Should I bolt my stand to the wall? Glue tank to stand?

[Len]

My stand and canopy from BRI aquatics is all done. Yay! The stand is "overbuilt" with a functional subframe as extra support and bracing in case of an quake. I have the utmost peace of mind with this furniture.

The question I have now is this: should I bolt the stand to my wall studs? It's generally recommended to bolt large furniture like dressers and cupboards to the wall, but I'm afraid the sheer mass of my tank/stand/canopy might rip my wall apart if shoke violently.

Second: Should I glue the tank to the top of the stand? What would royally suck is if an earthquake moved the tank off the stand! I want to use styro, but then again, I don't know how secure it will be when shaken. Earthquakes have scary power to move multi-ton objects.

Your opinions are most welcomed!

 

[Unarce]

How big is the tank again, Len? I've been thinking about doing this myself, but the next tank will be a cube, so stability might not be as big an issue.

How about bolting the four corners to the floor instead, and than glue the tank to the stand? If it actually ends up ripping the floor apart, you probably have more things to worry about then the tank.

 

[Len]

Oh. Tank is 52x28x28, so about 180 gallons. The footprint is pretty big, so I don't expect it to topple, but rather move around. The stand/canopy is solid oak, so it ain't light!

 

[Anonymous]

Could you just put edging up around all 4 sides of the tank? or if it's three sided already just add a piece of 1x3 oak to the back to hold it on the stand. That way it won't 'rattle' off in a quake.

B

 

[Anonymous]

The water will splash around a lot when quake hit, and it will make little, if any difference, if you bolt the tank to the wall/stand/floor.

Unlike a solid (no liquid) object that is relatively light, med-size tank is a different matter in a quake.

 

[Anonymous]

From what most people have told me over the years, it's best not to bolt the stand to the wall/floor. IIRC, if the stand is bolted, the tank will have a better chance of slipping off, plus, it'll put more stress on the tank itself if it's whipped around, like a bull whip. FWIW, our facility made it thru the LA quake with just a few thousand gallons lost. Nothing slipped of it's cinder block base though

 

[Anonymous]

I say bolt it definetely.

 

[Len]

The stand has a 3-sided lip around it, but with the stryo in place, I don't know how much of it will be effective. I'll see about adding another lip on the backside. I can't really do anything with the front lips unless I want to completely mess with the nice furniture, and I don't

The tank has a 3" "reveal" on it meaning the top 2+ inches has no water. I designed it this way so that it can slosh around in case of a quake without spilling much water. It also makes for a good backup in case the overflow gets clogged. I had that happen to my old tank twice, and 20 gallons of overflowing SW on the hardwood is not something I want to happen again.

 

[Anonymous]

I do not see the need. Dressers and the like are secured to keep them from toppeling when kids or adult climb on them or if a top drawer is pulled out. Also, compared to a tank they are relatively light and do not have as wide a base. If something shakes your house strong enought to knock the tank over you have big problems other that the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know Len - I wrestle with this myself.
I guess I agree with Wassel; if there is a quake big enough to tip my tank I have more to worry about than the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

if there is a quake big enough to tip my tank I have more to worry about than the tank.

:lol:
No kidding...really?