Any Clue on Public Aquarium Water Parameters?

Crustaceon · Sep 9, 2022

I had the pleasure of visiting Birch Aquarium for work purposes (haha, completely unrelated to the hobby but still the best day of work ever) and wondered if anyone knew if their reef tanks received special treatment aside from obviously better lighting (elevated alkalinity/calcium/magnesium & nutrient control that we in the hobby employ), or if they just continually pump in natural sea water, as they do for their other displays? (Reefers in San Diego are familiar with "Scripps water". There used to be a spigot tied into the aquarium's sand filters that we'd use to get free nsw for water changes.

Dan_P · Sep 10, 2022

Crustaceon said:
I had the pleasure of visiting Birch Aquarium for work purposes (haha, completely unrelated to the hobby but still the best day of work ever) and wondered if anyone knew if their reef tanks received special treatment aside from obviously better lighting (elevated alkalinity/calcium/magnesium & nutrient control that we in the hobby employ), or if they just continually pump in natural sea water, as they do for their other displays? (Reefers in San Diego are familiar with "Scripps water". There used to be a spigot tied into the aquarium's sand filters that we'd use to get free nsw for water changes.

When you say special treatment, what are you thinking about?

Crustaceon · Sep 10, 2022

Dan_P said:
When you say special treatment, what are you thinking about?

Are they doing anything beyond using nsw pumped in from ocean such as adding alk/cal/mg, trace and/or adding-removing nitrates & phosphates.

Dan_P · Sep 10, 2022

Crustaceon said:
Are they doing anything beyond using nsw pumped in from ocean such as adding alk/cal/mg, trace and/or adding-removing nitrates & phosphates.

Got it. Great auestion. If they are doing frequent 100% water changes with ocean water, quite feasible with small systems, would they need to do anything else?

legionofdoon · Sep 10, 2022

I know SeaWorld Orlando uses artificial water and I believe they are constantly changing it. I think the WWC YouTube channel has a behind the scenes video of SeaWorld. They are literally just down the road from them.

Crustaceon · Sep 12, 2022

legionofdoon said:
I know SeaWorld Orlando uses artificial water and I believe they are constantly changing it. I think the WWC YouTube channel has a behind the scenes video of SeaWorld. They are literally just down the road from them.

Very interesting. It's a head scratcher because since they're constantly pumping in nsw, they theoretically shouldn't need to dose alk/cal/mg, BUT it could also be a case where other displays tied into the same system are dumping tons of N&P and the coral tanks need to be isolated because in comparison to the ocean, a public aquarium is a very small loop, even if it's an open one. Also, they could be looking at the hobby and how we achieve faster growth with elevated alk/ca/mg and see $$$ in having a display filling up quicker.