Glass aquarium cracked

[minotaur]

3 weeks ago, i built a refugium out of a new 10 gallon aquarium for my 30 gallon tank. I bought, cut, and glued acrylic panels into the tank to section off my refugium.

Tonight, i am sitting in a nearby room and hear a "POW". I go in and look under my tank, where the refugium is, and it has cracked all along one side of it.

Anybody heard of such a thing? Could the glass tank simply have failed? The only thing I had in the refugium at this point was a few pounds of sand and a pump to return the water to the tank.

...well, i have to get back to cleaning up the mess....

 

[Brenden]

How did you attach the acrylic panels to the glass? Where they wedged into the tank?

 

[ColdFish]

Did you have it drilled? I tried using a 10 gallon as a fuge also. I had holes drilled in my sump and the 10 gallon at the same height and installed bulkheads with a short section of 1" PVC connecting the 2 together. My 10 gallon cracked on the panel that was drilled. Nasty mess. As it wouldn't come out of the stand, and me not wanting to drain the main tank to get it out, I had to break it up in place and take it out in pieces. I replaced it with an approx. 10 gallon piece of rubbermaid and that's working out great.

 

[minotaur]

Brenden,
I would describe the acrylic as fitting tight. It did have a slight bow, but it had some give in it as well. I used silcone to secure and seal it

 

[Brenden]

I would describe the acrylic as fitting tight. It did have a slight bow,

That was probably the problem. Think of it this way. That bow and pressure was pushing on one small point unlike water weight.

 

[minotaur]

Alright, tomorrow, i am going to buy ANOTHER 10 gallon tank. After I cut out the acrylic panels, I will shave them down a little before I silicone them back in.

Thanks for you help...

(thank goodness I was home when it happened)




Coldfish,
I did not have the tank drilled. I built an overflow box onto my main tank and used gravity with a 1" hose to drop the water into my fuge, then pumped it back into the main tank