180 Gallon Florida Coral Reef Aquarium Build at the Ocean Discovery Visitors Center

[wowkingjames]

Enjoying this thread will follow.....

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Enjoying this thread will follow.....

I appreciate the follow and I’m glad you are enjoying it! I’m trying to keep the thread lively and updated!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Finally got the Apex set up today. Still need to figure out the UI and work on my alerts but I’m already super excited about my new monitoring system!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Just got the refugium set up today. Looking to stock it with various live foods so if anyone has had good experience with one type or another feel free to share!

Pardon the bubbles!

 

[Antics]

Great looking build so far! It feel very rare to see sand beds that deep these days. Great aquascape!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Great looking build so far! It feel very rare to see sand beds that deep these days. Great aquascape!

Thanks! I’m glad you like it! I’ve always been a fan of a decent sandbed especially since I want some burrowing fish, starfish and maybe even a little stingray. And thanks for the compliment on the aquascape I’m pretty pleased with it myself!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Just got some of our first additions! Just a few inverts to get things going.

Saltwater ghost shrimp for the refugium

A few emerald crabs

A few peppermint shrimp

And a personable arrow crab

Enjoy!

 

[mta_morrow]

Do you happen to have a boat launched submersible there, with the glass sphere in front?

Just curious as I had worked on it in the past as well as the boat that raised and lowered it in and out of the water.

If so, I would love to see a picture of it.

Either way, cool job, and you are all doing great work!

Smooth sailing,

Mike

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Do you happen to have a boat launched submersible there, with the glass sphere in front?

Just curious as I had worked on it in the past as well as the boat that raised and lowered it in and out of the water.

If so, I would love to see a picture of it.

Either way, cool job, and you are all doing great work!

Smooth sailing,

Mike

Yes our Johnson SeaLink Submersibles were in operation until 2010. What year did you work at Harbor Branch? If you are interested I highlight the subs in another thread so here is the link:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sponge-reef-at-the-ocean-discovery-visitors-center.409311/

Also thank you for the compliments! We do lots of amazing work!

 

[mta_morrow]

Yes our Johnson SeaLink Submersibles were in operation until 2010. What year did you work at Harbor Branch? If you are interested I highlight the subs in another thread so here is the link:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sponge-reef-at-the-ocean-discovery-visitors-center.409311/

Also thank you for the compliments! We do lots of amazing work!

I repaired and upgraded the boats and submersibles there in the mid to late 80’s. I always enjoyed working there Ft Pierce is a nice place.

Thanks for sharing the link, I’m gonna go check it out now!

Mike

 

[Brandon McHenry]

I repaired and upgraded the boats and submersibles there in the mid to late 80’s. I always enjoyed working there Ft Pierce is a nice place.

Thanks for sharing the link, I’m gonna go check it out now!

Mike

Glad to hear you have a true appreciation for what we do here!

 

[revhtree]

Thank you for sharing!

 

[mattgsa]

Great looking build thanks for sharing.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Thank you for sharing!

Great looking build thanks for sharing.

Thanks, and it’s been my pleasure!

 

[siggy]

You Sir are a man of many talents, from wood work to presentation, all around FINE JOB! ....And a BIG SHOUT OUT to the sponsors....FYI I'll be taking a close look at those arches. I want one!

Now will all live stock come from the ocean or will you get representations from LFS ? I cant wait for what you come up with next.....Oh this pic with that Ecotech Radion and that Grin says it all!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

You Sir are a man of many talents, from wood work to presentation, all around FINE JOB! ....And a BIG SHOUT OUT to the sponsors....FYI I'll be taking a close look at those arches. I want one!

Now will all live stock come from the ocean or will you get representations from LFS ? I cant wait for what you come up with next.....Oh this pic with that Ecotech Radion and that Grin says it all!

Well I really appreciate the compliment! I’ve certainly been using all of my talents (some much more limited than others) to put this build together. I am very pleased with it so far and I’m glad everyone here is so supportive!

Agreed, a big shoutout to Marineland, Ecotech Marine, CaribSea and Trigger System sumps for their contributions to this build. They really made it possible and they all have really amazing products. As for the arch it has been quite the hit!

As for the livestock, I am looking into working with a company from the Florida Keys that supplies other educational facilities with soft corals, invertebrates and fish. For the hard corals they will have to come from other aquariums and labs with the appropriate collection permits for protected corals but we already have a few lined up.

And if you think that is a grin you should’ve seen my face when I got the okay to order it all!

 

[cracker]

Great Job Man ! I assumed it was be stocked with species from Florida waters. Very cool with the proper permits ,You can keep Certain corals that are protected !

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Great Job Man ! I assumed it was be stocked with species from Florida waters. Very cool with the proper permits ,You can keep Certain corals that are protected !

Thanks! Yes it will be all stocked with Florida species which will be a really neat display. We are working with our friends and colleagues at the Smithsonian Marine Station, Mote Aquarium, FWC and our own Coral Reef Ecology lab to get certain protected species for display. It should be really amazing once it’s established!

 

[cracker]

You have some very good connections! The research You folks are doing now will be needed in the future.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Outstanding work Brandon!