So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
101–110 of 265 posts
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#102For some reason "A Fish Called Wanda" comes to mind!
Or maybe that should be "Fish go Wandering"?!
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's interesting only if there's a detailed report on the reasons. Otherwise this piece is news is just a "oh", instead of a "a-ha".
I think we're richer for having this type of content, not least because someone has posted elsethread that the early signs point to material fatigue. The system works as far as I can see, and I think we're some way off the front page of HN being flooded by TikToks.
> not least because someone has posted elsethread that the early signs point to material fatigue
I don't mind it being posted here, but to be fair that is just repeating what one politician is saying: "'Of course, the investigation into the cause has not yet been completed, but the first signs point to material fatigue,' said Berlin Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) of the German Press Agency."
Now if someone were to point at some image and explain why that makes them think it was fatigue that would be great.
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#104If you're curious about the design considerations and construction techniques for large aquaria, the standard reference is Stachiw's Handbook of Acrylics for Submersibles, Hyperbaric Chambers, and Aquaria: https://www.bestpub.com/books/product/cid-151.html Plastics are weird, and examining the wreckage will give a lot of information about the failure mode.
A column of water that tall is nothing to mess around with. Even the smallest imperfection in the base materials can become a problem.
170.65 kPa, or 24.75 psi. I imagine even Flex Tape can't hold that!
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#105This is crazy. I've been there a few times as the hotel is a popular spot for conferences (likely in part because of the attraction of the aquarium - I wonder if it will continue to be so popular a venue now). The aquarium was absolutely huge, I can't imagine what it must have been like seeing it burst.
Sadly I never availed of the elevator ride through the aquarium.
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#106Considering there was a hotel lobby under the aquarium, it's actually a miracle that only 2 people were hurt. Too bad for the fish though. Also, there's a sentiment of "how could this happen, it was only upgraded two years ago?!" in all the articles I have read so far - maybe it happened precisely because of that ? But let's see what the investigation will reveal...
> it's actually a miracle that only 2 people were hurt It probably helped that it happened at 6AM ...
even earlier, 5:30-5:45 actually reported by guests, 5:43 fire alarm after broken front glass
preliminary cause - material fatigue
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#107Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#108There are now many reports about material fatigue as the primary cause, but I am not so sure. Another article [0] mentioned that the building is currently analyzed by engineers because the firemen found cracks in floors and walls - they are, however, not sure if these cracks were caused by the water, or if they were already there before.
In the latter case, something could be wrong with the building's foundations. I am no expert, but if such a massive aquarium is only slightly tilted to one side, I would expect the forces acting on the glass to be ill-distributed. Material fatigue would then only be a secondary cause.
[0] https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/ungluecke/aquarium-...
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#109Now radisson will have to discount the room prices, once main attraction is gone...
I bet it stinks for months too
Re: Cylindrical aquarium housing 1,500 exotic fish bursts in Berlin
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quoted post unavailable.
Most fishtanks have to stay in a pretty narrow range of temperatures or the fish die. A big professional installation like this I expect will have both water heating and water cooling (aircon, but for water). And in a glass fishtank, the glass is in good thermal contact with the water, but bad thermal contact with the room air - so the glass will end up being at fishtank temperature. So, unless they had extracted all…
It's possible that the installation assumed a particular temperature range in the surrounding area. The water was still heated to the proper temperature but because the surrounding air was lower than design parameters allowed, was leaking more heat than designed for, requiring the water heating to work harder. Zero idea if any of that is correct but it shouldn't be ignored as a possibility and is one possibility that could be eliminated very quickly if not true.