Some of you may be familiar with the phenomenal large aquarium owned by Peter Hyne in Toronto, Canada. I personally started following the build thread on Reef Central with wide eyes and floored jaw since it’s inception back in March, 2010. Peter put an envious amount of forethought into everything that went into the aquarium build, with the help of many leading hobbyists and industry folk alike.
One of the cracks that occurred after the seam let loose. Credit: “Mr. Wilson”
Unfortunately, Tuesday night disaster struck in the form of an acrylic panel letting loose at a bottom seam leading to ~1,200 gallons of water flooding the basement area. Luckily aquarium professional Shawn (“Mr. Wilson”) had the foresight to install a 4″ drain underneath the aquarium to allow water to escape should the worst of the worst happen. Even though water gushed from the aquarium covering a 2,000 square foot area in the blink of an eye, the crew hopped onto the issue and had the mess initially cleaned up within an hour, although more cleanup was sure to follow come morning. Peter posted in his build thread with a heavy heart the series of events that occurred, and somehow at this point still seems to be in good spirits. Whereas I would be crushed, without a doubt. If you frequent that website lend a note and words of encouragement so we can hopefully have this amazing system rebooted better than ever before.
The crew had a video diary running for a while that was quite enjoyable, which you can find here.
Here you can see just how far the crack made its way up the panel. Credit: “Mr. Wilson”
This picture shows that the seam let loose on the shorter eight foot side, a whopping six feet down. Credit: “Mr. Wilson”
Wonderful shot of the tank in it’s glory. Look at that crinoid loving life at the top of the reef as they would in nature! Credit: Peter Hyne
Thriving Razor/Pipefish (Aeoliscus strigatus). Credit: Peter Hyne
It’s tough to capture a massive “L” shaped tank in pictures, but this is a great shot. Credit: Peter Hyne
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