So got a call to come home my 6ft fish tank has cracked and the water has spilled thought my room and through the hallway (thankfully its all floorboards and not carpet). I managed to save the fish and have just put them into my mates 4 foot tank until I can get a new one. I brought this tank second hand (used for turtles by previous owner and in good condition, no scratches etc) about 6 months ago. Checked it for water, chucked some Sally's all clear over the joins for extra strength and let water sit in it for a couple of days checking for leaks with no dramas. Now I spray painted the external back side of the tank and the sides black before putting it in my room. It's got two huge cracks down from left centreish coming to a triangle where it's got a hole about the size of a twenty cent piece. My first question is because its a tropical tank (sitting on about 26 degrees) and with the heat we've been getting lately could that cause the paint to dry out or something (can't think of how to word it properly atm) to the point of it stressing the glass and causing it to break under the pressure? It wasn't exactly level but this was by under half a centimetre. The foam under the tank wasn't too thick but I imagine should of sufficed. I'd like to hear some opinions on this even if you think it could of just been unlucky that it happened to break for no real reason as these things do sometimes, thank you.
Fish tank durability question.
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KaotikJezta
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How high is it. If it is 6x2x2 and was used for turtles chances are it was only 6mm glass instead of 10mm as it was only ever meant to be half full. Once a tank is over 45cm high it has to be made from thicker glass.
KaotikJezta
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Yes, fairly sure all our 6 footers at work are 10mm so could be it
Justdragons
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sorry to hear bud, A mate of mines old man had a 6ft tank crack while they were on holidays.. lost about 10 BIG discuss ( i think thats right) and flooded the front room quite badly.. His tank wasnt really that old either..
Thanks guys and cheers kaotic that's a lesson lernt biggest headache is having to rip everything out of my room tomorrow to clean it! You can pick up tanks pretty cheap from various sources but it will be money out of my pocket that I hadn't accounted for! Ah well that's the joys of owning a small zoo!
B
Bluetongue1
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Tanks don’t crack for no reason. The pressure on the glass is determined only by the depth of the water – the width has no effect. Just as well, as we’d never go swimming in the ocean otherwise. 6 mm is adequate for 44 cm high (as KJ indicated).
Is the hole at the top with the cracks spreading out there down wards? Or is the hole at the bottom with the cracks spreading out as they go upwards? You normally don’t get holes in glass without something solid impacting the glass. Nor do you tend to get radiating cracks unless there was some form of sharp, solid impact.
A plane seating surface and adequate foam to compensate for any imperfections, is very important with larger tanks. For example, if the seating surface is high in the centre, the weight of water either side is putting stress on the centre region of glass. The longer the tank, the greater will be the stress forces, even if the amount of water is the same, because it has a leverage effect. Usually there is more weight of water so that combined with the potential for leverage makes it all the more critical to ensure the seating surface is perfectly flat. A non-flat surface that you can get away with using a three foot aquarium on may well result in disaster with a three foot extra high aquarium. I learned that the hard way.
Cracking due to base not being flat, would normally occur within a week or less of you having set up the aquarium. However, if you have recently added large stones or significantly more gravel or given the glass a solid bump with a large river stone or the like, that could do it.
Another possibility is movement in the supporting structure. Fresh water weights 1 kg per litre. So your 6 ft by 60 cm filled to with 5 cm of the 45 cm height contains about 430 kg of water. Any rocks and pebbles or gravel will increase that. You could comfortably say the aquarium plus contents weighs around 460 kg. That’s the weight of 4 big ruby players. You definitely need a well built base to support that sort of weight without the possibility of long term deformation. This is why pays to have a professionally made stand for anything over a normal 3 ft tank.
I have deliberately avoided using the term level. It can be flat but not level if it is slightly tilted. In which case, the water will be higher in one end of the aquarium than the other. Obviously having it level as well is desirable but flat is the critical requirement. If you have a surface that is not quite flat, use of soft polystyrene foam or reasonable thickness followed by normal thickness sheet of firm polystyrene can often compensation for minor irregularities in the surface. Unfortunately it requires a bit bitter experience to know just what you can get away with and what you cannot. So if in doubt, go for a professionally built base.
I have been talking about wooden bases. Angle iron or rectangular tubular steel bases will overcome all the above problems and can be utilised on a wooden and with a wooden platform and polystyrene placed on them, if so desired.
Sorry about the length. I have had a couple of major disasters over the years so I know where you are coming from.
Blue
Is the hole at the top with the cracks spreading out there down wards? Or is the hole at the bottom with the cracks spreading out as they go upwards? You normally don’t get holes in glass without something solid impacting the glass. Nor do you tend to get radiating cracks unless there was some form of sharp, solid impact.
A plane seating surface and adequate foam to compensate for any imperfections, is very important with larger tanks. For example, if the seating surface is high in the centre, the weight of water either side is putting stress on the centre region of glass. The longer the tank, the greater will be the stress forces, even if the amount of water is the same, because it has a leverage effect. Usually there is more weight of water so that combined with the potential for leverage makes it all the more critical to ensure the seating surface is perfectly flat. A non-flat surface that you can get away with using a three foot aquarium on may well result in disaster with a three foot extra high aquarium. I learned that the hard way.
Cracking due to base not being flat, would normally occur within a week or less of you having set up the aquarium. However, if you have recently added large stones or significantly more gravel or given the glass a solid bump with a large river stone or the like, that could do it.
Another possibility is movement in the supporting structure. Fresh water weights 1 kg per litre. So your 6 ft by 60 cm filled to with 5 cm of the 45 cm height contains about 430 kg of water. Any rocks and pebbles or gravel will increase that. You could comfortably say the aquarium plus contents weighs around 460 kg. That’s the weight of 4 big ruby players. You definitely need a well built base to support that sort of weight without the possibility of long term deformation. This is why pays to have a professionally made stand for anything over a normal 3 ft tank.
I have deliberately avoided using the term level. It can be flat but not level if it is slightly tilted. In which case, the water will be higher in one end of the aquarium than the other. Obviously having it level as well is desirable but flat is the critical requirement. If you have a surface that is not quite flat, use of soft polystyrene foam or reasonable thickness followed by normal thickness sheet of firm polystyrene can often compensation for minor irregularities in the surface. Unfortunately it requires a bit bitter experience to know just what you can get away with and what you cannot. So if in doubt, go for a professionally built base.
I have been talking about wooden bases. Angle iron or rectangular tubular steel bases will overcome all the above problems and can be utilised on a wooden and with a wooden platform and polystyrene placed on them, if so desired.
Sorry about the length. I have had a couple of major disasters over the years so I know where you are coming from.
Blue
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