Fla. Casino Closed for Repair After Giant Saltwater Aquarium Leak

I’ve always wondered what it would be like if one of those giant tanks full of fish you see at Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops were to break. Maybe someone testing out a rod might make an errant cast that hits the plexiglass just right, or perhaps some small structural issue suddenly becomes a large structural issue, or something completely unexplained occurs to precipitate a localized Bassageddon. That’s exactly what happened recently at a Florida casino when a 13,000-gallon saltwater tank containing hundreds of fish – including a couple sharks – suddenly emptied.

From this story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

A little crack can cause a mighty mess — and a heap of disappointment. “The casino’s closed today,” Lucille Sfalanga told customer after customer Monday outside the Gulfstream Racing and Casino Park. A mysterious chink in the casino’s floor-to-ceiling fish tank caused a deluge around 12:15 a.m. Sunday, forcing the two-story casino to close even while the village’s shops, restaurants and racetrack remained open. On Monday, dehumidifiers and fans were at full blast, removing moisture from soggy carpets on both floors. Engineers were still trying to figure out what caused the leak, said Mike Couch, director of gaming at Gulfstream.

According to the story, gamblers near the 13-foot-high tank heard a “big bang” and then water started pouring out of the tank. Within a minute or two the tank was mostly empty, and 13,000 gallons of seawater and hundreds of fish were cruising the slot machine aisles. All the fish survived, but casino officials still don’t know what caused the tank to burst.