Skinny fish tanks and earthquakes

Dad would let a 100g in the house,but now hes worried about the earth quake durability of a 55g tank and stand. I personally dont think it would move much being like 400lbs +, but the width does kinda scare me. Ive heard of earthquake mats for fishtanks, wall straps, acrylic tanks being more durable. Just wondering if anyone has had experience with earth quakes and smaller tanks

The last big quake we had shook up my house pretty good.. left a few cracks in the ceiling. My 29gal splashed a few gallons on the floor, but held up just fine. It was on a very sturdy dresser though... I'm not so sure some of my current 50 gal stands could handle swaying sideways to far. I reinforced my big tank stand with a bunch of 2x4's and liquid nails just to be safe.

Just found this video. 7.3 earthquake vs. 60 gallon.

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Think Im gonna get some wall straps.

This is an excellent topic and one I've thought about off and on for a while. I have my 2 tank racks secured (one with a strap to a stud, one bolted to 3/4" plywood which is bolted to studs), but I have a 20g and a 29g on matching stands in the great room that are both unsecured. I may just go out and buy some more earthquake straps this weekend.

Um yeah, the stands for those tanks are a total joke, regardless if it's secured to the wall or not! If and when we get hit by a big one I am not sure staps are gonna hold your tank up. Much depends where you live and the type structure you live in!

Better to do something about it than nothing. Arguably if the "big one" comes all our houses will be leveled, so why do anything at all?

Here the only thing standing would be my beautiful fishtank. hahaha

There are earthquakes in washington....?

Hi BillHN,

Yes, February 28, 2001 was our last big one. BTW the epicenter was in your 'neighborhood'.

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I was 3 floors up less than 10 miles from the epicenter... that wasn't pleasant. It felt like the building was coming down.

At least I had the presence of mind to duck and cover when I realized what was happening (grew up in California). A lot of people just stood around like idiots or ran toward the windows (fail!).

yeah i remember having to yell at all the ditzy pretty girls (high school) to duck and cover. only me and the like 60 year old counselor had the presence of mind to duck and cover (conveniently under the heaviest most over built desk in the room that had only space for 2) kinda surprising considering we all grew up with earthquake drills as kids.. guess some ppl dont take it seriously.

This is kind of a cool website for such things.

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Okay... so... a few months ago I saw icy frosty stuffs.. that was snow... that was my first time experiencing snow, i did not know how to drive on snow or icy roads... now I'm worried about earthquakes!!!!! Ahh the madness!

BillHN wrote:Okay... so... a few months ago I saw icy frosty stuffs.. that was snow... that was my first time experiencing snow, i did not know how to drive on snow or icy roads... now I'm worried about earthquakes!!!!! Ahh the madness!

There are far worse things to worry about in our wonderfull democratic state.

It's k. As long as I still get my paychecks. I'll do what the Army tells me to do.

Earthquakes here come around far less often than hurricanes in the south. The snow is usually mild and we don't really get tornados either. If you can get past the dreariness 9 months out of the year it's a fantastic place to live

Well, Enumclaw area does get the occasional tornado, but its very rare.

Gryphon wrote:Well, Enumclaw area does get the occasional tornado, but its very rare.

And that's why I threw the "really" in there. When we do get them they're small and usually don't cause damage. I think WA gets at least 2 tornadoes every year, if memory serves.

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Welcome to the northwest BillHN, you're doomed like the rest of us now

Oh yeah, we're forked, just waiting for the end lol

Ever given a thought to what the big one would to do Rainier? We could easily get the triple whammy (Earthquake, Tsunami, Volcano)

So, I am a bit ignorant when it comes to earthquakes but do know we are suppose to have something similar to Japan's which would pretty much mean Seattle and surrounding areas would be wiped out. I actually read an article that said it isn't a matter of IF it happens, it's WHEN and they estimate damage from Canada down to southern Oregon or California (Tsunami damage) Crazy, right? So my question is; for regular earthquakes that don't wipe us out, how safe would a 150 gallon be in the basement? I will be setting up a new 150 in the near future and want to secure it as well as possible

Not sure if you remember the huge Nisqually earthquake of 2001, but that is all I could think about was, "were my tanks still upright?" And yes they were. That quake was a 6.8 and it did some shaking. I would have to think that it would have to be a pretty large quake to cause your tank to capsize. In my fish room I have supported all my stands to the wall/ main structure, just to make my self feel more comfortable.

To put in perspective the Nisqually quake was a 6.8 and lasted 45 seconds. The Quake that hit Japan was 9.0 and lasted for 6 minuets with thousands of aftershocks ranging from 4 to 7 magnitude. Of course much will depend where you live and the depth of the quake, but when the big one hits it will be big and we are well over due for one.

Secure your tank if you can, be prepared cause it will be a mess around here for quite awhile when it happens..


But hey we got some sun coming for the next week or so enjoy it!!

Oh yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to be in Downtown Seattle for the big one....all that fill its built out...yeouch

Lol, I pretty much live in downtown, just 4 blocks from the Columbia Tower. I'm not too worried. Most of the buildings are retrofited for quakes. Pretty much the only thing that would crumble is the viaduct, and they're working to eventually tear that down anyways. The big danger from a large quake would be the tsunami that would follow it, and I'm up on a hill. I'd be more weary living on the peninsula, they have all those tsunami evacuation route signs all over there for a reason