Not good....

[Immortal1]

Burst 264,000 gallon tank...
Video of aftermath

 

[GreggZ]

Burst 264,000 gallon tank...
Video of aftermath

Yikes! That is a LOT of water!!

 

[Immortal1]

Yikes! That is a LOT of water!!

Lot of water and a lot of fish!

 

[Art]

I hope no one was hurt with that. I realize most of the fish and coral probably didn't make it.

I can't imagine the liability associated with this?

 

[Immortal1]

I hope no one was hurt with that. I realize most of the fish and coral probably didn't make it.

I can't imagine the liability associated with this?

From what I could find out - happened at 6am and only 2 minor injuries.
As for the fish / corals - 100% loss

Evidently there were 400-500 other fish in other small tanks that they are working on saving.

 

[Art]

So sad...

 

[Ed Wiser]

I was surprise the aquarium lasted that long. That height of water would cause a lot of stress on the seam. It was inevitable. That it would fail. Have seen many of this style fail in the marine hobby. In the 200 gallon and up size.

 

[ayman.roshdy]

Very strange that they do such huge aquariums without the needed calculations, there must be very good calculations of the water pressure and make sure that the tank can hold such pressure plus adding a big safety margin !

I can't think of any other reason to cause this catastrophe

 

[MrMuggles]

Very strange that they do such huge aquariums without the needed calculations, there must be very good calculations of the water pressure and make sure that the tank can hold such pressure plus adding a big safety margin !

I can't think of any other reason to cause this catastrophe

The aquarium stood for ~12 years without any issues, and the failure occurred just months after reopening from years of "modernization". My first guess is that engineering changes or updates made then were somehow related. The acrylic was apparently designed correctly at least to the extent that it lasted through more than a decade of use before "modernization" whatever that means.

I also heard a theory that freezing temps might be related which would only be plausible if the atrium wasn't consistently heated. Temp can in theory affect the strength of acrylic bonds.

 

[ayman.roshdy]

The aquarium stood for ~12 years without any issues, and the failure occurred just months after reopening from years of "modernization". My first guess is that engineering changes or updates made then were somehow related. The acrylic was apparently designed correctly at least to the extent that it lasted through more than a decade of use before "modernization" whatever that means.

I also heard a theory that freezing temps might be related which would only be plausible if the atrium wasn't consistently heated. Temp can in theory affect the strength of acrylic bonds.

Ok it makes sense now that there are other unforeseen factors, the question remains what did they really do during this "modernization" and whether they decided to reduce the temperature because of the energy crisis, although they should have consulted a professional about the impact of reducing the temperature on the acrylic tank !

 

[Art]

I wonder if any engineering was used to think about the long-term stresses on the acrylic and the bonds? I've heard that acrylic bonds are usually harder than the acrylic sides themselves.

I suspect that "modernization" didn't factor in the impact to the aquarium. Many engineering failures exist because of not factoring in such things. We had a building collapse in Miami Beach because of similar things. Also had a terrible airplane crash with a sea plane in Miami that operated for years. They modernized the engines and re-powered it but didn't factor in the stress the new engines would have on the wings and the connections to them. As they were lifting off one time, the stress of the new thrust tore the engines off the wings. Terrible.