Tank Tour of Des Moines Public Schools Marine Biology Deparment

[Floyd R Turbo]

The Greater Iowa Reef Society had a tank tour this past saturday, which included the fully renovated (2 months old) aquarium facility at the Central Campus building in downtown Des Moines, IA. This facility, so say the least, was incredibly impressive.

Briefly, this facility houses 14,000 gallons of system water in the main aquarium room and another 6,000 gallons in a mezzanine level where they make the RO, and mix and store the saltwater. They are able to do water changes on all tank in the system in 5 hours. Their SW mixing tank is able to fill with 500 gallons of RO water in 6 minutes. And who says Des Moines is behind the times!?!?

For anyone who will be attending MACNA in the Fall of 2011 in Des Moines, this facility is only a few blocks away from the convention center where MACNA will be held, and there was some discussion of opening up the facility to tour groups during the event. Over the next few days, I will be posting a series of pictures that I took with descriptions. In the meantime, feel free to view them yourself here:

Central Campus Des Moines IA pictures by FloydRTurbo - Photobucket

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

This tank in right in front of the main hallway window

It is about 4-5' front to back and probably 10' long, and 3' deep. It houses this big Grey Angel

2 huge Batfish

and this stingray

 

[melosu58]

Looks pretty good.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

This beat-up acrylic tank on this pedestal (adjacent to the big tank) is for sale and is in desperate need of resurfacing. The money will go towards the purchase of a 600 gallon moon jellyfish display. The head of the department set up a moon jelly display at the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, so he is the man.

There is another equal pedestal on the other side with a 300 gallon that is empty. They need more $ to get the twin 600s going.

Here's their future shark tank

Currently inhabited by a Remora

And, or course, any good shark tank is accompanied by a huge shark mouth mounted directly above the tank

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Here we all are in the lecture room getting a description of the current teaching process.

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The guy in the tan shirt and jeans is Kirk Embree, he heads up the department and was kind enough to come in on a Saturday and give us the tour (about 15-20 of us)

And we all could probably learn a little from a class covering these topics (some of us might be able to teach some of these topics)

Here's where they make and store the fish food

Here's my 3 year old son doing the speed tour

And taking a break to pet the nice freeze-dried fishies

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

This is the mezzanine level.

Wouldn't you like to have enough tanks in your house so that you needed a system like this???? We're standing around the mixing tank. This can fill with 500 gallons in 6 minutes. The 2 tanks on the right behind the group are the RO holding tanks. The 3 tanks along the wall to the left are the SW holding tanks.

Instant Ocean treats them like a public aquarium. This would be enough salt to last me a lifetime. Ok, if I had this much salt, I'd find a reason to put it to use within a couple years.

And how about this 200 GPD RO system!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Now, the tanks!!

These are their fry raising tanks.

They had a room dedicated to mated Clown pairs of all kinds. I didn't get a picture...

2 tanks full of Aptasia for feeding Copperband Butterfly fish

A few more tanks on that wall, as well as some Green Water vessels

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

More tanks

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Live rock cookers

Soft coral tanks (it's really all they have at this point)

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

...and a selection from the photo album on the first post of their fish

Maculosus Angelfish, Yellow Banded Angelfish, Yellow-Band Angelfish

Tangs - unicorn (I think), sailfin, yellow

Powder Blue

Puffer #1

Puffer #2

What is this???

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Big Hermit

Sea Apple

Turtle tank (kiddie pool!!)

Lyretail Wrasse & Yellow Tang

Urchins

Again, there are more pics in this album:

Central Campus Des Moines IA pictures by FloydRTurbo - Photobucket

All in all, it was a very impressive facility. I can't wait to see what it looks like toward the end of the school year, after the students have had their hands on it. They said that they reassured the LFSs that they aren't going to compete with them, but time will tell I suppose - they're got to be thinking that they can sell fish & frags on the open market. I know I would buy from them to support an educational facility teaching students that would very likely enter the field of Marine Biology.

Also, I wanted to mention that they are still in need of equipment. They chose to spend the $ they had (which was from a 1 cent sales tax referendum for the entire district 10 years ago) to purchase all the glass tanks that they needed. They currently are in desperate need of large protein skimmers. If you have one you don't need anymore, or know anyone who has one, PLEASE consider donating it to them. You probably would be able to take a tax deduction too. Right now they have to do water changes - lots of water changes.

Another thing, if you know of a way to DIY skimmers, send me a PM with a design and I might be able to pass it on and maybe their students can make some. That would be an interesting class project, wouldn't it?

And remember, if anyone wants a totally scratched up 300-400 gallon acrylic tank...they've got one.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Very nice; looks like it would be worth the tour.

 

[CoraltheClownfish]

What is this???

[/QUOTE]

That is a Scat or Scatophagus argus
Neat photos That place looks awesome!

 

[Krypt]

Phenomenal setup they have going there. I wish I could have gone and taken the tour.