I've had 100's of aquariums.

Literally.

None have EVER done what this cadlights tank did.

Insurance or not, if a company can't own up to this kind of failure, they are best avoided.

The freaking silicone is still firmly attached to the front pane!!!!

Pile on the guy all you want.

I'd be ****ed off and looking for some culpability too.

Insurance when it comes to an aquarium failure like this doesn't guarantee you anything anyways, the same way a "lifetime" warranty on a tank can mean nothing.

From building and cutting apart several tanks, this one was a definite manufacture defect and a very poor quality silicone used for sure.

Not saying i agree one way or the other.
Did anyone even ask if the tank was level? Stand may be built nice but what happens if the floor changed a bit .... He did just have his floors redone.Not one person asked a question about the floor. Grab a level, take a pic would be my advise to the guys on the forum. I couldnt even tell you if the floor under tank was concrete or carpet... Was the stand leveled like crap or done rather exceptional? Or maybe im just over thinking it.

I dont know tank construction, i just know when people just side one way without even questioning anything they are usually missing something important. Learn from all your mistakes even if its just buying from the wrong company in the end.

Don't want to stir any sand over here but when a glass pops up like that, its not about the floor level but the perpendicular pressure exerted by the water from inside. A non level floor would have been more believable if the glass cracked from the seem and eventually causing the catastrophe. Plus he wrote that he got an engineer to judge the fault and no registered engineer would just visit a site and conclude something without a proper validation.

Steven (sphelps) will probably be able to give a more firm insight on this.

That's pretty scary. I've had some big ugly messes to clean up. Most recently when I was monkeying around with my media reactor and neglected to put the output line back in the sump. Luckily my wife caught it after only 15g hit the floor but that could have been disastrous if she didn't catch it. Had to get a leak detector for my Apex if I wanted to stay in the hobby.

Yikes ! I have several leak detectors scattered throughout my house but sadly, none of them would save me from a catastrophe like this one. I've gone through a few renos and and although they are annoying, stuff is fixable or replaceable. You can't fix or replace a beloved dead fish. :sad:

Assuming no personal possessions got destroyed.

It would be pretty easy in a blow out like that to damage items that are similarly as sentimentally valuable as your beloved fish...perhaps even more so.

Plus, Reno's are expensive and not everyone is super handy and able to do things themselves. :redface:

I've never owned anything by Cadlights but this certainly ensures I won't.

An interesting math/science problem for young students would be to prove an unlevel tank would actually apply less pressure to the vertical panes of glass regardless of the angle. The highest pressure on vertical panes occurs when the tank is level, so aside from the obvious this type of failure mode can't be caused by an unlevel stand/floor.

Tank builders should consider offering an option to hydrotest large custom tanks to at least 1.5x design. It's a simple test that would add significant value by virtually ensuring the tank is free of defects capable of causing premature failures like this. For example I know my tank sitting a 1/3 full will never break as it was tested to 3x that. Personally I'll never setup a large tank again without similar assurance.

You mean by sealing and pressurizing it?

That would sure give some peace of mind and you could market the heck out of that...

That's actually a very good point. Some people highly value their stuffs.