Earthquake safe classroom aquarium?

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IWishIWasAFish

IWishIWasAFish

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Kirkland/Bellevue, WA
So, I'm planning a new reef setup. I want somewhere between 40 and 60 gallons. And it's for my classroom, so I need to take into consideration earthquake safety in a big way.

At the moment, I have a 37 gallon tall glass, with a strap running around 3 sides of the top, and bolted to the wall on both sides. The problem this presents is that the aquarium is flush with the wall. For this setup I have a HOB skimmer mounted on the side rather than the back of the tank, and no sump.

I've been wishing I had a sump. I have been considering purchasing someone's tank with a sump already included, but have wondered how to make it earthquake safe if it's not flush with the wall. I've also been considering(after a similar successful project in my 15 gallon) taking a 55gallon acrylic that I already have and partitioning off part of it for an in-tank sump. I don't have a light for it though. I love the way large hex tanks look out in the middle of a room, or against the end of a shelf, but can't think how to make that earthquake-safe.

I plan to purchase and setup the new tank in May, and would like to spend no more than $500 for the setup. Preferably less. I have T-5s on my current setup, but have decided that I prefer the look of MH lighting. I have a mix of all kinds of corals from low to high light, an RBTA, clownfish, etc.

I am grateful for any input...
 
Nothing is really earthquake proof in our neck of the woods. There is no way to tell when or if the big one will hit. I think all you can really do is design/buy a well built stand with a lip that keeps the tank from sliding very far in any direction in the event of a quake. That's what I did with my stand. If the stand is against the wall, you could anchor it to the wall for added protection. I think acrylic is probably your best bet just for the all around safety factor that it will never shatter if hit to hard and that might be the biggest issue with little skulls full of mush around :)
 
After surviving the Nisqually earthquake (7.2) with a 135 gallon tank and a 180 gallon tank, I have to say that if my tanks had been fastened down, I am positive they would have shattered.
IMO, being able to move a little on their stands gave them the ability to survive.
I remember a show on the discovery channel about using some sort of teflon pads for the building to move on in a earthquake. Not saying that you need something similar, just thinking a tank may have a better chance to remain intact if it isn't held down.
Lost a hell of alot of water out of both, but they only moved on the stands about 3/4" one way and a 1/2" the other.
Maybe, securing the stand would be better? So that it won't tip over?



Just my .02 worth
 
Yah a glass tank will definitely shatter if its bolted down during a quake. If you want to be "more" quake proof get an acrylic tank.
 
When the big one does hit, depending on the age of the building, they will either collapse or be at near collapse, and then the tank is the least of your concerns. If you are in a newer school then you would have an additional factor of safety on the structure itself, but more than likely things falling in the classroom would cause a failure to the tank. Your best bet is to try to get the tank to survive the "everyday shake". You could try to figure out how to isolate the tank from the structure, to allow it to move/rock with the ground motion...almost impossible to do. Personally I would be most concerned with stand failure, not tank failure. I would think a lip on the tank, like on a acrylic tank, would prevent some of the water from leaving the tank. I would definately make sure I have an overbuilt stand with room for the tank to slide on top of the stand. Good luck, let us know what you decide and how it turns out!
 
Is it required at your school for the tank to be earthquake proofed? I agree that a good stand with a acrylic tank would be the safest against leakage and breakage. Also much easier to customize for overflows setup if you want to put the tank up against the wall. Maybe even make the stand part of the wall. And if you get "the big earthquake" a agree the tank would not be a major issue if it broke. Maybe look into some kind of insurance to cover the cost of the setup so you can rebuild it after the quake. :)
 
yep a stand with a lip and an acrylic tank is the way to go...Just make sure you have good padding underneath
 
akunochi said:
yep a stand with a lip and an acrylic tank is the way to go...Just make sure you have good padding underneath
Click to expand...



I was thinking that a lip, is one of the things that will create a fracture point when the tank is rocking and rolling.







I don't know,


does anyone?
 
