Recent Sea World (Orlando) visit

[pdiehm]

So we were just recently at Sea World in Orlando, and they have this beautiful reef tank near the Manta Rollercoaster. I sent an email about the water parameters and got a reply.

it's 12,000 gallons and the parameters they keep are as follows:

180 ppm Alkalinity (about 10dkh)
450 ppm Calcium
1350 ppm Magnesium
PO4 of 0.05 to 0.1

they have 10, 1,000 metal halides that run from 8am to 10:30 pm. 2 of the lights run the entire duration, 8 are on from 9am to 6pm. 14k bulbs changed out every 6 months. They change about 10% of the water monthly and this particular aquarium uses regular instant ocean.

Thought that was interesting and with the colors they have, would figured the alk/calcium would have been near NSW.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Got any pics? i bet it was a awesome trip!!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Never been to the one in orlando, went to the one in california, they didn't have a reef display when I was there (this was quite a few years ago) I agree, share pics

 

[Reeferdood]

IMHO, colors come from nutrients and lights. The elevated alkalinity should not matter as far as the colors goes. Stability is likely why the corals look so nice. Did you notice how many big fish are in the tank?? Corals LOVE fish poop, especially tang poop.
We have several customers that have beautiful SPS systems and their choice of salt is regular IO too.

 

[KStatefan]

It is a very nice reef tank

 

[pdiehm]

No pics, my phone was dead. They had some huge wrasse, a gazillon tangs, and a nice size tomato clown making sweet love to a frogspawn, who was not overly reciprocating that affection.

lots of damsels.

was a really nice display.

 

[legionofdoon]

I have some I'll post later we live in Florida and have annual passes.

 

[legionofdoon]

I'll post more when I get home. The amount of fish in this tank is crazy. The flow on some of the lps is way more than I'd blast them with.

 

[pdiehm]

oh, the clams. they had 1 monster clams. just very very very big.

 

[pdiehm]

I'll post more when I get home. The amount of fish in this tank is crazy. The flow on some of the lps is way more than I'd blast them with.

yeah, there's a pipe going down the left corner with 10-12 outlets pointed in every which direction. I'm sure there were pipes under and in the back of that tank too.

insane amount of flow.

 

[Tony Sini]

Yea i went and saw that about the same time i was setting up my tank got me so pumped up its a very nice tank

 

[KStatefan]

Not my video

 

[jda]

It is OK if your alk is 10 unless you get really low on N and P and the corals start to build too fast. The NSW level parameters keep the coral skeleton from out-calcifying the tissue and creating burnt tips. If you have N above about .5 and P above about .01, the calcification is inhibited a bit... this is why people who do have low N and P tanks can have cantaloupe sized corals in a few years and can sometimes see growth every day... while it takes others a decade.

Unless you are trying for low N and P, then the number on the test kid does not matter as much as consistency.

 

[legionofdoon]

More photos.

 

[legionofdoon]

Though this might be the tank by journey to Atlantis

 

[pdiehm]

Though this might be the tank by journey to Atlantis

Not sure, it's next to the Manta rollercoaster though. I know this because my daughter wouldn't go on the coaster, so we hung out in the aquarium place for 30 minutes or so.

 

[legionofdoon]

I meant that I'm not sure if the last picture I posted is from the manta or the Atlantis tank. Did you get to go on the Mako?

 

[legionofdoon]

That Duncan at the bottom left of the picture is huge in real life, it's the biggest one I've ever seen. It's bigger than a basketball.

 

[pdiehm]

I meant that I'm not sure if the last picture I posted is from the manta or the Atlantis tank. Did you get to go on the Mako?

No, I have a thing about heights.

 

[legionofdoon]

Lol it's definitely high, it's the fastest coaster I've been on.