The 200,000 gallon tank build thread.

[Anonymous]

You've started the relocate by now, yes Matt? When do you move your own official digs, the cube and stuff?

There are no live animals at the new facility yet. The very first live animal will be a coral sometime next month, and then fish. This is the very first tank to be filled and will be the first to receive live animals. Tanks will come on line and get stocked in pretty rapid order after this one.

My new cubicle is way too small to have a tank. I may just set it up in a common area and keep my favorite interesting/rare fishies in it with live rock and no corals. I honestly have no idea when I'll be moving my own personal stuff. The next 6-8 months are probably going to be a 50/50 split of time at both locations.

 

[Anonymous]

How much heat are those lamps going to generate? Photo-3 is ridiculous.

A lot! There's a lot of airspace above and beyond those lights to dissipate it. Keeping the tank at the right temperature will be one of the easiest parts.

 

[Anonymous]

yay! how about a front shot

Unfortunately the windows are pretty much all covered up right now. There is still a lot of construction going on in front of them and they don't want to create any scratches.

 

[brandonberry]

Just curious how many kilowatts it takes to run that tank.

The lighting is somewhere around 110 kW. I can't say with any certainty what the rest of the tank would be.

Wow, where I live that would be about $4,000 a month just to run the lights. Where's the nuclear reactor going to go?

 

[stubbsz]

Just curious how many kilowatts it takes to run that tank.

The lighting is somewhere around 110 kW. I can't say with any certainty what the rest of the tank would be.

Wow, where I live that would be about $4,000 a month just to run the lights. Where's the nuclear reactor going to go?

Doesn't this building have solar? If I didn't imagine that, what size system they are installing?

 

[Anonymous]

correct me if my memory is failing... but I think the pumps they use for circulation was mentioned they were somewhere along the lines of 65 horse each? in which case that'd be close to 50kW per pump.

And I don't believe the building has solar, you can see an overview here
http://calacademy.org/visit/index.php

It'll have grass!

 

[Anonymous]

Just curious how many kilowatts it takes to run that tank.

The lighting is somewhere around 110 kW. I can't say with any certainty what the rest of the tank would be.

Wow, where I live that would be about $4,000 a month just to run the lights. Where's the nuclear reactor going to go?

Doesn't this building have solar? If I didn't imagine that, what size system they are installing?

There will be solar panels on the roof. The website sez:

Sixty-thousand photovoltaic cells will provide 5% to 10% of electricity from solar energy

 

[Anonymous]

correct me if my memory is failing... but I think the pumps they use for circulation was mentioned they were somewhere along the lines of 65 horse each? in which case that'd be close to 50kW per pump.

And I don't believe the building has solar, you can see an overview here
http://calacademy.org/visit/index.php

It'll have grass!

More than just grass!

http://calacademy.org/academy/building/

All sorts of wildflowers and poppies and such. Apparently a couple sunflowers have taken root up there all on their own.

 

[Anonymous]

any more updates on this?

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

Wow... pretty kool. I'll have to make a trip back out there someday. Give it a few years or so after 2008.

I wanted to do the same thing at the Georgia Aquarium. Wait a few years till they really get some good coral growth going. Does anybody know exactly how nice the coral tank is, videos/pics, if it's really grown out with sps and all sorts of stuff??

 

[tfp]

omG matt! this is freakin' amazing . man, you've come a LONG way since the good old MARS days. hella proud of you!!!

tim

 

[ThrillYa]

I'm going to start planning my trip to visit right now!

 

[Anonymous]

omG matt! this is freakin' amazing . man, you've come a LONG way since the good old MARS days. hella proud of you!!!

tim

Thanks Tim!

 

[Anonymous]

any more updates on this?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 0V6QB0.DTL

 

[Anonymous]

So the article said the university isnt collecting any wild corals from their natural habitat for the tank.
Have you guys just been growing huge frag tanks for some time, or is there another method your using to populate the tank with corals?

It must've been exciting to get the first ones in there Matt :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Some corals were donated by Bay Area Reefers, a local reef club. But yah, they had a large prop room for some time. I thought there were pics of it in this thread some place?

 

[Anonymous]

So the article said the university isnt collecting any wild corals from their natural habitat for the tank.

Not a university!

 

[Anonymous]

Some corals were donated by Bay Area Reefers, a local reef club. But yah, they had a large prop room for some time. I thought there were pics of it in this thread some place?

Correct. We have about 4100 gallons of water in agricultural bins (41 bins about half filled) with a 1kW MH over each, separated into 7 systems. The corals have come from a variety of sources, and I'm sure I'll forget at least one here...

Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha (Mitch C.)
Atlantis Marine World (Joe Y.)
Waikiki Aquarium (Charles D.)
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Birch Aquarium
Bay Area Reefers
Lots of individual hobbyists in the bay area and beyond
Confiscations from the USF&W

In no particular order or quantity.

 

[Anonymous]

Some corals were donated by Bay Area Reefers, a local reef club. But yah, they had a large prop room for some time. I thought there were pics of it in this thread some place?

Correct. We have about 4100 gallons of water in agricultural bins (41 bins about half filled) with a 1kW MH over each, separated into 7 systems. The corals have come from a variety of sources, and I'm sure I'll forget at least one here...

Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha (Mitch C.)
Atlantis Marine World (Joe Y.)
Waikiki Aquarium (Charles D.)
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Birch Aquarium
Bay Area Reefers
Lots of individual hobbyists in the bay area and beyond
Confiscations from the USF&W

In no particular order or quantity.

very cool. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

So Matt, any truly cool stuff that got confiscated? Or simply stuff anyone can get but they tried to smuggle it in?