My tank exploded...

[mcybyk]

So there I am finishing up for the day when my wife calls me in a panic. "Honey, come home now, the fish tank exploded." I raced out of the office and worked my way through rush hour traffic. My wife calls me a few minutes later and I got some more of the details. My wife and kids were sitting on the couch relaxing and waiting for dinner to be done when there was a loud explosion. The next thing she knew, a crack opened up across the front of the glass from the upper left corner all the way to the bottom right corner, and the water was flowing. Fortunately, she has watched me do water changes enough to know how to use the Python, so she started draining the water out and pulling the rock work out. She was able to save all 7 of my cichlids before the water ran out.:headbang2:

When I got home, she was working on cleaning things up, to which I proceeded to help finish emptying the tank out. I still don't know what happened, since this is the second tank in four months. The first one also had a leak when I first started filling it up. The tank was level and was running smoothly, so I don't know.:confused:

I guess this means I don't need to worry about the fish during my vacation. My lsf is going to keep the fish for me for the next couple of weeks because I don't want to set up the new tank before vacation. He is also going to find me a different brand of 40g tank - he thinks he can get me a 45g that has the same footprint, but I'll know more next week.

Until then, I'll have to go to my lsf to see my fish.

[Vicious_Fish]

Oh man that's terrible, but at least you were able to save your fish. I've been lucky and have never experienced this and I hope I never will. I'm glad your wife knew what she was doing. I wonder if mine would in such a case! :confused:

[Marinemom]

That is horrible!! I am glad you (and your wife) were able to save your fish. Thank God for that ! I would certainly be looking into getting another brand of tank. With your history, maybe an acrylic tank. Because of the way they are made and put together, there is less chance of this kind of leaking and/or exploding kind of thing happening. I am not big on acrylic tanks but in your case I think it is a serious option.

Again, I am sorry this happened to you but at least it happened now when there was someone home to safe it from being worse then it was. If this happened when you were on vacation, I can't imagine the mess and devastation you would of come home to.

I hope(and pray) that you have better luck with the next set up. Of course this gives you the perfect excuse to upgrade to a bigger tank.

Marinemom

[Digital]

How do your tanks break so often? I'm sure it's a mystery to you too. But where do you buy them, are they new? Did you make them yourself or something?

[mcybyk]

How do your tanks break so often? I'm sure it's a mystery to you too. But where do you buy them, are they new? Did you make them yourself or something?

I bought the tank at my lsf, who has a good business and is a good guy. The first tank I bought was one that had been sitting on his floor for a while, and had been moved around over the course of a few months. This tank was fine for the first 4 months and never gave any signs of trouble. My lsf says that these two are not the first time he has seen issues with these 40g tanks and he is considering not getting these in stock any longer. That's why he is trying to find a suitable replacement.

[Marinemom]

At least this guy is making a genuiene effort to find out a new tank for you and is trying to help you out as much as he can. I would still take this oppurtunity to get a bigger tank.

Marinemom

[Arturo]

Wow sorry to hear what happened. :eek: Your wife is a life saver. :)

[Easydoesit]

jeez, good thing your wife was there, and good thing it didnt happen when you were on vaca... andd good thing you have a good LFS. im always afraid of something like this happening to one of my tanks.
i agree with the acrylic suggestion, since you seem to have some kind of bad luck.
well, good luck with your next tank

[Lady G]

WOW, that is horrible!! Kudos to your wife :grinyes:

Sounds like you have a good LFS though, taking your fish in for you and being honest about the history of the tanks and everything that is great!

[herefishy]

40g isn't so bad. Wait until you get that BIG tank, something like a 180g and have the bottom disintegrate. Happened to me about 10 years ago. I love Shop Vacs!!!

[doreenjoy]

Off topic but someone has to say it --

Get your wife a diamond!

[Rbishop]

Lucky save! Wish you better luck on the next set up.

[Coler]

youch ! Thank goodness it didn't happen when you had already left for vacation.

Whatever brand of tank you've had (twice now) that's pretty disgraceful, that they would both fail. Hopefully your friendly LFS guy will sort you out.

[tattoobaz]

aaaggghhh that sucks sounds like you were very lucky that your wife was home.
that has got me feeling a bit twitchy now ive got to leave my fish for two week vacation at the end of the month!!!!!!!!!

[BigFishKeeper]

Oh sorry to hear that! What kind of cichlids were saved????? At least that got saved!!

[Marinemom]

Off topic but someone has to say it --

Get your wife a diamond!

I agree! She gets a diamond and you get a brand new tank! Sounds like a win win situation to me. :grinyes:

Marinemom

[RichardA]

Wow.....man glad the fish were saved and she got most of the water handled.

The only thing I have heard of causing this is a stand that is not right.....stand settles under the weight and instantly shifts the weight of the water and pow!
Or they stressed the glass during the making......*shrug*

[Marinemom]

It is just really weird that it happened twice to the same person in a short span of time. I would be willing to bet there is a problem with the manufacturer of this particular tank. Stay away from that manufacturer and seriously consider an acrylic tank. They are more expensive and do scratch quite easily but in the long run I think you and your fish(and your wife0 will be happier.

Marinemom

[mcybyk]

Oh sorry to hear that! What kind of cichlids were saved????? At least that got saved!!

