Subj : Re: Child-proofing tank?
To   : All
From : Andy Hill
Date : Tue May 18 2004 11:46 pm

asb@cc.gatech.edu (Amy S. Bruckman) wrote:
>My son is just learning to crawl, and I'm concerned that he's going to
>pull our fish tank crashing down on his head!  Can anyone recommend
>a tank base that will be really stable on an old, uneven hardwood floor?
>
>We have a 20 gallon long tank.  My current tank base is hollow with a
>door in the front to keep equipment.  The weight of the tank is
>distributed around the perimeter of the base.  (It doesn't have legs--
>the whole perimeter of the rectangular shape touches the floor.)
>Since our floors are uneven, I had to shim it with cardboard to make
>it stable.  I can latch/nail the door shut so the door doesn't act as
>a lever to destabilize the weight, and keep the chemicals on a high
>shelf.  But even with that, I'm concerned that it might be possible to
>tip it over. (Heck, just start picking away at the cardboard shim....)
>
>All suggestions appreciated!
>
>-- Amy, asb@cc.gatech.edu
>
>p.s. He loves the fishies.  Stares at them and stares at them and
>smiles.  :-)
>
Do you have a wall behind the base?   I have a similar (I think) base -- I
anchored it to the wall studs with a steel angle bracket and some deck screws.
While this particular anchor hasn't been put to the acid test, a similar anchor
on a 7' bookcase earned its keep when my son tried to climb it to get a book on
the top shelf.   He learned "it's not a good idea to climb the bookshelves" 
when
one of the shelf supports snapped and dropped him and quite a few books to the
floor, but didn't have to learn that "the hospital is a sucky place to spend a
week when 100+ lbs of bookcase lands on you".
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