A Big Idea

The first time I saw those giant tanks in the Eco Lab, I questioned why they weren't being used. In the subsequent years I figured out why they were never used, they are a tremendous amount of work. I started out in the fall of my sophomore year repairing the 800 gallon tall tank. It had numerous problems which I'll describe in the proces posts. Many people suggested that I use freshwater instead of saltwater for both the tanks. Freshwater was available from the tap, where as saltwater had to be trucked in. Moving such a large amount of water is no easy task, but I stood strong to my vision - a tank of organisms that I could find locally.

After getting the tall tank up and running, I set my eyes on the really big tank. 1,200 gallons, 20 feet long, and 4 feet high. At the time it was being used for landscape design. In the summer of my sophomore year I spent a huge amount of time building this tank. I say building because the only thing that was there was the tank, no filtration system. All the life support systems had to be amended to the big tank.

Although the tank looks rather simple right now, as you will read there were many problems and challenges in getting there. It was far from filling it up, turning on the pumps, and putting fish in it. And even now that it is currently up and running, there is a constant bombardment of problems in maintenance of the complex life support systems.