Surf's Up!!

[Bicycle Bill]

A massive aquarium installed in the lobby of a German hotel burst early Friday, releasing a million liters (roughly 264,175 gallons) of water that severely damaged the hotel's entrance and several shops within the lobby, and spread debris and dying fish into the street outside the hotel.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/massive-aquarium-bursts-berlin-leisure-complex-emergency-services-2022-12-16/



Now you know why they have those signs that say "Don't Tap on the Glass" on the aquariums at your doctor's office.

-"BB"-

[Joe Guy]

In other news, a nearby McDonald's in Berlin is having a sale on fresh Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.

[Burning Petard]

Any engineer students willing to guess the internal pressure at the bottom of that cylinder?

snailgate

[BoSoxGal]

Imagine if it had happened with a lobby full of people and folks riding on the internal elevator.

[Bicycle Bill]

Here's a picture of it BEFORE the catastrophe.  Sunuvabitch, not only was it frackin' huge, it was ELEVATED on a pedestal, yet, and had an elevator running up its interior.  So from the sounds of it, it was a ring tank with a hole in the middle (like a doughnut or bagel) for said elevator rather than a true cylinder.  Oh, and in case you're wondering what's up with the stuffed bear standing on its hind legs, it's because a bear features prominently on the coat of arms of the city of Berlin.



I also saw in another article that the walls of the tank were up to 22 cm (8.6 inches) thick in places.

-"BB"-

[ex-khobar Andy]

At 16m depth, assuming it was fresh water - seawater is about 2% denser and hence pressure would be that much greater - gauge pressure would be about 1.6 atmospheres or around 22 psi. Actual pressure - adding in the atmosphere itself - would be about 2.6 atm or 37 psi.

I don't know much German but I do like the sign - Aquarium in Berlin geplazt. I looked it up on Google Translate and geplatzt = burst. Seems like a lovely onomatopoeia word.

Hubris springs to mind.

[Bicycle Bill]

Andy, it was a salt-water aquarium.  Some of the early stories mentioned fish like the clownfish and the blue tang and made the connection to 'Nemo' and 'Dory' from the movie, "Finding Nemo".  These are both reef fish/salt-water species.

-"BB"-

[Sue U]

What, no sharks?

[Bicycle Bill]

What, no sharks?

It is very difficult to keep sharks in captivity in a communal tank, such as this was.  They need a lot of room to move around and consume a massive amount of food (this is probably the same reason you don't see too many whales in public aquariums, either).  Add to that the fact that many species, as an apex predator, have this annoying habit of killing and eating the other inhabitants.

-"BB"-

[Sue U]

What, no sharks?

It is very difficult to keep sharks in captivity in a communal tank, such as this was.  They need a lot of room to move around and consume a massive amount of food (this is probably the same reason you don't see too many whales in public aquariums, either). 

SyFy Films/Discovery Channel am disappoint.

[Long Run]

If they had heart, they would have had barracuda.

[Big RR]

I wonder what ahppened. The aquarium in Baltimore contains a large cylindrical tank around which visitors descend a spiral ramp as they exit the main exhibits. So far as I know, this has been there at least 25 - 30 years (since when my kids were small) and I never heard of a problem. Maybe placing it in an elevated platform required narrower walls because of weight limits? But I think they should have noticed some evidence of stress (hairline cracks, etc.) before it failed.

[MajGenl.Meade]

[BoSoxGal]

Aquarium expert says negligence involved - you don’t say?

https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/12/21/l ... 1500-fish/

[Sue U]

Aquarium expert says negligence involved - you don’t say?

https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/12/21/l ... 1500-fish/

Twenty years of insurance coverage litigation to follow.