Earthquake proofing your tank
 

I just recently bought some cable to secure my 90 gal tank to my wall. I am just wondering if anyone else has done some alterations to keep a tank more secure in minor earthquakes. Of course if there is a biggy then the tank is the least of my worries.

Personaly I dont see the point in that. Maybe if you live in Califoria or some other place struck by earthquakes. But then again you might be the only reef keeper in Vancouver after a massive earthquake.

Matt

i seriously doubt cable will be able to hold back the rolling forces of a ton or so of weight. what did you attach the cable to on your tank?

I didnt attach it to my tank, I just looped cables around the top of the tank and another loop around the bottom and then attached each end of the cables on to a stud using an elbow bracket.

I agree that a major force will cause the tank to topple and nothing can gaurd against that. I am just trying to restrain the tank in case of minor tremors, where the water might sway a bit.

Earth quake
 

I have felt a couple of earth quakes when I lived in Nanaimo. Made the old Malaspina college Heavy Equipment shop shake pretty good. I Highly doubt you need the cable support to the wall, if its going to shatter or topple over a cable isn't going to do much for you.

reply
 

Very inovative! My only concern is that instead of a toppled tank you might end up ripping out your wall. :mrgreen: Just kidding, good idea, it might be just enough to prevent a big mess.

The tank may fall backwards though... :eek:

I think the flexing during an earth quake will do as much damage as having the tank fall over.

Doug

Go acrylic :biggrin:

Read account of an aquarist whose stand collapsed during the big SanFran quake & his tank crashed to the floor but did not shatter like a glass one would. Still ended up with lots of water on the floor from the big splash down but at least most of it stayed in his acrylic tank.

However, I'm wondering, if there is an earthquake big enough to topple our tanks, the damage to power lines & homes may knock off all electricity for a while & unless you have a portable power source, most of our corals & such would not make it anyways :cry: Hopefully the Big One is centuries off.

Aha, Acrylic! What a great idea. It'll have to wait for my dream tank though. As far as falling backwards, my tank is against the wall so it is forwards or nowhere. Great ideas all.