I just got back from a 10 day trip to my beach villa in PR and I wanted to check out the tank. I come home and wow everything looks great. All corals and fish. I put my reading glasses on to get a better look up close and see what it looks like glass in the sand on some rock. Im like where the hell did this come from when I look up at my halide lights 4 - 250w and see one of the glass covers shattered into the tank. Has this ever happened before to anyone? Im sure the glass in the tank is harmless just very weird.
Shattered Glass
- Thread starter Salty Dog
- Start date
Here's my theory:
The MH was on, heating up the glass to sun-like temperatures. One of your fish, a big one, pulls a Shamu and creates a massive splash. The cool tank water splashes on the glass and KAPLOOEY, death and destruction.
imo.
The MH was on, heating up the glass to sun-like temperatures. One of your fish, a big one, pulls a Shamu and creates a massive splash. The cool tank water splashes on the glass and KAPLOOEY, death and destruction.
imo.
- Location
- Freeport NY
Lol love the story made me laugh kaplouie
- Location
- Sound Beach,LI
Dosent that glass cover act as uv protection? Did it harm any livestock not having the cover on the light?
- Location
- Copiague, NY
Bill that stinks bro! I hope all is well and your trip to PR was good!
hey Kevin,
I have to come in and see you, maybe this weekend . Hows the wife and your daughter
I'm more concerned about HIS eyes than the coral..and the MH itself getting splashed & breaking
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
You might want to toss on some shades until the cover gets replaced :smokin:
- Location
- Hudson Yards
I had a big Hippo that used to "pull a Shamu" pretty regularly. My full grown Foxface also does it from time to time. I've been lucky, they both only managed to knock a lense out of the moonlights.
- Location
- Flushing, NY
But actually, the Ozone layer of the atmosphere is filtering out a bunch of harmful UV rays. That UV shield is like your own personal Ozone layer... sort to speak
- Location
- Copiague, NY
Everyone is great! How's JEn and the kids?
Definitely come down to see us! I miss you guys
- Location
- Huntington
UV damage can happen fairly quickly depending on the type of light and distance from the tank. Double ended bulbs are the real problem since they don't have a shield, while single ended bulbs have the shield and bulb in a single mogul unit. If the corals and fish look ok than either it happened fairly close to when you arrived home or you have SE bulbs and the glass is just a splash guard to keep the same thing from happening to your bulb and reduce salt creep.
- Location
- Huntington
There was actually an article on this awhile ago in one of the magazines (I forget which and am digging through my old copies). The author had gone on vacation and when he got back one of the shields had shattered and his coral and fish were all burned to the point where most of the corals from middle to top were killed and fish had severe burns and missing tissue on their body and fins. I think he was running 400w DE bulbs but I can't remember exactly.
An uprotected 250W HQI bulb fried all of my SPS in an old tank years ago. Fish even died from the exposure. It makes a lot of sense to have some sort of tempered glass shield to protect tank inhabitants from this sort of occurence.
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