Aquariums in Annapolis Mall

[RW09903]

As some of you might know, the guys from TANKED came by and make two custom aquariums for Annapolis Mall. if you are familiar with the tanks, does it seem like there are substantially fewer fish in both systems?

[NateCamReef]

I saw the tanks at the taping of the show and have stopped by periodically since. There is about 10% of the fish remaining. Sad.

[howaboutme]

Did they do a new one or is it the same as this? I stopped watching that show.

 

http://wamas.org/forums/topic/58042-tanked-in-annapolis/?hl=tanked

[RW09903]

They only featured one tank on the episode. If you go into the mini eatry,there is a smaller tank with a few clowns, damsels and tangs. I remember the main tank being filled with angels, look downs, triggers, puffers, etc... I do not blame the guys from TANKED, as they only build and install. I would like to know who does the maintenance. I think it's sad too.

[Wrench]

The maintenance company is having a fit with that system because the amount of natural sunlight it gets is causing tremendous algal blooms.  For a long time, a diver was going in every single night to clean the algae from the glass and decorations. 

[DonkeyFish]

Hello all...here's some info regarding the Annapolis Mall tanks. I happen to know first hand!

Geoff Mellgren from Amazon Creations has the maintenance contract for the tanks. On the install/taping the second tank had not been completed or delivered so they had to do that install a few days later, after most of the crew was gone. That's why it didn't get in the show.

 

So far as the stocking goes...they intentionally overstock the tanks for the unveiling and filming. So yes, there are fewer fish now but not necessarily due to poor maintenance. The system as it was explained to me was a bit quirky and had some interesting obstacles to overcome. As mentioned before, one of these was the natural sunlight from directly above the tank-- an ongoing issue. The mall was on board to tint or black out the sunlight at the install but not sure what happened.

[sen5241b]

No corals, fish only? How hard can it be to run this thing? They probably have some mall employee trying to maintain it.

Edited November 16, 2013 by sen5241b

[gmerek2]

Must be nice to install a tank, make a bunch of money, overstock to make it look good then let some other company deal with the mess. I also wonder about all the fake decorations they pack in the tank. They have to look horrible after different types of algae, coralline etc starts to grow all over them. I just watched the first few episodes on netflex. I felt like money/deadlines were more important to them than the fishes health. I think Im going to discontinue watching and supporting their show.

[John Ford]

I like to imagine they have some sort of solid reputation being how large the company is and that they install systems across the country. You don't get there without some sort of expertise.

[Matt LeBaron]

They cater to people who have more money than sense. I stopped watching the show after about the first 6-7 episodes because I was so disgusted but you'll notice most of their customers are companies or some type that likely just replace the fish as they die rapidly.

 

The two episodes that I watched that stand out for me the most was the one at the casino, where at least as far as I could tell they just used tap water to fill the tank and then tossed in the salt mix and then less than 12 hours later the fish. According to the show it all happened in a single night. The other one, which was just animal cruelty as far as I was concerned was the half pike tank they made for the skating company, because I'm sure those fish appreciated having the noise and movement of skate boards flying over them constantly.

 

I was at the Annapolis Mall last night, the tank looks like it is doing ok, I think most of the fish in it were there the time before I was there so I think they're taking care of them now.

[steveoutlaw]

They disgust me.  I don't give a $h1t how much money they are getting paid, they are just killing fish over and over again.  I don't think I can count the number of episodes I've seen where they fill the tanks with tap water, throw in salt, and throw in fish.  I'd really like to know what the survival rate of their livestock is.  It has to be horrendous.

[lnevo]

They dont use tap water...they get advertising dollars from Nutri Sea water. It's a tv show, and what you see isnt how things really work. Have they had issues, I'm sure...they have made much more effort to explain things and say how they aren't done overnight. The last show 2 weeks ago they did a coral tank and explained how it wasnt an overnight install and would take a while for corals etc.

[ErikS]

They dont use tap water...they get advertising dollars from Nutri Sea water. It's a tv show, and what you see isnt how things really work. Have they had issues, I'm sure...they have made much more effort to explain things and say how they aren't done overnight. The last show 2 weeks ago they did a coral tank and explained how it wasnt an overnight install and would take a while for corals etc.

