, and tank sits on a sheet of polystrene. Lost 8 litres out of the top.

Tank 2 is a 220l with curved front corners, sitting on an MDF cabinet, the tank is heavily braced with rigid plastic around base and top. The tank just sits on the cabinet with no lip. This tank moved approximately 1.5" off the base. Lost approximately 13l out of the top.

Tank 3 is a 96l tank (80cm wide) sitting on an MDF stand. The tank has no bracing of any description, there is a thin pad of high density foam between the cabinet and the bottom of the tank. This tank and stand fell over and smashed. Strangely, the high density foam was still firmly attached to the top of the stand, but had been partly cut by the edge of the tank.

I think Tank 3 fell because it moved on the cabinet (like the 220l tank), causing it to tip both the stand and tank. I believe it would have moved less if the tank was fully braced at the top (less glass flexing), and if the pad the tank sat on wasn't so 'slick'. Also a lip to prevent too much movement would have helped. A wider stand footprint may have helped too.

The replacement will have some, if not all, of the above issues addressed.

Thanks to those who have provided information on strapping to the wall - I won't be doing that.

cheers

[carznkats]

I was lucky I didn't lose my 3 ft tank (an aquaone on their stand) it moved off about 5cm and was just hanging on to the base. Lost lots of water from the tank (mostly caused by my eheim filter losing those flimsy clips and seeped out water fromt the top). Male gba was found on the floor as well as lots of plants, lid dropped into the tank, but no other losses, gba was fine as we found him pretty promptly after the quake.

My 5 ft tank lost about 1cm water and hasn't moved at all, it is on a solid mdf stand which has a lip 3/4 around the tank.

Luckily my 2ft tank in the hallway wasn't full and though it has no lip it survived (it is plumbed so that may have contributed to its survival. My other two small tanks were fine, just moved slightly on the shelf but didn't fall.

[FuglyDragon]

I built my racks myself from 3x2 timber, they are fairly well braced and each is attached to the wall behind I had no tank losses just a lot of water slopped out and lids falling into tanks.

My 4' show tank (250 litres jewel bowfront ) slid about 1 inch to the west (it lies east - west) on its stand lost about 2 inches of water.

I have a plant tub system of 6 linked 50 litre fish bins which are sitting on a stack of concrete blocks which arnt secured at all, much to my surprise they didnt collapse.

Only damage to my tanks was a crack in one of my plant tanks caused by something falling onto it, fortunately it only has a couple inches of water in it.

will add some photos for you when i bring camera home from work.

[Love Animals]

yeah lost my AR620 90L tank, we were very close to the epicentre about 7km away and my tank didn't have a show. It was on the aqua one stand that you get with these tanks and it was positioned between the couch and a wall. It landed on the couch but the bottom is smashed for some reason and there is water all through the couch and most of the lounge floor. Its still damp today (4 days later) and has a delicious wet, algae, swamp-type smell. We are on wooden piles so the house really wobbled about, really don't think anything would've saved it.

[amethyst]

I can add to this

We lost 2 tanks in the quake, unfortunately for me one was our small hospital tank which I'd recently drained and put on the floor beneath the main hospital tank, the big one came down and landed on top of the small one :roll: .

The one that fell, it was on a very flimsy metal stand, it was half full which probably didn't help much, it fell sideways into the pellet fire, put a big gack in the side of it then hit the tile floor. It nearly spread itself right to the window on the other side, and if the double doors had been open would have gone into the entranceway as well. Took 3 hours to clean up :evil: .

Our 200 litre tank lost about 5cm of water out of the top, it was drained immediately so we could clean the carpet underneath. It's sitting on a very solid recycled rimu stand but the top came off, hit the wall behind then went forwards and hit the floor . (and I still can't work out how the heck it managed to do that but we've got a dent in the wall we didn't have before so it must have done somehow??) Thank goodness we had a spare tank in the hall cupboard...I'm sure my tanks have been breeding I can't remember having that many :oops: )

The 900 litre turtle tank lost about 20cm worth of water, it's built into the wall and it didn't move even the tiniest bit :lol: . The wall's behind and infront were soaking wet though. The funny looking thing in the last picture was the shelf from the turtle tank, it was fixed in place with silicone so was pretty rigid, and it cracked down one end. We cut it out a couple days later when we realised it was damaged. (you've got no idea how scared I was to open the doors, I was expecting it to be all over the floor lol: )

The 300 litre frog tank (with 30kg worth of stones on the land side) moved a couple centimetres off it's metal stand but didn't fall over. (luckily cause without either of the other tanks we would have had no-where to put them :lol: .)

The 40 litre cold water fish tank was sitting against the wall on the kitchen bench, it lost about 5cm worth of water and moved a wee bit on the bench but didn't fall. I think if the shaking had gone on 30 more seconds it would have fallen for sure because it had wiggled it's way nearly to the edge of the bench.

Nothing would have saved the one that fell, it was doomed from the start :lol: . The stand is so narrow it used to wobble if one of the kids jumped on the floor in front of it.

One thought I had with the solid rimu one, was to secure the top to the base to stop it coming off again, but would that make it more likely to topple over (top heavy)? I'd thought to secure it by stringing wire from the top to the bottom in a X shape and twisting them together. It's got a backing so it wouldn't be seen. Thoughts on that?? I'm still a bit unsure...

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a novel :lol:

[dcase]

We are in Prebbleton in a newish house with a concrete floor. When the quake struck several bookshelves and wall units on the WEST side threw al contents to the floor and some toppled.

Tank 1 is a 200 litre AquaOne Euroview tank sitting on a standard AquaOne cabinet ... it sat against an east wall (lengthways its along a north/south line) and in the quake one end walked out about 1/2 a metre from the wall. The lids fell into tank are chipped/cracked. Approx 70 litres sloshed out onto 2 sofas and across the floor into curtains leaving them water stained. It's unbelievable how much damage a little water can do. The cabinet is now delaminating from the water damage and one plastic leg on the base is cracked.

Tanks 2 was a 23 litre tank also on an East wall and Tank 3 was a 10 litre square tank sitting in front of Tank 2. These also had their glass lids fall in and lost a 1/3 of their watr causing more damage. These tanks were sitting on a low filing cabinet.

Tank 4 is a 53 litre tank facing south in the garage. It is on a solid table and only sloshed 20% of water out.

Tank 1 was the most likely to fall but it's position in relation to the quake force saved it. I will replace the 4mm glass lids with 6mm ones .... they won't sit as flush but will be heavier. I am also think of making a velco harness for the top portion of the tank that will hold the lids on better and if they don't move maybe the water will not get as much movement happening.

Biggest issue was no power for 3 days - I kept fish alive in a bucket with 30 min water changes from the remnants of water I could get out of the hot water tank. In the end I lost 3 clown loaches, a couple of platies and a keyhole cichlid. I was glad when we finally got power back on thge Monday night.

Another loss was 2 heaters, internals were damaged when the quake shook them against side walls of the tanks. No probs though with the Rena heaters and can highly recommend them.

btw - I have shelving in the garage similar to that used by the Supermarkets and The Warehouse. These are not bolted down and are loaded heavily with camping equipment. These are lined up east/west. They did not move and not one thing fell off them.

Now just need the assesors to come so I can arrange a replacements cabinet & glass lids.

[amethyst]

Hey dcase, we're practically neighbours! Lucky for us we didn't loose power though.

Pity I hadn't found this forum before the quake, you could have put your fishies in our place.

We are still waiting for the assessors as well, patience is a virtue I'm fast running out of, and having found yet more concerning damage today I'm going to ring on Monday and see if I can get an eta. Not holding my breath though :lol: .