# Largest freestanding aquarium in the world explodes



## zozo (16 Dec 2022)

This early morning Friday 16 December the largest freestanding aquarium in the world, standing at 82 feet high in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Germany's capital Berlin exploded. Yet no reports on how many gallons and if any of the 1500 fish could be saved. It seems 2 people got injured in the event. Probably the night clerks in the lobby?




















						Aquarium explosion unleashes 1,500 fish into hotel, video shows
					

AquaDom, in Berlin, was the world's largest freestanding aquarium.




					www.newsweek.com
				











			https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/two-injured-as-giant-aquarium-explodes-at-berlin-hotel/video/f279bd3eac738a3486e79430b8ab21fd
		


It might be later on in the day or week some security cam video from the hotel might be released to the news that shows the tank explosion. 

A miracle this didn't happen during a bussy day...


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## PARAGUAY (16 Dec 2022)

😯


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## LondonDragon (16 Dec 2022)

hopy crap! that system was impressive! lucky was during the night


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## Ria95 (16 Dec 2022)

Sad  for the fish that lost such an awesome home. Wonder if the low outside temperatures and energy ahem management  played a role.


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## zozo (16 Dec 2022)

Some general information on the tank...








						AquaDom - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




The Aquadom was the largest (by volume) acrylic cylindrical aquarium in the world, with a diameter of about 11 m (36 ft) and a height of about 16 m (52 ft), resting on a 9 m (30 ft) tall foundation.[3] Filled with 1,000,000 L (260,000 US gal) of water.

Imagine the pressure wave of 1,000,000 Litre (equivalent to the construction of <1 million kilos weight) bursting open all of a sudden. Whatever the cause, I guess there are a few architects and construction companies sweatings beans at the moment.

Some acrylic panel pieces?


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## LondonDragon (16 Dec 2022)

zozo said:


> Whatever the cause, I guess there are a few architects and construction companies sweatings beans at the moment.


the 20 year warranty was about to expire!!


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## Hanuman (16 Dec 2022)

Well that sucks big time. It's a miracle that only 2 people got injured. I would have thought a few people would have died considering all the devastation we can see on those pictures.
I don't believe many fish got saved though.


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## mort (16 Dec 2022)

It's reported here as well









						Berlin's giant AquaDom aquarium containing 1,500 fish explodes
					

Two people are injured as the Berlin aquarium, containing a million litres of water, bursts open.



					www.bbc.co.uk
				




I like the line from it "on Friday it said the attraction was temporarily closed"


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## mort (16 Dec 2022)

Hanuman said:


> It's a miracle that only 2 people got injured. I would have thought a few people would have died considering all the devastation we can see on those pictures.



My guess would be that the construction helped. The base of the tank starts so high up that the majority of the water tidal wave will be directed over where the night guards were likely sitting. It's very fortunate it didn't happen during the day. I also think it broke at the side, rather than the front, directing the water away from them to begin with.


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## hypnogogia (16 Dec 2022)

Reported that all 1500 fish died. And 1,000,000 litres of water burst out.


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## LondonDragon (16 Dec 2022)

hypnogogia said:


> Reported that all 1500 fish died. And 1,000,000 litres of water burst out.


What a shame loosing so many fish  
I remember maybe a year or just over ago they did some major maintenance works to this tank!


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## zozo (16 Dec 2022)

LondonDragon said:


> What a shame loosing so many fish
> I remember maybe a year or just over ago they did some major maintenance works to this tank!



They called it modernization, I guess they mean trendy aesthetics such as new lights maybe some technical filter upgrades etc. The fault line was likely somewhere in the 20-year-old foundation (the famous crooked aquarium stand we all heard about?) stressing the acrylic too much that gave away under the pressure.  Imagine the weight of that thing at 28 metres tall and 11 metres wide. Maybe a tiny earthquake swayed and cracked the structure the pressure does the rest. What else could it be? And a 16-metre water column is 1,6 Bar = 16315.459 kgf/cm² pressure at the very bottom.  That's not peanuts. 

They will find out sooner or later, this needs some proper investigation. Especially if they are planning a rebuild. And also the insurance company, I guess they rather see somebody hang, instead of paying up. And they want to know who to hang for this. The build only was already 13 million...

Indeed a shame for the fish, but that was to be expected. Especially for the bigger ones a fall from such a height smacking the floor or into something else with such power.  And probably also not the first responder's priority to save the fish.

But a small update says 'Efforts are underway to rescue 400 to 500 smaller fish whose tank's oxygen supply has been cut off' Not all is lost.


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## Andy Taylor (16 Dec 2022)

I would cry if this happened to me.
Huge aquarium in Berlin bursts, causing tropical fish ‘tsunami’


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## John q (16 Dec 2022)

Lol would be even more gutted if I were on tank maintenance duties tomorrow 🙃 








						Largest freestanding aquarium in the world explodes
					

This early morning Friday 16 December the largest freestanding aquarium in the world, standing at 82 feet high in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Germany's capital Berlin exploded. Yet no reports on how many gallons and if any of the 1500 fish could be saved. It seems 2 people got injured in the...



					www.ukaps.org


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## castle (16 Dec 2022)

You’d be obliterated if you were admiring it at floor level 😬

Sad for the fish, the staff and the people staying.