I think the lip would help restrain the surface, giving it 4 edges of restraint instead of only 3 (the front, back, and the bottom assuming we are talking about the side of the tank). If the waves are hitting the sides of the tank the lip should help redirect the outward forces back into the sides, which are in the strong direction to resist a load into the side, if that makes any sense. :)

finn said:
I was thinking that a lip, is one of the things that will create a fracture point when the tank is rocking and rolling.







I don't know,


does anyone?
Click to expand...
 
, securing the stand would be better.
Click to expand...

This is all I would do along with an acrylic tank for earthquake proofing.
How old are your kids? My wife has taught fifth and eight grade over the last ten years and I wouldnt trust a single boy she's ever had to not burn themselves on a MH bulb.
 
finn said:
I was thinking that a lip, is one of the things that will create a fracture point when the tank is rocking and rolling.


I don't know,


does anyone?
Click to expand...
I personally would not want a lip. That is going to make the whole thing more prone to tipping because of instead of allowing the tank the slide a little, you are channeling that force in to "pushing" on the front lip of the stand, which could break the the tank, or tip over the whole thing.

The best solution i think would be to have a wide overbuilt stand to set it on, such that it would be impossible to tip(wider then it is tall). Then, place the tank in the center. That way if, a quake comes, it will slide a little(which will allow it to not crack and explode), but wont tip.

There is no way in hell its going to slide all the way off the table and not be a big enough quake to take out the whole building =P I lived in Northridge, CA for the big 1994 quake. My glass tank survived just fine. It definitely didn't slide at all, and that was a 7.0 quake that lasted for almost 30 seconds.

What is far more dangerous IMO, is the sloshing water. Make sure that there are no power junctions that can get splashed by the many gallons of water that will come flying out of the tank. That could start a fire(providing the power doesn't go out), which would be far more dangerous.

Peace,
Jesse
 
Make sure the stand is strong enough to resist the overturn forces. Typically assume that the weight of the tank is going to be apply horizontally at the center of the tank...
So in order to prevent the stand from collapsing it needs to be stiff/strong enough to resist that force.

So the weight of water is about 8.5 pound per gallon. so at about 50 gallons...that lateral force on the stand in any direction, so it would be about 500 lb point load trying push the stand over...now I doubt the stand will actually tip over (due to the fact the mass of the water will prevent it from actually tipping over) need to sum moments in each direction to double check that (to hard to show how to do that here)....but regardless the stand could still break, which would result in the water on the floor anyway if the columns that support the tank fail.

So lets see... 500 lb about 5' off the ground gives a moment of 2500 lb*ft or 2.5 kip-ft
assume 4 legged support...spaced a foot apart...gives a axial load of about 1250lb on each leg!!! This is in addition to it gravity of load of 500lb/2 legs

So given a allowable compression stress of 1.5 ksi we need about 1 in^2 of structural grade douglas fir and column cannot have any joints...but this is for a small aquarium!
 
Last edited:
Wow, that was amazing :) Even an answer from quake survivors! I am so impressed once again with the people on this forum :)

Yes, the fire marshall has some sort of requirement for heavy objects placed on surfaces such as shelves. I believe it can be satisfied by placing a non-slip pad under the object. My main earthquake related concern is that the tank not squish any small children. If it ends up in a heap on the floor with all of my livestock dead, I can eventually replace it with something else that makes me happy. Children, sadly, are irreplaceable ;-) They spend an awful lot of time sitting with their faces pressed almost against the glass. The band on my 37 gallon is also to keep them from being able to tip it over onto themselves. They have this odd need to look through the top of the tank, and I have caught many of them standing on a chair, holding on to the lip of the tank for balance 8-[

I've got to cogitate some more, but I love the wide stand idea and am much encouraged to hear of other tanks surviving earthquakes just fine.

The children in my class are age 6-9. To my knowledge they've never touched the T-5 array, which also gets very hot. I imagine they'd only touch a MH bulb once ;) though that might be once to many for their parents. Given that my critters are fine under T-5s, I'd thought to either hang the MH really high, or buy a fixture where it was behind a glass or plastic shield.
 
What if I put the aquarium on the floor? The kids could sit or lay down and look at it? We have a lot of floor work in the classroom anyway...

Awesome articles Chichas01, thank you :)
 
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