RE: Holy exploding glass Batman!

[Bill Wichers <billw at waveform_net>]

I have had two somewhat similar expieriences to this. The first was several
years ago, with a big (19") old Trinitron computer monitor off an old HP
UNIX workstation. I had the monitor sitting on the floor waiting for me to
build some level translation and sync combining circuitry (it was an old
sync on green monitor for you techies, and not multiscan). Somehow I
managed to nick the glass on the screen at some point but didn't realize it
until the next day. VERY SLOWY, as in over maybe 18 hours, little cracks
from the nick spread out in maybe 1/2" long bits all night long. When I saw
the monitor in the morning it had a spiderweb of cracks over the ENTIRE
face of the CRT, with the biggest un-cracked area maybe about 3/8" square.
I thought  "~@#$^^&&!!!!!" (probably said some of that too ;-) and covered
up the monitor with some towels until I could snap off the evacuation tube
on the neck of the CRT to bleed off the vacuum and keep the thing from
imploding. Very strange. I have pictures of it around here somewhere.

The more recent example is my car's windshield's gravel-hauler-induced
crack gradually growing to big cross-windshield gotta-replace-it-now size
over about three months. Slow, and "bursty".

Glass cracking can be strange. I would bet your tank probably either isn't
quite level or the stand isn't quite flat, or maybe there has always been a
small defect in the glass somewhere and it was only recently that you had
the right forces acting on the pane to cause the fracture to propagate. 

     -Bill

> Just took a look in my 135gal, and noticed a big
> huge
> piece of glass in the back.  ("What the hey?!"). 
> The
> glass in the back has an irregular huge break in it,
> and I am VERY lucky that my CF + reflector, which
> rests on the glass, didn't fall into the tank!
> > No recent (like today or yesterday) water change, or
> change in water level.  I can't explain it.  Like a
> stress fracture that grew over time, and snapped
> today.  Extremely weird!  Anyone ever have
> experience
> with this?


*****************************
Waveform Technology
UNIX Systems Administrator