Tank Breakage

[onebad76bronco]

Anyone have any idea why a glass standard 55 gallon tank (from petsmart) would just break?? It was a freshwater tank, only a few small fish in it. I am puzzled as to why after 3 years it just broke. 55 gallons is a **** load of water and not fun to clean up. Wonder if it was the heater or the tank construction. I never hit the tank or move it, its just sits there. Anyone else ever heard or experienced problems with glass tanks?

 

[TLM4x4]

dang im sorry for you...a friend of mine had a 240 that busted right in her living room. Im not sure about why but I doubt it could have been the heater..someone correct me...if the glass has been stressed in any way its possible it will break...water is a huge force of pressure to be sure and if there are any weaknesses in the glass Im not surprised it would break. It could have been "defective" when you got it and over time the continued pressure of the water was too much.

 

[FroggyFox]

What "broke" did a glass panel actually break, or did a seal break loose and the water just flowed out? Either way thats terrible..

TLM hit on the biggest issues that were my guess. Glass tanks are meant to be on flat surfaces so each side takes an equal amount of pressure, so if something were to happen like the house settling or something like that...its possible that after 3 years maybe it was just to much stress? Aside from that, a piece of rock falling and just hitting it wrong inside the tank...a heater shattering....a fish that is a 'tankbuster'. You'll also notice that on large tanks the sides tend to bow a bit...so if something happened with any of the tank braces it also could have caused it.

 

[onebad76bronco]

Broke...

I am not 100% sure what broke, the whole back panel was busted out, but it must have been a smaller hole then force of the water broke it all the way out. I just took everything outside just to get it out of the house, now i gotta head back home and try and figure out where all the water went downstairs... what a a mess..

 

[scubadude]

.someone correct me...if the glass has been stressed in any way its possible it will break...water is a huge force of pressure to be sure and if there are any weaknesses in the glass Im not surprised it would break. .

What a nightmare! I aggree with TML on the possibility of defective glass....Was the tank on a stand specificaly designed for the tank? I had a 55 on a large dresser for awhile. After a week you could get a dime under the middle of it, 2 weeks and a quarter would fit. The dresseer was bowing putting all the pressure on the 4 corners. I bought a real stand and moved it right away! The other possibility is kids. We sell pelican products that come with an unconditional lifetime guarantee, you break it they fix it, with the exception of shark bite, bear attack, and children under 5. I guess they rate the 3 at the same level of destructive power.

 

[onebad76bronco]

yeah it was on a wooden stand that was on display at petsmart with the tank, so i would think it was a matched set, but now i wonder how good their stuff is. I think i am taking a break from fish now, i dont need to be coming home to 55 gal of water all over my house again. Think the worst thing i lost was a 19" monitor that was downstairs and the water leaked into it while it was on. I know i will be finding gravel and glass forever, it just went everywhere.

 

[FroggyFox]

I'm sorry to hear that...but I can't say I blame you. Thats a big loss. Although...I think its a freak accident...if it happened all the time then I dont think any of us would be in the hobby. I learned to test my seals even on new tanks in the bathtub or outside before filling them up in the house when my first 10G drained all onto my living room floor through a broken seal.

You could think of it like this: Heck I already have a stand...I might as well get an All-Glass (brand) aquarium to go on it and start over.

 

[hyunelan2]

FYI: A lot of times the 'petsmart brand' is really a packaged/bundled product of another brand. I've seen All-Glass, Perfecto, Marineland, etc. all put in Petsmart bundles, so it's really hard to say if it was the Petsmart tank that let you down or not.