Fish Tank Breaking

[adamgreen240]

Hi all,

My m8 wants 2 buy a fish tank, but him mum wont let him becuse she is afraid of it 'popping'

What can we say to support our argument

thanks

 

[ox5477]

Tanks won't just 'pop'. they are structurally engineered to hold the water volumes that can be placed into them. If you buy a homemade or make it yourself, then you had better do your reasearch or else you might end up with wet feet. But any tank you buy at a store or from an online wholesaler is perfectly safe to hold the volume stated it can hold with no worries.

Things that can cause your tank to pop though could include:

• an unlevel floor that puts excess stress on one side of the tank and causes either a seem to split or the glass to crack and eventually shatter
• Hanging an edge of a tank in free air so it is cantilevered out. This puts shear stress on the glass that is orthogonal to the support it is cantilevered over and as said in the bullet above, excess stress at concentrated points (stress risers) cause cracking and eventually shattered glass
• leaning heavy rocks/decorations against the glass inside the tank that over time could possibly fatigue the glass and over years might cause hairline fractures

But all of those things are easily avoidable by making sure you have a sturdy (some tanks can weigh upwards of 1400 lbs) and level floor on which you place an appropriate sized stand that supports all of the edges of the tank.

Let her read this, it should give her more confidence, and if she still doesnt believe it, tell her to email any tank manufacturer and they will tell her the things that I have said above! Good luck convincing her!! It can be tough to convince the people you live with to get a tank, even if you already have 3... haha

 

[linda1503]

You could ask her to come on this site and ask about fish tanks 'popping', I'm sure she will be reasured by all the members who have had tanks for years with no problems. Also you can get insurance just in case. Good luck, its the best hobby in the world and it will teach him lots about responsiblity!!

 

[020292]

Yeah. Have her come to this site and have her do the research because I have had tanks for several years and have never had a tank break except for when it was knocked off the stand by me, but that was a little glass bowl which was before i knew about the great websites out here on the internet like these and I didn't know that goldfish and those things needed certain amounts of water. That is the only time when I had a tank break.