So with the onset of winter it seems that my heat killed my aquarium. Or at least I suppose it was the heat.

I was going to see if I could polish up then inside of the aquarium, it's acrylic, and saw a few new "scratches". When I took a closer look I saw that they were actually inside the acrylic itself. So I'm going to go ahead and assume that putting water in this would be a bad idea.

But, if this kind of thing is normal or not catastrophic I may keep forging ahead and see about setting up the little creation before to long.

So if anyone has any experience with acrylic tanks getting little hairline cracks let me know. Should I just chuck it and hit up craigslist for another little tank or go with it a see what happens.

And if it turns out bad at least I already started checking craigslist when I became possessed by the urge to have a bigger tank. I already have some idea of what I can get a-hold of.

It should be okay...

can you feel the scratches? If no, you are ok, might just be an old tank. acrylic doesnt age real well

I had a similar experience with my MiniBow5. I was breaking it down, and I had about 0.5 inch of substrate/water that I wanted to dry out. I put it behind the portable dehumidifier which I thought would be a good source of warm air. Fast forward to two days later, and I found the same hairline cracks throughout the entire base of the tank -- where the substrate/water had been before drying.

I filled it up to the top of the tank outside in the backyard -- just in case of leaks. Fortunately, the cracks are not through-and-through the acrylic. The tank still holds water without any leaks.

But the cracks definitely obstruct clear viewing so now I just use it for growing out some plants (moss, mainly) and ramshorn snails.

Thanks guys,

the little cracks on mine I can only feel on the inside edge so I think it'll be ok. I'll see about getting a little 10 gallon or something and use my acrylic for plants only, so if something does go wrong I won't risk losing fish. But at least it's not something terrible I guess my tank is just old and worn out. I can't complain too much I only paid $4.50 for the thing at a thrift store.