WTF....The glass lid on my tank shattered! 1 week old!

[elitephoto]

I came home today from work and noticed a big chunk of glass in my sand. I removed my canopy to find that my glass lid covering my 72g bowfront was shattered! It appears that maybe my coralife compact 96w lamps may have over heated the glass and caused it to shatter....thats the only thing I assume could have broke it. whats the deal...why would this happen, shouldnt tank companies make glass that will hold up to the heat of lighting.

 

[sly]

Maybe you have a mantis shrimp hiding in your tank somewhere.

 

[nyaux]

Don't Feel Bad I'm On My Third Set.. They Crack If The Light Is To Close To Them And Water Splashes On The Glass..

 

[elitephoto]

thats a big bummer. anyway to prevent that? not a good thing to come home to glass in your tank.

 

[sly]

I've never had it happen and I have the same tank as you... One thing I did is I cut two holes in my canopy; one on either side and I mounted two computer fans hooked up to a radio shack transformer. Both fans are mounted on the inside of the canopy and are mounted to the square holes I cut out. I have one fan pull air in and the other one pull air out. I've not had any heat problems since. You might want to look at getting some fans to cool your canopy. Also make sure that you don't have any powerheads or bubblers splashing water up on the glass. Aim your powerheads down.

 

[elitephoto]

yeah I just added live rock so that changed the waters flow in the tank so its very likely water splashed up and shattered it. I do have 4 fans but that doesnt seem to help keep the glass cool. Thanks for the help

 

[sly]

How do you have your fans arranged? Do you have them so that they are actually exhausting the air or are they just blowing it around?

 

[elitephoto]

exhausting the air. im pretty sure it was caused by water hitting the glass when it was real hot.

 

[cgrant]

you should have atleast one blowing air in and a couple blowing out, that should keep it cool.
If you dont have more than 2 fans atleast give them some type of intake hole w some type of grill cover over it so the hole wont show. :happyfish

 

[sly]

That's what I do... I have 325 watts of PC lighting on my 72 bowfront. The lights sit about 2 inches off the glass. I only have those 2 PC fans. One pulling air in and the other exhausting it out on the other side of the canopy. My glass gets warm at best but never hot enough to break. Maybe it was just faulty glass. If it had a microcrack it was only a matter of time until it broke.

 

[elitephoto]

the tank was only set up for a few days when it happened. brand new tank. the fish store replaced the glass for me today. they seemed baffled why that would happen too.