Center in the Square’s saltwater aquarium arrives (w/ photos)
Any thoughts on the aquarium or Center’s renovations? Feel free to share them in the comments. For photos of the installation, taken with my trusty iPhone, have a look below the cut.
Photo by Don Petersen
Center in the Square got tanked up Thursday afternoon.
The downtown Roanoke cultural institution took a major step forward in its $27 million renovation as a flatbed truck delivered the much-ballyhooed 5,500-gallon aquarium that will house live coral and saltwater fish by the entrance to Center’s atrium.
Center officials say the tank will be the largest living coral reef aquarium in the mid-Atlantic region. The nearest, in the Smithsonian’s Natural Museum of Natural History, holds 1,500 gallons.
As wide and tall as a bus, the 7,000-pound tank was lifted by crane and placed onto rollers but couldn’t be wheeled into the building until ceiling ducts were taken apart so the top of the tank could clear. It was ultimately lowered into a depression in the cement floor and placed on top of blocks of ice, which gradually melted to let the tank gently settle into its space.
Jeff Turner of Florida-based firm Reef Aquaria Design, which designed the tank, said 10,000 gallons of water will circulate through the tank’s system once it’s hooked up to the pumps and filters in the building’s basement. The 250 marine fish and 150 live soft and stony corals that will eventually go inside will almost all come from aquatic farms rather than from the ocean, he said.
Because the tank is so large, divers will have to place the coral inside the aquarium, Turner said.
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The tank arrives.
Its destination: to settle on ice that will gradually melt beneath it.
Hooking up to the crane.
Airborne.
 Guided into place with ropes... |
 ...and by hand. |
Lined up to be rolled inside what will be Center's atrium.
Putting the rollers into place.
 A few... |
 ...complications. |
Three hours later, the tank has been wheeled onto the tracks over the depression in the floor, lifted by a second crane and is now being lowered onto the ice blocks. (I didn't stick around through all of that — I had a story to write.)
"I think it's good."
September 7, 2012 - 11:37 AM
I hope it’s used to raise a enormous batch of Sea Monkeys.
I hope this fish tank isn’t a huge waste of money, but I’m afraid it will be. How much will this cost to maintain, and who will be maintaining it?
Late to the conversation I know, but Babs, a tank this size can have full on educational programs built around it. Living reefs are amazing self sustaining eco systems, to have something like that on display in Roanoke is amazing. Think of it like a zoo, would you rush up to mill mountain and complain that the animals are a waste of money just to be there for people too look at?