[jacquesm]

That's a good guess, but I'd still like to see the final report if and when it is published and whether or not they manage to find the root cause. Likely the differential made the problem worse to the point that something gave but I suspect that there is a deeper underlying cause that made it sensitive to that difference in temperature to begin with. Either a material flaw, an assembly issue or something else.

[fuzzfactor]

Seems to me it must have been a salt water tank if it had clownfish, and they are tropical so it's not just exposing the acrylic to constant warm water, but a more realistic marine environment.

In the lab I've chemically tested acrylics that were bullet-resistant at low-cm window thickness. No bullets were used in my phase of the operation, but I was clipping off chips from the exact coupons which had been physically measured beyond the fracture point.

You can tell there's a difference in ductility and brittleness with temperature. Pretty tough stuff regardless.

In the aquarium these are supposed to be very thick-walled acrylic curved panels bonded together.

If the water was maintained warm enough for the reef fish while the ambient air dropped below freezing I don't like that idea. The entire temperature differential being borne by the thickness of the acrylic could mean there are different plastic properties diverging among the inner and outer surfaces of the "glass" panel. This could give rise to stress being concentrated deep within the panel if the transition is not too smooth.

Conditions like this could be recreated if so.

Might have been OK if they had penguins and cold-water fish this time of year.

[swader999]

I'm basing it off of what this guy is reporting. He seems to have an inside legit view. https://www.zerohedge.com/user/105370

[jacquesm]

There are some eye witness accounts about corrosion around the base of the tank. One way in which that could have caused this is because corroded metal takes up more space than the original and this could put point stresses on the acrylic. I haven't seen any engineering drawings (I did try to find some but there are only pretty pictures) so I'm not sure how much effect that would have but keeping the base corrosion free would seem to be an absolute requirement regardless of whether or not it would have a disastrous effect like this. So I will have to wait until the investigators have gone all over this, given the amount of money involved there is bound to be a very thorough investigation and after having seen a couple of aircraft accident investigations conclude with entirely different findings than the first 24 hours of speculation I've learned that to be patient usually pays off.

[swader999]

That is fair. Security tapes might tell a lot as well.

[jacquesm]

Those will definitely be interesting, if they are leaked. Let's hope the cameras have a high frame rate because the first couple of frames will be the most interesting with respect to where the failure started and how it propagated.

In the Panama City there is an overhead swimming pool many meters above the restaurant floor. I've dined there a couple of times and never feel quite comfortable with that much water hanging over me supported by a sheet of acrylic.

After this that feeling is likely not going to be any less :)

[elliekelly]

Zero Hedge is not a reliable source of information. They also tend to push a lot of Russian fake news/propaganda. And of course Putin would love to have a major news item showing how the West’s gas sanctions have harmed the West.

[swader999]

Yeah, it's a nice balance to the murican propaganda.

[UnquietTinkerer]

Wow, that guy is ... extreme. I'm glad you posted the link, but I'd personally take any conclusions he draws with a grain of salt.