The cichlids consisted of a pseudo. elongotus, an albino pseudo. socolofi, a pseudo. acei, a metriaclima estherea, a metriaclima pyrsonotos, an iodotropheus sprengerae, and a labidochromis exasperatus.

Also, sorry for the constant typo of "lsf" instead of "LFS" - I used to work at a firm who's initials were lsf, so it is an old habit with those initials.

BTW, my wife originally said no more fish tanks after this incident, and she was somewhat serious. However, she is warming to the idea of a bigger tank, provided I take doreenjay and Marinemom's advice.:) Regardless, I will not be getting a tank from the same manufacturer.

[toddnbecka]

If you're keeping African cichlids get a 75. You'll all be happier with it in the long run, and they aren't known for unexpected blowouts.

[svf]

Diamonds always have a way of smoothing things out. :)

[Poecilid]

I've lost a few tanks over the years, including a few 'explosions' (scares the crap out of ya). I eventually decided that heavy vehicles passing my house were creating minor earthquakes. I shifted house, and had no more unexplained tank failures.

[tanker]

Do you know what brand they were??

[ScottoMacD]

Wow what a mess. I had a 77 go once.

While it very well may be that the tanks that you had are defective in some way. Some of the cheaper Chinese made tanks are really garbage. IE: really thin glass, non tempered glass.

I would take a serious look at the stand and the area that the tank was in the house. I wonder if something may have shifted and caused both of your mishaps?

It really doesn't take much for the stresses of a shift on a tank to cause cracking. Tanks are designed to take the pressure on the four corners when balanced with certain tolerances allowed for being not 100% balanced.
For tanks from some of the better companies this never becomes an issue because they over compensate with thicker glass, better overall construction. Other companies however cut corners while manufacturing and after those tolerances get exceeded it doesn't take much.

While the tank was level at time of set up. Things could have changed. If the house/building is newer it could have started to settle. The floor may have shifted ever so slightly (which is also normal especially in older houses) especially if the tank was going parallel with the floor beams instead of cross beamed. ( Personally if it isn't in the basement and is larger that 30 gallons it has to go cross beam.) That is a lot of weight in a small area after all.

Even the tank stand if it was wood may have shifted a bit. I have even heard of heavy trucks causing tanks to crack ( I think someone here said they had a train going by do it)

So while I agree that the tanks you got may be the cause from shoddy construction. I think that the other possible causes should also be looked into before the new one is set up.

Enjoy the vacation. The bright side is that now the fish have a good sitter while you are gone and you are getting a new tank when you get home which is always good.

[AfroCichlid]

I would hope your LFS would work with you on an upgrade if you decide to, considering they've sold you 2 tanks that have cracked. I agree you should check out all possible causes for the breaks. If your tank was truly level, I can't see any excuse for 2 in a row to break like that. Good thing you didn't come home from vacation to standing water and long dead fish.

[tonytheboss1]

:confused: Who was the tank mfg.??

[Preeths]

Glass tanks don’t show signs of stress and generally crack at the most unexpected times; if you are buying a new tank then it would be good to get one with a thicker glass.

[Star_Rider]

wow..at least your wife was there to 'fix' things.

i would check the location where this tank was.. for level.

hang in there

[dent20]

How does a tank break like that? I've never heard of one cracking across the middle. I had a seem start leaking on a 10 gallon once, but have never heard of the glass itself splitting.

[ScottoMacD]

Here's a picture of my 77 gallon.

All that it took was a small shift overnight when the false floor settled and bammo!

This was a Hagen tank. Great tank very thick glass but when it shifted......

It happened after it was filled balanced and full of fish. I got to my new house the next morning with friends , moving truck and over 50 gallons of water on the basement floor.

Didn't lose any fish but quite the mess. Just to add to the stress on moving day.

I replaced it with a 90 gallon with the same footprint and placed thicker plywood beneath it. No problems.


http://server2.uploadit.org/files/ScottoMacD-crack77.jpg

[dent20]

Great, one more thing for me to worry about and keep a secret from my wife.

[Draal5]

I agree! She gets a diamond and you get a brand new tank! Sounds like a win win situation to me. :grinyes:

Marinemom

You women are all the same get a diamond

You want one if we wake up in the morning :wall: its just a rock a shinny rock.

(ducking as wife takes a swing at my head) she wants one for missing my head:wall:

Back on topic

Sorry to here about your mess very lucky your wife was around to rescue the fish. more time than not this happens when no ones around or you are sleeping and you wake up to a wet mess.

Sounds like a stress caused crack. check the floor really well look for cracked paint or miss aligned trim that was no there before something moved or vibrated. Has there been any road work out side your house I had a roller knock stuff off of a shelf and break before.

[mcybyk]

:confused: Who was the tank mfg.??

The tanks were both made by All-Glass Aquarium. And I am not posting the name to simply bash them, because as many have said, there could have been other reasons for this tank to break. The first tank was most likely due to the manufacturer since it started leaking once I started adding water. However, have we had some heavy equipment in the area due to road crews? Yes we have. Did the floor settle? Possibly, but there are no signs of cracked paint, trim or anything else visible. However, the house is only 5 yrs old, so there may still be some settling. I can only go by what my LFS stated that the majority of tanks that he has had issues with have been the 40g.

I am stopping by there tomorrow to see how my fishies are doing and to figure out what tank I will be getting next. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.