April 2009 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society

Of course the ground level glass inserts made this pond
something the home aquarist with his rubberized pond liner
might only drool about. If this were a home project on a closed
water system, even without a desert in the back yard,
evaporation would be a problem. However when the Gulf of
Aqaba is at the front door and the pure blue waters simply flow
through, this opportunity clearly beckoned Eilat’s designers. As
a pond it was way over-populated, but as a show piece it held
foot long puffers, 2 inch damsels and all sorts from tangs to
triggerfish between those extremes. Oh and did I mention
corals Live of course and not just one or two but stacked in
plentiful supply so the fishes within the ‘pond’ could feel at
once comfortable and at ease while captive in an artificial sea
which was barely thirty inches deep.
A P R I L 2 0 0 9
lighting made the great outdoors happen within. Of course
there were the usual feeding displays with a suited-up diver
complete with scuba gear, but from a technical standpoint it
differed mostly because here finally a working filter system was
needed due to the huge bio-load presented by the sharks, manta
rays and other large fishes kept together in the one system. A
three stage sand filter incorporating down flow, then upflow
through the middle chamber, and finally down flow again at the
end was Eilat’s choice. The constant water changes
incorporated in all of the marine park displays were enough to
eliminate any need for ultraviolet lighting or ozonation, while
good old fashioned mechanical filtering did the rest. Okay there
was probably something biological happening in those sand
filters as well but primarily their function was pooper-scooping.
The open top predictably invited splashing by little fingers and
yet not one among the ever vigilant staff ever dissuaded that
interaction. This was a play zone like no other for the young
and for the very young at heart. Like any world class museum,
touchy feely learning was encouraged here.
Next up TMA got caught up with the Sea Turtles once again.
Maybe it was the wet-suited staffer chasing a four and a half
year old turtle around his environment because it was
grooming day that captured my attention. Think of the
difficulties you might have on fish-show day netting your prize
specimens for display and judging. Now add a few pounds (to
the quarry) and a lot of strength in those forelegs and imagine
the task then. And once again you heard it here first folks, we
have yet another utility for the ubiquitous recycling blue box.
Set it on top of a digital scale, zero out the reading and plop in
one wiggly toddler turtle. Presto, a captive weigh scale.
Next up we visited the pre-requisite shark tank. Check out that
lighting! To create a controlled environment the shark display
was domed with a tent-like enclosure and the high intensity
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