Acrylic tank splits in half - while empy

[neilanh]

I have an old Eclipse 12 tank that I was contemplating using for a project, but when I pulled it out of storage it was scratched up and had a few very small impacted areas on it, so I decided not to use it and put it back in the closet in my basement completely empty.

So just now, I'm sitting here talking to the wife and we start to hear something, kinda sounds like dripping water at first, then gets louder and more frequent, then becomes an apparent cracking sound. Sure enough, the acrylic tank split right down the middle, top all the way to bottom.

What could have caused that? the split occurred away from where the cracks from storage were. There's nothing in the tank, and it's sitting on carpet.

Way too wierd.

Good thing I didn't fill it up, huh?

 

[tropicalfish]

Was there anything on the tank??
This is definitely creepy!

I would have had a heart attack if that happened to one of my tanks!

 

[lyquidphyre]

did it go from hot air to cold air quickly? Im wondering if it has to do with temperature

 

[theotheragentm]

You'd have to go from hot to cold pretty fast and pretty extreme for a crack to occur in glass. It would be even harder in acrylic. Man, that is weird.

 

[neilanh]

That's what makes this so wierd.
The tank was completely empty
It's been sitting in the same spot for days, my basement is controlled, so it's not even cold down here. That's where my TV and Computer is.

 

[7Enigma]

Completely baffling. I could understand a sudden temp shift or if one side was drastically different in temp than another (like say pressed up against a water pipe or heating duct), but what you described makes no sense. Be glad you didn't use it!

I mentally cracked it so you don't start the MTS. 8O

 

[neilanh]

dude, I already have another 20gallon anyway, so

lol

I'm glad too... I sat and thought about it for a long while, "will it be okay, maybe not, maybe..."