Nope, gotta go with Steve on this one - *sshats. They have in fact done fresh water w/ salt added later. Yeah, they've changed a bit......a small bit. They may use prepared water but they still put WAY too many fish in a tank.

 

There are many who track these jerks - last time I looked they had about 10% of the show tanks still up & running.

[YHSublime]

I can't speak to the way they run their tanks, or set them up, but just on a personal note, the show sucks, IMO. Even on Netflix, with no commercials, it's painful for me to watch. The Build Forum on WAMAS is way more entertaining, with nicer setups.

[steveoutlaw]

They dont use tap water...they get advertising dollars from Nutri Sea water. It's a tv show, and what you see isnt how things really work. Have they had issues, I'm sure...they have made much more effort to explain things and say how they aren't done overnight. The last show 2 weeks ago they did a coral tank and explained how it wasnt an overnight install and would take a while for corals etc.

 

Lol, they actually showed the hose being hooked up to a faucet on one of the episodes.  These guys stink.  H-E-double hockey sticks, my favorite part of season one was watching them try to pronounce the names of some of the fish.........priceless.

[gmerek2]

My fav episode was when they cooled the tank down with hotel ice machine ice to cool a tank and to make a deadline. Classy. Do these tanks cycle or how are they dumping fish in right away? It is painfully boring to watch I'm done with it.

[smallreef]

They throw in bottled bacteria...sometimes...other times... I'm not sure...

I watch alot of the shows for the ideas in the tanks...couldn't imagine setting a tank up in a day and putting living creatures inside...

[Enkay]

In spite of bottled bacteria, it would still take a while to cycle a tank and make it habitable for fish and other creatures. I watched a couple of their shows and for starters I was put off with the fake coral they use to decorate. 

 

I have had my tank running for about 3 months now and just yesterday I put the first fish in. How many of these tanks that they set up actually survive and have the critters alive after a month or so? They never show that now, do they ?

[smallreef]

Oh god no,lol

I can't imagine many if any of the fish they initially throw in live....

But that being said...we all know better and take care of our tanks...alot of these people will have companies maintaining and replacing things for them...they will feed, and that's usually it...

[Enkay]

I other words, they kill a lot of fish.

[sparker]

I went to the Annapolis mall the other day. There was way less fish than I remember seeing the last couple times, but at least there wasn't any dead ones rotting at the bottom.Either way I'm not a fan of those cylinder tanks anyway... curved glass is a pain lol.

Also when did this mall offically change into a like ritzy/hipster mall? I was there on a friday evening and there wasn't a bunch of wasted teenagers...wth... maybe I was there to early...

[lutz123]

While I agree that the show makes me cringe at times, I also realize that reality shows have lots that goes on behind the scenes that you don't see, scenes don't appear in the order they were shot, and many times there is alot of fixing going on afterwards. And I'm not sure it's any better for us (me included) to criticize when it's okay that we buy a fish that was snatched out of it's already depleted habitat and shipped halfway across the world because we just had to have such-and-such species. At least they don't typically do coral and live rock - it could be worse for sure!

 

And somehow my daughter's boyfriend knew to top off my tank with distilled water when we were on vacation because of Tanked.

[RW09903]

While I agree that the show makes me cringe at times, I also realize that reality shows have lots that goes on behind the scenes that you don't see, scenes don't appear in the order they were shot, and many times there is alot of fixing going on afterwards. And I'm not sure it's any better for us (me included) to criticize when it's okay that we buy a fish that was snatched out of it's already depleted habitat and shipped halfway across the world because we just had to have such-and-such species. At least they don't typically do coral and live rock - it could be worse for sure!

 

And somehow my daughter's boyfriend knew to top off my tank with distilled water when we were on vacation because of Tanked.

I agree. 

[Jim Mc]

I watch this show regularly mostly for ideas.  I am not a fan of the coral inserts but they have done a few live coral tanks.  As for their cycling method, I used it, have a thread here about it somewhere.  It worked for me with no losses.