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Georgia Aquarium


Der ABT

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Well was down racing at Road atlanta (follow the link in the sig to see vids and pics) and with a ton of rain on sunday and me not having a set of rain tires (yet) we decided to hit up the aquarium that was about 40min from the track. We were leaving so didnt have a ton of time to spend there before a long drive hom but figured id give a quick write up and share some pics.

 

Got there with the wife and daughter so forgive the humans in the pics

started off in the reef area and figured wed save the big tank for last(6.3 mill gal) they had some cool tanks here and there but nothign really wowed me at first, (nice jelly tanks though) and it was packed so getting around was kinda annoying.

but then we came into a room with this tank

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really amazing design that reminded me of the way some beaches go from deep to shallow. the yellow tangs were nuts, had to be well over 1000. some really great fish in there, and alot of large what look liked chalice and other "hardy" corals like softies and monti caps.

this wrasse was GINORMOUS i know someone will know what it is.

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this was the only real pics i took as the rest was didnt have a wow factor to me not that it wasnt nice and cool to see but.

next came the big tank (after we got back the little car someones kid took, lucky the dad brought it back)

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the big tank, 2 whale sharks, hammerheads, 2 mantas, grouper, etc etc ill let the pics do the talking after this short blurb. 2 foot acrylic, cool walk thru tank with portholes/viewing areas all around and one big open acrylic tunnel. you can dive in this tank if you pay for it.

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sorry if blurry didnt have time before the next mob came to play with settings.

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then came the big room, this was just an amazing view, the tank is 25 or 30ft deep i think it was. got there just in time for feeding.

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(edited)

then came the freaking sweet part of the trip. Behind the scenes, saw a guy (Grant) who worked there walking around and wanted to see if there was any more coral exhibits.....No but what are you guys doing here where you from, do you have some time?? yes you do great follow me we will go behind the scenes... :clap: :clap: :lol2: :cool:

 

so in the tank with the tangs 61 1000w many diff bulbs, cool mangrove and bamboo shark nursery, breeding facility,wave generator,

and skimmers that make the one in justins garage that is what 8 feet tall....look like its for a nano.

again so many pics with fewer words works...ask any questions and hopefully i can anwser...talked alot of shop with Grant and man made the day.

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notice the skimmer top on the top left of pic below

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Grant on left

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here is the album for those pics i missed

Georgia Aquaurim

Edited by Der ABT
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I think our new house will be 1.5-2 hrs from Atlanta .. THIS will surely make the list of things to do in retirement ! Thanks for the pics

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Cool pix, Evan. Someday I want to see this aquarium. It's on my list of places to visit. Aquarium diving is actually kind of fun. I dove the aquarium at Epcot a few years back. Diving Atlanta would be fun.

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This is on my list of places to visit - for sure.

 

I was talking to the zoo's nutritionist (he use to be one of the nutritionists at the Georgia Aq), and he was telling me that apparently the filtration system of that 6 million gallon whale shark tank can turn over the entire volume in ~45 minutes. :eek: (I bow to the aquatic engineers on that one...)

 

He was also telling a story that when they first got their whale sharks, they were trying to get them to feed. They flew in $75,000 worth of live copepods/zooplankton, and he had a bucket that he was walking with and feeding the sharks. He said that he wasn't looking at the tank, just the sharks, and as he poured the 'pods in from of the sharks, nearly the entire bucket's worth went down the overflows to the filtration system. $75K, quite literaly, down the drain.....

 

O... M... G...

 

Cheers

Mike

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Sweet pics, I dove there a couple years back and it was a blast.....at that time they had one manta ray and it followed us around for the entire dive.....it was pricey, but fun. Did you go to the coke museum and drink all 100 coke flavors? That is like an Atlanta right of passage......

 

cheers,

Darren

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