19,000-gallon Aquarium by the Sea

This is a story about how this aquarium came to be. This is a relatively large tank from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is still in progress and I suspect it will always be so. I am always getting valuable feedback especially from Reef Central and do not think I would have been able to do it otherwise.

Introduction
We come from a family of fishermen and we feel connected to the sea. We've always had fish tanks of one type or another, either fresh or salt water. The last tank I had was a 50-gallon saltwater with fish and live sand; that was in 2005 - 2006 when I was studying in the U.S. I really enjoyed it and kept on reading more and more about saltwater aquariums in general and reef aquariums in particular. The colors and shapes mesmerized me and I kept looking at reef aquariums and thinking, “Someday.” One of the tanks that really inspired me back then was Steve Weast's Oregon Reef. The philosophy behind the tank was phenomenal and the design did not fall short of the philosophy.

Fast forward to the current day and we (my brothers and I) built and moved into our new homes. We had a by-the-sea location and were hoping to utilize it accordingly. Along the sea front we created a walkway, trying to pave it to make an inlet similar to a boat dock. It did not work as anticipated, so a proper marina was built for the boat and the inlet was closed off.



After closing off the inlet, it looked like a suitable place for a fish farm. The area was quite big measuring 11m x 8m x 2m (around 45,000-gallons). We thought it would be a good idea to try and 'grow' some fish. It would not be anything like a commercial fish farm; nothing more than 200 - 300 fishes. It worked well for around six months until the side of the fish farm partially broke. We planned a second tank to move the fish over to until we fixed this one. It was then brought up (by me of course) that since we are building a new tank we might as well make it a glass front tank so that we can enjoy the fish. Especially because the tanks are buried in ground and will not obstruct the view of the sea from our homes. So an addition to the current fish farm was planned, measuring 11m x 5m x 1.5m (around 22,000-gallons) but instead ended up being 11m x 5m x 1.2m (around 17,500 gallons). Unfortunately the fish farm's side broke entirely before we had the chance to finish the aquarium and we lost all the fish. As bad as this was, it allowed for a better plan. We stopped and looked at the overall picture and noticed the mistakes in our current approach:

1. Our water source was directly from the sea. Even though it was taken nearly 2m below sea surface and there were no measurable differences between the two, the quality of the water could not be controlled.
2. There was no place to install filtration equipment if need be.
3. The fish farm was too deep and fixing the side proved difficult - to say the least - because of the tide.

So it was decided that a refugium needed to be built and a saltwater well be drilled. The saltwater well idea came from one of the Reef Central forum members; people with commercial fish farms here agreed that a saltwater well was a good idea. The refugium will allow for some natural filtration and mechanical filtration if need be. The saltwater well will help maintain a constant quality saltwater regardless of what happens in the sea (oil spills, red tide, etc). The fish farm's depth was significantly decreased as well and concrete was poured to cover the bottom, which was previously sandy substrate.

We then added a seating area over the aquarium for several reasons:

1. It becomes very hot here during the summer and having part of the aquarium covered helps control the temperature of the water and allows for a variation of growth in the aquarium.
2. We wanted another themed seating area. It also looks nice looking down at the fish like one does in a pond.
3. It would allow us to add lighting if need be.

So as we stand now, the saltwater will be pumped from the saltwater well into the refugium and then into the main display area. After that, the water will overflow into the fish farm and then finally to the sea. The total water volume is around 45,500-gallons:

• 5,000 gallons – Refugium
• 17,500 gallons - Aquarium
• 23,000 gallons - Fish Farm

The Refugium
Even though we have access to fresh saltwater, I wanted to have a refugium. Before the introduction of the saltwater well into our plans, a refugium was necessary because of the fact that there will be times where the collected water source is not usable (due to oil spills, red tide, natural disaster, etc.) and therefore that water needs to be circulated for several weeks prior to use. After the introduction of the saltwater well, the refugium is still important, not only because of the known reasons, but also because it will give me a place to put filtration and other equipment that I do not want to have in the main tank.

The design of the refugium is nothing special, just much bigger than usual. I took a standard refugium design and blew it up several times. The final dimensions of the refugium became 3m x 5m x 1.4m.







The Aquarium
The aquarium has three-sides and the floor made of marine-grade reinforced concrete. The fourth side is made of glass. There are a total of three pieces of glass measuring ~3m each. The glass is made of two sheets (12 mm + 12mm thickness). Both sheets are laminated, tempered, and polished. The top of the glass is reinforced by a horizontal beam made up of three sheets of glass. The top part is covered with stainless steel.







There was a lot of discussion about what color the aquarium walls should be painted. There were several opinions:

• Black - Depth perception to the viewer, making it seamlessly expand to the sea behind it.
• Light Blue - Better light reflection throughout the tank.
• Dark Blue - It has the benefits of black but is not black.

We decided upon dark blue. The paint had no purpose except aesthetics. As mentioned before, the tank is made from marine-grade reinforced concrete and the chance of it leaking is low. We went with an epoxy paint for the added insurance.



Two layers of paint were applied to cover the sides, floor, and ceiling of the tank (the area under the over-the-aquarium seating area).



The dimensions of the tank cannot really be appreciated through photos. This is a photo from the inside of the tank before being painted:





The Fish Farm
Nothing special here, the fish farm is a concrete container that the water overflows to from the aquarium and on its way to the sea. Due to the original wall damage, we had to sacrifice a lot of depth in the fish farm, nearly one meter so that we could fix it.



The Surrounding Area
There is a large area surrounding the aquarium. The other two focal points of the area (what I call the backyard) is a swimming pool and a playground area. The designs are still in progress, but here is how this changed as well.

We started with a simple sketch of what we needed and how we could connect everything together. The first design was a representation of that. It used simple passageways to connect the villas together and to the focal areas of the 'backyard.'



This, however, was not sufficient and other requirements were drafted for the area. The new requirements changed the design dramatically and allowed for a better utilization of the space in relation to the requirements.



The plans are still changing, and as I have mentioned in the beginning of the article, it has a long way to go. We are very close to the final design of the aquarium area though. A couch-style seating area will be used. Ramps and stairs will give access to and from the in-front-of-the-aquarium seating area to the other seating areas around the aquarium.



Conclusion
There is a misconception that the Arabian Gulf has no marine environment to speak of. The last one I heard was on the Discovery channel in a program discussing the Palm Islands and how they are planning to 'make' a marine environment that did not exist before. However, my ancestors has been living off the sea for hundreds of years. To this day, some of my family members are fishermen by trade. A new acquaintance that has a PhD in marine sciences was telling me how vibrant the marine environment is here. Yes, it isn't as colorful as other oceans but beautiful nonetheless. By adapting to the local weather, it remains and flourishes. I think people relate the weather and inland environment with how it is at sea, which isn't necessarily true.

In this project, we are trying to show that an aquarium that is based primarily on local reef and fish can look as wonderful as any other aquarium. More importantly, this is our local environment and we should be proud of it.

Updates will continue to be made on Reef Addicts, so stay tuned...