My wife had to go to Atlanta for buisness, so I thought I would tag along for a few days to check out the Georgia Aquarium. If you make reservations, and pay a small fee, you can get a behind the scenes tour. Not only do I reccomend goining to the aquarium, but if your going to to go all that way, you have to take the behind the scenes tour. It was my favorite part.
This is a picture of the top of their reef tank. I don't know how many gallons total, but it was about twenty feet tall, maybe thrity feet wide and perhaps ten to fifty feet deep. The wall of the reef was pretty close to the front of the glass, but it is sloped back to a "refuge" area with mangroves.
It's pretty amazing, that there reef system is not all that much different from ours, but just on a much larger scale. They have a skylight above the tank, and it supplmented by 2000w MHs. I didn't bother to count them, and couldn't get all of them in a picture.
I saw at least four protien skimmers, these things where huge. The first one was about 12 foot tall, and the second was maybe seven foot tall.
You can see the "collection cups" on the two larger ones behind all of the pipes in this picture. I would guess that the "collection cups" are about five foot tall.
In order to generate flow, the have a wave maker that spans the entire length of the tank. They where doing a repair to it when we where there, so we didn't see it in action. Wich was probably better, as you where able to look down onto the reef without surface agitation.
In addition to the protein skimmers and the wavemaker, water is passed through a sand filter and a "bacteria" filter (the tour guide couldn't really explain it to me) and is also flushed with Ozone at some point in the process. Water is moved throughout the system with these two pumps.
Here is a picture of their frag tanks. They take a 12 foot disc and place it on the bottom of a natural reef, then come back a year or so later to see what has started to grow on it. The "frags" are then either placed on their reef permanantly or they are either put into the frag tank below, or by the mangroves above to grow out first.
The total system volume for the whole aquarium is 8 million gallons, that is alot of saltwater and all of it is artficial. They buy their Instant Ocean by the 1.5 ton bag.
An aquacontroler isn't going to cut it in this application, here is a picture of one of their control screens.
The reef tank is one of their smaller "large" tanks. Their "main" display is a 6 million gallon tank. This picture was taken from a catwalk that spans across the top of the tank. The tank goes for another twenty feet or so behind you.
This picture is of a tunnel you can walk though, that is part of the standard tour of the aquarium.
What do you keep in such a large tank you ask? These...
They had just gotten three new whale sharks a few days before I visited. you can't take these home in a plastic bag from the LFS. UPS donated a plane and a shipping container to transport them.
So what do you do when one of your prize specimens gets sick, a freshwater dip and some garlick might not cut it, when you need to operate.
Finally here is a picture of this little guy just because he is so cool. He had his own little tank.
This is a picture of the top of their reef tank. I don't know how many gallons total, but it was about twenty feet tall, maybe thrity feet wide and perhaps ten to fifty feet deep. The wall of the reef was pretty close to the front of the glass, but it is sloped back to a "refuge" area with mangroves.
It's pretty amazing, that there reef system is not all that much different from ours, but just on a much larger scale. They have a skylight above the tank, and it supplmented by 2000w MHs. I didn't bother to count them, and couldn't get all of them in a picture.
I saw at least four protien skimmers, these things where huge. The first one was about 12 foot tall, and the second was maybe seven foot tall.
You can see the "collection cups" on the two larger ones behind all of the pipes in this picture. I would guess that the "collection cups" are about five foot tall.
In order to generate flow, the have a wave maker that spans the entire length of the tank. They where doing a repair to it when we where there, so we didn't see it in action. Wich was probably better, as you where able to look down onto the reef without surface agitation.
In addition to the protein skimmers and the wavemaker, water is passed through a sand filter and a "bacteria" filter (the tour guide couldn't really explain it to me) and is also flushed with Ozone at some point in the process. Water is moved throughout the system with these two pumps.
Here is a picture of their frag tanks. They take a 12 foot disc and place it on the bottom of a natural reef, then come back a year or so later to see what has started to grow on it. The "frags" are then either placed on their reef permanantly or they are either put into the frag tank below, or by the mangroves above to grow out first.
The total system volume for the whole aquarium is 8 million gallons, that is alot of saltwater and all of it is artficial. They buy their Instant Ocean by the 1.5 ton bag.
An aquacontroler isn't going to cut it in this application, here is a picture of one of their control screens.
The reef tank is one of their smaller "large" tanks. Their "main" display is a 6 million gallon tank. This picture was taken from a catwalk that spans across the top of the tank. The tank goes for another twenty feet or so behind you.
This picture is of a tunnel you can walk though, that is part of the standard tour of the aquarium.
What do you keep in such a large tank you ask? These...
They had just gotten three new whale sharks a few days before I visited. you can't take these home in a plastic bag from the LFS. UPS donated a plane and a shipping container to transport them.
So what do you do when one of your prize specimens gets sick, a freshwater dip and some garlick might not cut it, when you need to operate.
Finally here is a picture of this little guy just because he is so cool. He had his own little tank.
