Inside Georgia Aquarium: The Biggest Aquarium in the U.S.

Sand Filters

The sand filters are similar to what you would find in a home swimming pool, but on a much larger scale. The pumps force water through the sand and the sand traps debris. The system can automatically back-wash sluggish filters, and the staff changes the sand periodically.

Protein Skimmers

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In a protein skimmer, water from the exhibits passes through the filter, which injects air at a very high velocity. A venturi valve — a tube with a constricted area in the center — breaks the air into microbubbles.

These bubbles have a lot of surface area for debris to cling to. The foam this process creates overflows from an opening at the top of the filter and falls into a collection chamber, which the staff must clean periodically.

This process naturally requires a lot of pumping, which can produce dissolved gasses harmful to fish. So, the system pumps water up into holding tanks above the exhibits and allows the dissolved gasses to dissipate. Then, gravity pulls the water back into the habitats.

Heating or cooling a small amount of water before returning it to the exhibits helps keep them at the correct temperature.

Automated Systems With a Manual Touch

This system sounds complex, but a computer handles nearly all the decisions regarding clean and dirty water.

Several computers connected throughout the building make millions of decisions per second involving tank levels, temperatures and pumping flow. The computers use graphics and data to provide information and feedback to the life support staff.

Even though the system is almost 100 percent self-sustaining, the staff still takes samples from every exhibit daily, analyzes them in a lab and adds any necessary chemicals by hand.

The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system can measure antibiotic concentrations and anything abnormal in the water. The laboratory staff use it for research.

Water chemists evaluate the nitrogen cycle — the breakdown of organic material into nitrogenous wastes — and ammonia levels, pH, salinity and oxygen in water samples from every habitat daily.

An ion photography system measures, dilutes and analyzes samples, recording anything that is positively or negatively charged. The staff also uses a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system for research-based applications.

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