50 gal fishtank spontaneously breaking???

[nidgma]

Last night I awakened to hear 50 gal of fishtank water coming through the ceiling. Seems the back glass spontaneously broke from the corner to 14in in on the top. This 30yr old tank housed a somewhat docile Oscar. Tank had
been moved last a year ago to the garage to be cleaned.
Think this was stress fracture that took a year to finially go?!?
Thanks

[Macawpower58]

Oh my, I shuddering thinking of the mess that made! I hope you managed to save your oscar. I know moving large tanks can break the seals, thus allowing leaks, but I'm not sure about weakening the glass. 30 years for a tank? That's quite an old one.

[e1beth1]

At that age most likely it was the move that weakened the seals around the glass to the breaking point. The sealent dries out over time and if at any point in the 30 years it sat empty in the right conditions that would have dried it out even more. I can't imagine the mess, I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope you saved your Oscar.

[catlady2006]

Sorry to hear about that. Probably quite a shock to you, not to mention a big mess.
Were you able to save your Oscar? Please let us know.