Just breathe very softly. Borderjumper's tank, IMO, broke from the wavemaker causing shifting in the tank and/or stand. The bottom split out corner to corner. Messy ****e.....

I appreciate the fact that you are educated (engineer I think?).....but could you explain it in terms that the AVERAGE person can understand.......I mean I just cant see how 2000lbs of water shifting back and forth in a glass box doesnt fatigue the tank in any way????......school me please:mrgreen:

Gooosh ... :cry: I should not have read your thread

Well even the cheapo silicone I used on an ATO before was rated at something like 190psi of strength so if you take that surface area across the whole tank you can see how its strength exceeds the weight of the tank contents. Like it was stated a little earlier the weakness would likely come from the tank being on a cheap stand (pressboard, etc.) since your tank's centre of gravity would be prime for folding the stand like a house of cards.

If I understand things correctly (which I might not :) ) .... I think the difference is that it's not the full 2000lbs of water shifting back and forth. The tank is already under load from that 2000lbs, and that in turn is shifting by 1" vertically spread apart the length of the tank (so 4', 6', 8' ... whatever). So the left side probably has to vary from 1900lbs to 2100lbs and the right side from 2100lbs to 1900lbs. If that causes the tank to fail then the tank things were well outside the margin of safety to begin with.

Further, if I understood Steve correctly, the silicone can handle a mechanical shifting load better than it could from going from hot to cold. This makes sense to me on an intuitive level, silicone has some elasticity to it and its adherence to glass (due to the silicone seeping into the pores of the glass itself) is inherently very strong.

A stand that is not properly supporting the weight of the tank is a different matter. And that could cause a tank to fail regardless, wavebox or not.

Here's how I look at it: Do I worry about a tank blowout? Emphatically yes, it scares the bejeebus out of me, like I'm sure it would any hobbyist. Would I worry any less if I took my wavebox out? Not whatsoever. I'd worry all the same.

Good point I agree! I worry more about my wallet than the tank tho!