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## Andy Taylor (16 Dec 2022)

Its a worry for anyone with a tank. Just glass keeping your floor from getting wet or the people below if you live in a flat


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## hypnogogia (16 Dec 2022)

zozo said:


> 1,6 Bar = 16315.459 kgf/cm²


It’s actually 1.6315 kgf/cm2


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## zozo (16 Dec 2022)

hypnogogia said:


> It’s actually 1.6315 kgf/cm2


I guess the excuse 'It was a typo" doesn't count...


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## John q (16 Dec 2022)

23.206 bar. Good god brexit and all that. Can we have the equation in Lbf/inches²

Or psi


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## zozo (16 Dec 2022)

John q said:


> 23.206 bar. Good god brexit and all that. Can we have the equation in Lbf/inches²
> 
> Or psi



In my metric mind, I always think about that while writing and it's indeed confusing...


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## Simon Cole (17 Dec 2022)

Oh dear. My theory is that the parabolic shape of the acrylic concentrated sunlight into a narrow beam that heated and degraded the acrylic over time. I was watching a survival documentary last night and they showed how to light a fire using just water bottle... in Alaska no less. Reminds me a bit of the "walkie talkie death ray" in London that could melt cars, fry eggs, and allegedly once set some lady's hair on fire while she was walking past.


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## PARAGUAY (17 Dec 2022)

Acrylic is a incredibly strong   material ,so l  guess the  actual weight with water was on a poor foundation, examples of poor foundations show you cannot cut corners with them. It's a guess


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## John q (17 Dec 2022)

Just doing a little digging around and it seems this isn't the first high profile acrylic aquarium to fail. Admittedly this failure appears to be on another level.

*"Orient Shopping Center, Shanghai:* This aquarium failed two years after installation, injuring 15 people and killing several sharks and turtles. The tank was constructed with 15-cm (5.9-in.) thick acrylic panels to hold 33 tons of water. The tank failed catastrophically without warning on Dec. 27, 2012.

*Gulfstream Casino, Hallandale Beach, FL:* The14-ft-diameter x 14-ft-high cylindrical aquarium opened at a fabricated (bonded) seam. The acrylic panels were 3 in. thick. A seam opened, instantaneously releasing thousands of gallons of water. After the event occurred, a quick-thinking maintenance person stuffed the crack with cloth napkins saving all the aquatic life, except for one shark. This failure was the result of poor bonding of a vertical seam during manufacturing. Over time, this seam opened slightly by crazing, creating a stress concentration, which led to the catastrophic event.

*Dubai Mall (World’s Largest) Aquarium:* Home to more than 33,000 fish, including 400 sharks and stingrays, the aquarium formed a crack on Feb. 25, 2010. The 2.5-million-gallon aquarium contains the world's largest single piece of acrylic, measuring 2.5 ft in thickness. A crack formed at an interior viewing tunnel, resulting in a significant amount of water loss. The crack was quickly repaired and there was no loss of aquatic life.

*Mazatlan, Mexico:* A large crack formed instantaneously in a 3-in.-thick curved overhead viewing panel on Feb. 3, 2017, shortly after the aquarium had closed for the day. The 1.2-million-gallon aquarium housed 13 large sharks at the time of the failure. The crack released over three quarters of the water in the aquarium, allowing for the safe removal of the sharks. This crack initiated at a large gouge mark at the exterior of the tank. 

*T-Rex, Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL:* On March 17, 2014, just as dinner was being served at the T-Rex restaurant at Walt Disney World, a vertical bonded seam opened instantaneously in a large cylindrical aquarium. The aquarium was located adjacent to dining tables resulting in a number of people becoming drenched. The opening was approximately three feet long, giving employees time to transfer fish to other aquariums located on the grounds. "

Above quoted text taken from here:








						When acrylic aquariums fail
					

The outstanding properties of PMMA have enabled the construction of massive aquariums, which have become some of the most popular attractions in the world. To prevent sudden, catastrophic failure, however, engineers need to have a thorough understanding of the material’s drawbacks.




					www.plasticstoday.com


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## zozo (17 Dec 2022)

PARAGUAY said:


> Acrylic is a incredibly strong   material ,so l  guess the  actual weight with water was on a poor foundation, examples of poor foundations show you cannot cut corners with them. It's a guess



Entire buildings can prolapse over time obviously all structures within do the same. And Berlin also seems to be extensively tunnelled.  Since it was a rather tall acrylic tower of water then obviously the tower of Pisa idea is a recipe for disaster I guess an inch could be enough.   

In the area where I live used to be the coal mining district 40 years ago, and we have a massive subterranean network. Still today, loads of houses suffer cracked facades, windows and door frames, that the so-called Mining Damage no insurance company covers. Old tunnels collapsing and prolapsing all that's above. It's a pretty common scenery in my region. 

So I live on top of the coal deposits and the rest of the country on the peatlands that are sinking and taking buildings down with it for other obvious reasons.


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## PARAGUAY (17 Dec 2022)

I suppose a lot of these aquariums in places were it's got to be a attraction are getting more "outrageous"pushing the limits. Could be squeaky bum time for a few Public  aquarium  architects just now 😂


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