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The 200,000 gallon tank build thread.

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Anonymous

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Hello all,

This tank is a major component of the CA Academy of Sciences Steinhart Aquarium, due to open in late 2008 in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco CA. At 180,000 g (plus a 30,000 g shark lagoon) it will arguably be the largest living reef tank in the world when completed, and at 25 feet in depth, almost certainly the deepest.

Here I aim to present a unique behind the scenes glimpse at what goes into building a tank of this magnitude. I hope you enjoy it.

EDIT UPDATE:
Opening day is September 27, 2008. The actual water volume of the reef tank is right around 200,000 gallons.

MHW
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Visitors will view the tank from 5 distinct underwater views, 3 of which are shown directly below. The 2 largest windows are front views of the main reef. The circular flat window will be a "cave view" that gives a view through 60 feet of shaded caves and archways, with beams of light streaming through. This area will be populated by nocturnal fishes such as cardinalfish, as well as gorgonians. Visitors will be able to traverse almost the entire perimeter at the top of the tank as well. Below you can see these windows being installed in the tank.

This is the largest window, nicknamed "The buddha belly" by the construction crew for obvious reasons. The area where the worker is standing will actually be covered with a shallow lagoon type area around 2-3 feet deep.
installation_of_coral_reef_window2_173_105.jpg


One of the smaller windows...
coral_reef_window_instllation_208_456.jpg


...and the cave view window.
coral_reef_window_installation2_755_382.jpg
 
H

herpencounter

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Yeah! I saw a show on this a few months ago I watched them put the "The buddha belly" and allot of other stuff.

Keep us posted if you can...
 
A

Anonymous

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I saw the acrylic sample they had at Steinhart this last wednesday man that sombiznitch is thick!

I also so that very nice beckett type skimmer sitting on the other side of the fence, if I was a little less dishonest I could have scored me some prime equipment with no one around :D
 
M

MartinE

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Matt_Wandell":ds54d8f5 said:
Len":ds54d8f5 said:
Twice upstaged!
Click to expand...

Everybody at the Steinhart thinks your old tank in Paletta's book kicks ass, by the way. :D
Click to expand...
I agree with you guys way kick ass tank Len! :D
Thanks for the pics and info on the new public aquarium Matt looks like it will be cool as well.
 
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Anonymous

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Awesome! :D

I saw a Discovery show on this, i think. The acrylic panes came from Colorado?

Unbelievable setup. Can't wait to see it develop.

Any idea what they'll do for flow?
A few thousand Vortex?
:lol:
 
A

Anonymous

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Matt will personally be doing the circulation via a paddle boat.
 
A

Anonymous

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JohnHenry":2q66plek said:
Awesome! :D

I saw a Discovery show on this, i think. The acrylic panes came from Colorado?

Unbelievable setup. Can't wait to see it develop.

Any idea what they'll do for flow?
A few thousand Vortex?
:lol:
Click to expand...

There will be several circulation loops, essentially what we in the hobby call "closed loops", except scaled up. Using 8" PVC piping and large industrial pumps with movable eductors inside the tank. These are then controlled by units (the name escapes me at the moment) that ramp the flow up and down just like a vortech or tunze. Except they'll be doing it at something like 24,000 gallons per minute. Yeah, not a typo.
 
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