1000000 litre aquarium exploded!

[jjohnwm]

Can anybody explain or speculate why the acrylic totally broke?
In the video it looks like nothing from the outer wall is standing anymore. I would have expected it to crack or break at one point and some cracks spreading from there while the water runs out.

Yes, I hope we see some clarification on this. The link RD. provided mentions freezing temperatures as a possible cause...but this tank is entirely indoors, housing tropical reef fish, so how on earth could it be that cold? Maybe freezing cold air somehow blowing on the outside of the tank while the inside water is at 70F+ would cause a crack?

It's virtually impossible to glean specific information from what passes for 'journalism" these days. "Acrylic glass"? Really?

 

[Milingu]

"Acrylic glass"? Really?

I guess this is a translation mistake. "Acrylglas" is a term used quite often in Germany because nobody wants to say Polymethylmethacrylat.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Yeah I very much doubt the acrylic could've frozen...even if it got that cold in the building the acrylic is constantly being insulated by 250k gallons of water.

I'm betting one of the many seams between panels on that humongo tank had simply outlasted its lifespan...almost 20 years I guess.

This makes me wonder what sort of inspection and maintenance routine these kind of tanks get. Maybe this could've been preventable, they're lucky it happened in the middle of the night I guess when not many people were around.

 

[Ogertron3000]

Just saw this on the news, jumped on here and you guys are already discussing it!
Here’s another link from one of our newspapers

Berlin’s giant aquarium containing 1500 exotic fish bursts open

The DomAquaree burst early on Friday, spilling 1 million litres of water and debris onto a major road and injuring two people.

www.theage.com.au

On the TV news now they are saying its very lucky it happened first thing in the a.m and not a few hours later when they were open.
we also have some clown saying we should temporarily close and inspect our local public aquarium just in case.

 

[Cardeater]

I do think about it from time to time. As with this tank in Germany nobody knows how long their tank will last. My tank is from 1970.

I didn't realize you had that tank that long. I figured you got it around when you got the clown loaches.

I worry about this myself but since mine is from the mid 90's,; iguess I can worry less if your is still fine from 1970's. I still want to upgrade to a larger acrylic tank as I'd like to have more fish and I'd feel safer with a new acrylic tank vs this glass tank.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I guess this is a translation mistake. "Acrylglas" is a term used quite often in Germany because nobody wants to say Polymethylmethacrylat.

Probably roughly equivalent to the common english term "Plexiglass"?