The company that manufactured and installed the giant aquarium that burst in Berlin is sending a team to investigate, to try and work out what happened. Reynolds Polymer of Grand Junction, Colorado installed the world’s biggest freestanding cylinder aquarium twenty years ago, in 2002, but the giant tank has since had work done to it including the installation of an elevator.
The AquaDom was only reopened in the summer after 2.5 years of renovation that cost 2.6 million euros, according to a recent story published in (and translated from,) bz-berlin.de. Silicone seals were renewed, and the tank was thoroughly cleaned.
General Overhaul
Fabian Hellbusch, a spokesman for Union Investment, which holds the real estate fund said that “After 15 years of use, the aquarium was given a general overhaul two years ago. The intentions were renewed on the base and an additional sealing layer was added. The cylinder, which is made of acrylic, has been repaired and polished in places. There was also maintenance work on the elevator.”
In a statement on the company’s website Reynolds Polymer Technology, Inc said that at this point, it is too early to determine the factor or factors that would produce such a failure. They expressed concern for those affected and thanked the first responders, but it appears from their statement that some fish did survive.
“Reynolds Polymer offers its sincere concern to the hotel guests who were displaced by this incident, all of the hotel workers affected, and those who were injured. We are also deeply saddened by the animals and aquatic life lost. We offer our gratitude to the workers and first responders who were able to save some of the fish and relocate them.”
AquaDom holds the Guinness World Record for being the World’s largest freestanding cylinder aquarium. It burst catastrophically at 5:45am on the morning of Friday, December 16, 2022, spilling one million liters of water as well as 1500 fish in the Radisson Hotel Complex, Berlin. Luckily, no one was killed in the incident.
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