Bad, bad day! Tank destroyed!

[Csubseball]

Well, woke up this morning to notice a very small crack in the bottom right hand corner of my 120g tank. It was probably around 1/2". I immediatly jumped online looking for another tank. I left the tank for maybe 5 minutes, and when I came back :eek2: the tank was dumping water ALL over my carpet. Needless to say the tank is gone, my carpet is ruined and my LR, coral and fish are all jammed into a 55 at the current moment!
This was indeed and very horrible day!
I am planning on puchasing an acrylic tank this week. A few questions if anyone could help me out.
1. Should I go BB in an acrylic tank?
2. What are peoples experiences with acrylic tanks?

Here are some pics:

 

[ERICinFL]

OUCH!!! Sorry to hear of your catastrophic event. My friend has a 90gal acrylic cube and he loves it. Just keep your LR off the sides and you should not have to many problems with internal scratches. Good luck!

 

[chrismunn]

wow, that freakin' blows dude! what a drag.......

 

[rtecanoe]

I think that's everyone's nightmare, but - Look on the bright side, at least you were there to see it and you didn't come home to everything dead and dried out in your tank!!

 

[WILDTHING]

wow, I can't even imagine what your day has been like. I'm so sorry. But at least you were home and able to save your livestock.

I love and hate acrylic tanks
Pros
light weight
drill like a dream
great clarity with little/no distortion
awesome sizes/shapes available


cons
they scratch
they scratch easily
they scratch even when I THINK about taking a cleaning magnet to them
I've even scratched my outside by not noticing I had a fleck of saltcreep on the tank and picked it up with the magnet
did I mention that they scratch?
Going BB helps but it will still scratch

HTH

colleen
good luck with whatever you decide on and post pics when you set it up

 

[landragon]

that blows. Good luck.

 

[VinnyTheIcepick]

You were lucky to save what you were able to save.

I agree 100% with Wildthing. By the way, Acrylic scratches.

 

[Anemonebuff]

Good thing you saved the critters. Tanks are replacable.

I like glass better IMO.

Good luck.

 

[rdmpe]

Any theory as to the cause of the break?

 

[nitratesucks]

Wow that is bad news. I got a 230 gallon and i cant imagine what it would be like for that to happen. So sorry hope it all works out for ya.

 

[Carman34L]

ouch, judging by the crack from the photo it looks like that stand wasn't level or it was warped from the lateral crack. If you are going to use the same stand, ensure that it is level. I am glad you were able to save the livestock.

 

[ufchristyb]

My husband and I have a 250 gallon acrylic tank in our home and I for one, love the peace of mind knowing that it is acrylic and a catastropic break will likely not occur.

As for the scratching issue, I will put it to you this way. My husband loves his car almost as much as he loves his tank. His car is four years old now and the paint looks better today than the day he bought it. If you are this type of person, you will be able to keep an acrylic tank no problem. Me on the other hand, well I have numerous scratches all over my automobile and its wheels, which is why I am not allowed to clean the acrylic tank, and why my husband cautions me anytime he sees me walk near it with a flashlight or camera.

--Christy

 

[Csubseball]

I have no idea what caused the break. When I set the tank up I made sure it was level in both directions. Im still in a state of shock. I really don't know what route I'm going to take.
I would like another glass tank, but my wife really wants reassurance before I purchase another one. I myself NEVER want to go through that again. It was my worst nightmare. The stuff you only see in movies.

 

[supertech3]

sorry about that hope that you can get over it and have something positive come out of this

 

[Gabi480]

why uses a magnet cleaner on a acrylic? Thats just dumb. All you need a a credit card or kent marine has a great scraper. And scratches aren't so bad my tank has had a few landslides and not one scratch.

 

[rlschne]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6836242#post6836242 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gabi480
why uses a magnet cleaner on a acrylic? Thats just dumb. All you need a a credit card or kent marine has a great scraper. And scratches aren't so bad my tank has had a few landslides and not one scratch.

alot of acryllic tanks have the lip around the top and that makes it a real PITA to clean by hand... and in my case, I do just as much damage with a credit card as I do with my magnet scraper....

 

[Gabi480]

mine has the ledge and I havent put on scratch. Just take your time.

 

[cfarrow2]

that sucks so bad, dude! by the way, i've heard that acrylic can get scratched. I'd go with glass again. really, what are the chances it'll happen again?

 

[mike89t]

Acrylic scratches real easy. I used an Acrylic safe Kent scraper on mine and put a bunch of scratches in it. You can't really see them unless you look really close though.

The good thing is that you can buff the scratches out of acrylic. Your experience was a big reason I didn't go with a glass tank.

 

[JeffCA]

I think the Acrylic scrapers actually scratch the tank easier. If you scraper is not level when you go to clean the tank...bam scratch. I use a mag-float (make sure you get one rated for the thickness of the acrylic) and have no problem at all. Just keep up on the cleaning to prevent unwanted coralline from grabbing hold.