Weight of your tanks

[eZion]

I had a conversation once with the owner of Pe-We Alley in Joo chiat road and this is the experience he shared with me.

According to him, he used to have quite a lot of tanks at home. But once, his neighbour called the HDB to complaint about their pipe leakage. The people from HDB traced the source of corrosion to his house and found that the saltwater from his SW tanks(during water change or something)had caused some serious damage to the HDB pipes. Also they told him that his tanks had also exceeded the total laden weight limit of any single HDB flat unit, hence posing a potential danger to the residents in that block.

I have forgotten whether at the end he was fined or not but he was told to remove most of his tanks. I thought I just want to share this esp. to those who have SW tanks or has more than 1 4ft at home to be careful with our hobby so that it will not cause danger to other people and ourselves.

[Simon]

ezion, I think the max size of HDB is actually 3ft.. so most of us fail.. but as long as no one complains (neighbour) u shld be alrite.. I had a HDB inspector in the hse and she ignore my 6ft... so I guess they will close an eye.. as for the corrosion of pipes, u have to see the location, I experience higher corrosion rate in the eastern part of SG.. u dun really have to own a s/w tank.. u have to see the pipe...

[eZion]

I know that too. Yah, maybe I am just being paranoid but I thought it would be good to share so that we know where to put a cap and limit if some of us are thinking of converting our HDB homes into mini fish farms. We could be posing a potential hazard to our neighbours as well as ourselves without even knowing it.

Personally, I think that even though some of the HDB offices may "close one eyes" but it still does not take away the fact that weight of tanks may put a strain to the building's structure and led to dangerous situations eg. at the balcony.

I think I have been in this hobby long enough to know that we will just keep increasing or upgrading our tanks for more fishes. So just a word of caution to all []

[Simon]

hahhaaaa.. jus a hint, dun stack 3x4ft... dun place yr tanks at the balcony area, always place along structure members, near columns or along the perimeter of yr flat

[joestoys]

..... sound very scary..... with incident... at JTC old buliding....

also AMK flat are over 20 years old....

have to rethink about my 6' x 2' x 2' tank leow..... also my wife complain leow also[]

[chris]

All my tanks are in my balcony... 5 levels of tanks!

[DEA]

technically speaking anything bigger than 3ft is not supposed to be in HDB flats but mostly they close one eye until something happens
but true enough, place the tanks near load bearing structures
much safer that way

[hwchoy]

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On 9/2/2002 5:13:18 PM

All my tanks are in my balcony... 5 levels of tanks!
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someone go tell his neighbous! [:0]

[eZion]

Yah, I got real worried after I heard from that shop owner. So I went back and drained out some of the water cos' my 2X4fts are not at the beam structure. Currently, my two 4ft tanks are only half-full, hope that can work for now until I find a better solution.

I think we better be a bit more cautious how we go about maintaining this hobby...else it just takes one bad accident or nosy neighbour to make the authorities to put up some restrictions or something on our fav past time.

Chris, you may want to consider "distributing" your tanks properly across your house area. The balcony (more serious if its the extended-out kind) is one of the weaker area in our flat structures.

[chris]

Should be quite safe About 2 X 3ft tanks' weight...

What to do... that is my only 'fish room'...
Pity a poor boy...

[:]

[leafhorn]

A constant concern.

[kenny_G]

since we are at the topic of weights.
does anybody knows if a tank will crack/break with too much weight?
currently using a 3ft(90x45x45) with appx.3inch of sand and full tank
of water. heard from someone that its base will crack due to the weight.

[Simon]

kenny, tanks will only crack if they r poorly made.. make sure, the thickness is rite for the size and all the bracing is present

[kenny_G]

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On 9/4/2002 9:39:20 AM

kenny, tanks will only crack if they r poorly made.. make sure, the thickness is rite for the size and all the bracing is present
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sorry, wat is bracing?

[lsz]

bracing is the horizontal glass pieces siliconed at the top of the tank.

they act as reinforcements.


Issac, forget it lah.
we all fail.
there is no way to pass anyway.
Just like trying to make everybody drive at 50kmh
end up traffic jam

[vinz]

Not all tanks having bracing. Usually the big tanks have. Smaller tanks don't.

[eZion]

Yah, maybe I am just being busybody. At least people now know that it is an issue with the authorities. Like what I said, the intention is to let others know so that they don't end up with mini fish farms in their HDB flat and become a hazard to others.

Yes, even though we all failed, at least we know by how much we have failed. The 50Km road limit is not a cap but a benchmark for drivers so that they know much fast they can drive plus or minus 10Km...can you imagine the amount of accidents we will face everyday without these road limits? Drivers will become even more reckless...It is like asking you to sit for an exam and there is no 50/100 passing marking, you won't know where you are?

Similarly, bringing this topic to the public is not to discourage but that we may all gauge how far we are from the safety zones so that we know where to stop before we hit the headlines.