Knocking over a tank

[ebruce01]

I would really like to know what caused that glass to break as well. My main concern is how much force from a "toy" does it take break that glass. If a kid was in front of it they could be seriously injured or worse from all that glass. I have never seen a tank fail though so I have no idea what happens?

 

[iwishtofish]

I would really like to know what caused that glass to break as well. My main concern is how much force from a "toy" does it take break that glass. If a kid was in front of it they could be seriously injured or worse from all that glass. I have never seen a tank fail though so I have no idea what happens?

I'm sure that all really depends on the thickness of the glass, the density and hardness of the toy, and perhaps the angle at which it strikes. There are probably a lot of variables, and that is why I'm trying to eliminate as many as possible with regard to the safety of my peninsula setup.

I'm sure anything can happen where kids are concerned, so prevention would be key (as it would be for me to discourage future rough-housing around a tank). Maybe toys and objects that could theoretically break a tank shouldn't be allowed in the room that has both the aquarium and kids (or unstable grownups ), where practical.

 

[museumguy]

I take care of aquariums at a children's museum. We get about 600,000 visitors a year, many of which are between 2 and 10 years of age. Though I can't offer much advice on how stable they are since we have a 120 and 190 back to back that are pretty heavily secured, I can say that the overall resilience of the tanks is pretty good. We've gone 3 years now without any issues of breaking (*knocks on wood*) with countless children and adults both hitting, smacking and tapping the glass.

Don't get me started on our 1700g acryllic tank though, someone took a key to the outside of it the day after Christmas.... grrr.

 

[TP123]

They're much more likely to break it, than tip it. At that size, they don't budge easily if the stand is well made and on level ground.

 

[DJREEF]

I would really like to know what caused that glass to break as well. My main concern is how much force from a "toy" does it take break that glass. If a kid was in front of it they could be seriously injured or worse from all that glass. I have never seen a tank fail though so I have no idea what happens?

Dude, if you're freaking about this then buy the child plastic toys.

DJ

 

[DJREEF]

Don't get me started on our 1700g acryllic tank though, someone took a key to the outside of it the day after Christmas.... grrr.

That's grounds for a severe *** whipping.

DJ

 

[DJREEF]

I'm sure that all really depends on the thickness of the glass, the density and hardness of the toy, and perhaps the angle at which it strikes. There are probably a lot of variables, and that is why I'm trying to eliminate as many as possible with regard to the safety of my peninsula setup.

I'm sure anything can happen where kids are concerned, so prevention would be key (as it would be for me to discourage future rough-housing around a tank). Maybe toys and objects that could theoretically break a tank shouldn't be allowed in the room that has both the aquarium and kids (or unstable grownups ), where practical.

Seriously, if your kid can generate enough momentum, and force to knock an 1100lb system over, then you need to bring him to me for training. I'll make that kid a multi millionaire in the NFL for his 18th birthday.

DJ

 

[ebruce01]

"Dude"?? I'm not freaking out. Just asking questions. This is a forum. Do you go around asking people if they are freaking out about what lights to put up on their tank or if they are wondering about compatibility between fish. Dude, if I wanted your parenting advice I would have asked for it. If you dont have a post or comment that pertains to the thread then go elsewhere.

 

[Asterix]

This is something that I AM TERRIFIED of happening...Its not little kids that concern me, but dumb adults, and my chocolate lab. I am very certain that if I wanted to, I could pull over any reef tank under 125G just by using leverage and strength (I am a seasoned judo and jujitsu practitioner lol). However, I would have to deliberately WANT to do this, its not something thats gonna happen by accident.

After my last disaster (pic included below) where I almost died (literally) from broken glass shooting out at me, I have since put all setups through extensive testing. My current tank that I am setting up is made from acrylic, which really helps me feel better. While I was water testing this tank on the stand, I tried to knock it over (its a 40b) using a limited amount of force equivalent to what I thought could be accidentally exerted at a critical leverage point...The tank stood up to that, so I felt good about it. I would rather knock it over before its setup!

The tank pictured here was just under built, but it shows what could happen if something hung on the glass at the wrong spot...Mind you, 130 Gallons of water pushing large shards of glass across a narrow room COULD KILL YOU EASILY....severed arteries, missing limbs, etc... I never want to have to go through this again! Always over build everything, there is always still a chance of this happening, but you can minimize it

 

[DJREEF]

You have 9 posts and 2 of them are about your kid breaking the tank. Sorry, but statistically it sounded a little desperate. OBTW, yea people do freak out about their lights around here.

DJ

 

[ebruce01]

Asterix....WOW I am glad no one was seriously hurt or killed with that one. I wonder if having the front glass being the hardened type would prevent the large shards. I know glass on many automobiles is designed to fracture into many small pieces in the event of failure or breakage. Acrylic does sound safer though. Not sure if anyone has heard of acrylic failing like this!

 

[Asterix]

Asterix....WOW I am glad no one was seriously hurt or killed with that one. I wonder if having the front glass being the hardened type would prevent the large shards. I know glass on many automobiles is designed to fracture into many small pieces in the event of failure or breakage. Acrylic does sound safer though. Not sure if anyone has heard of acrylic failing like this!

Indeed it would. This is the difference between Annealed glass (which I used) and Tempered glass (which should brake into thousands of tiny pieces, although I haven't seen it myself). I am not a glass expert, but I believe plate glass and annealed glass will break in a very undesirable way (large shards)

Something I looked into at one point were glass cages commercial aquariums...They are made much thicker and stronger than normal aquariums.

I am sold on acrylic for the rest of my life now

 

[ebruce01]

Price and hearing stories of scratching is what has kept from buying them thus far. Iwishtofish, I hope we havent strayed too far from your original post. Didnt mean to step all over your thread like this. Good to hear some accounts of what can happen and what to do about keeping people safe around these things though. I love my hobby but its not worth risking someones safety over. Sometimes keeping people (or kids) away from a tank is not a viable solution and in many cases defeats the purpose of having something like this. Seeing little ones eyes light up when they gaze into your aquarium is a really big part of what makes this hobby enjoyable.

 

[ibefishy]

My tank survived a pretty sizeable earthquake a few years back without falling over. I imagine there was more force moving the tank around from the quake than a couple of kids could produce.

 

[iwishtofish]

Price and hearing stories of scratching is what has kept from buying them thus far. Iwishtofish, I hope we havent strayed too far from your original post. Didnt mean to step all over your thread like this. Good to hear some accounts of what can happen and what to do about keeping people safe around these things though. I love my hobby but its not worth risking someones safety over. Sometimes keeping people (or kids) away from a tank is not a viable solution and in many cases defeats the purpose of having something like this. Seeing little ones eyes light up when they gaze into your aquarium is a really big part of what makes this hobby enjoyable.

Not a problem, ebruce01! I welcome discussion of any facet of tank safety in this thread- what I don't welcome is the negativity some people want to inject into it. I firmly believe anything can happen with kids, and I think that regardless of how we parent them, we have a responsibility to expect the unexpected.

I hope people can continue to share their experiences (and not parenting criticisms) so everyone can come to their own conclusions about making the hobby safe for kids!