ericmatz
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Really need some help on this one. I am on my fourth All-Glass aquarium top in 5 weeks.
Here is the scenario: I have a 38 gallon All-Glass aquarium. I decided to try a heavily planted tank, which of course requires lots of light. I opted to go with the All-Glass 110 watt compact light fixture, giving me nearly 3 watts per gallon. Since this fixture is much larger than the standard fluorescent, my old hood won't work. I had to get one of the All-Glass Twin-Tube Glass tops, which have a wider piece of glass under the light.
Now the problem: The wide piece of glass keeps breaking right down the middle. The nice folks at Aquarium Adventure have replaced it each time, and have tried to help me find a solution. Now we are all at a loss.
What I am currently trying is this. The 38 gallon tank is 36" wide, and there is a plastic piece down the center. The glass top is held together by a hard rubber hinge, and that hinge spans the length of the glass top except the two sides, so the glass rests on the inner lip of the aquarium trim. Now since that plastic strip runs down the middle of the tank and is level with the trim, the hinge rests on that. This causes the glass to raise slightly and possibly bow. The current theory is that the bowed glass along with the intense heat of the compact light is what causes the breakage, so I placed strips of acrylic along the lip of the trim, raising the glass up so it does not have upward pressure from the center strip. Of course, now the light is resting completely on the glass (whereas before, I think it was resting on the sides of the aquarium). I'm wondering if this will be a problem.
If anyone has an thoughts on this, please email me eric(at)matz.com . I'm really getting tired of taking broken glass back to the store, and this is the last time I'll be getting a replacement.
Thanks!
Here is the scenario: I have a 38 gallon All-Glass aquarium. I decided to try a heavily planted tank, which of course requires lots of light. I opted to go with the All-Glass 110 watt compact light fixture, giving me nearly 3 watts per gallon. Since this fixture is much larger than the standard fluorescent, my old hood won't work. I had to get one of the All-Glass Twin-Tube Glass tops, which have a wider piece of glass under the light.
Now the problem: The wide piece of glass keeps breaking right down the middle. The nice folks at Aquarium Adventure have replaced it each time, and have tried to help me find a solution. Now we are all at a loss.
What I am currently trying is this. The 38 gallon tank is 36" wide, and there is a plastic piece down the center. The glass top is held together by a hard rubber hinge, and that hinge spans the length of the glass top except the two sides, so the glass rests on the inner lip of the aquarium trim. Now since that plastic strip runs down the middle of the tank and is level with the trim, the hinge rests on that. This causes the glass to raise slightly and possibly bow. The current theory is that the bowed glass along with the intense heat of the compact light is what causes the breakage, so I placed strips of acrylic along the lip of the trim, raising the glass up so it does not have upward pressure from the center strip. Of course, now the light is resting completely on the glass (whereas before, I think it was resting on the sides of the aquarium). I'm wondering if this will be a problem.
If anyone has an thoughts on this, please email me eric(at)matz.com . I'm really getting tired of taking broken glass back to the store, and this is the last time I'll be getting a replacement.
Thanks!
Welcome to AA, ericmatz!! 
