Glasstop exploded last night!

Sorry to read this. Glad everything is okay.
How are you going to go about removing all that glass?

 

Holy Smokes!

Don't forget to get all those pieces of glass around the toys! :-[

 

Wow, really sorry to here this... That's very odd/random to have happen in your case.

I think vacuuming the room would probably be a good idea to get whatever tiny pieces he may have missed.

 

That's sad to hear. Almost wish they would stop making tempered glass. Those can be quite dangerous. Luckily your wife wasn't in the 6 foot area or closer or else it could've been really bad.

Here's my theory of what could have happened. It maybe a bit out there but its a thought none-the-less. So your wife goes out to let the dog out. She passes by the tank and sees that you have spent more time with it than her. So in her jealous rage she grabbed a small piece of live rock, stood far away from the tank and threw a 3 pointer. This explains why she didn't get any cuts and that it seems to have shattered on its own! But the piece of live rock smashed the glass and sank into your tank so that it looks like the glass just all of a sudden broke itself.

Was I close?! haha

I think that the glass was just heated by the light you have a something in the tank made a splash and kaboom.

 

Was that glass top fixed inside the top edge? Or was it removable, if it was fixed, there could have been something causing stress on the tank, or maybe bowing or something to put enough stress on the top screen for the glass to shatter apart. Tension strain is pretty bad if applied in certain ways.

 

Mystery solved.

 

I've gotten it mostly cleaned up. At least as much as I can do for now. I picked up pretty much every piece by hand, both inside and outside the tank. The floor has been vacuumed multiple times and the toys washed off. There are still some pieces in the tank that I'll try to get later, many others have fallen in the live rock and I guess I'll never get them.

I have to agree that somehow this had to do with heating/cooling, but still not exactly sure what. or why it hasn't happened sooner? As far as the wife...possible, but not likely. She's so happy I shut down my time consuming larger setup for this little cube that she's stayed pretty quite about it.

Was that glass top fixed inside the top edge? Or was it removable

The glasstop is removable. I always left it about 1/2 inch offset, to allow for hot air to escape the tank. There really was no tension at all.

Here's a pic of it now...topless

 

well it sux and Im glad to got hear no one got hurt pets included. and now it gives you the excuse to get a new cooler top ;D

 

"cooler top" - that's got dual meaing now!!!

 

If the glass was sitting off set, maybe it got bumped causing it to fall and break inside the tank.