Alaskan king crabs!

H

HeavyChicken

New member
I am designing a new house for my wife and I, the main focus of the plan is to make the home like a private "public" aquarium, one such habitat/tank we have been kicking around is a cold water reef with the main attraction being King crabs, I don't want to get into a ton of detail here, as when the project becomes more of a reality I will give it its own thread, I am simply wondering if anyone has a source for live King crabs, all I have been able to find on the inter web is live crabs for human consumption, and I assume mortality rate trying to keep as a pet would be high going that route. Any ideas? And yes I understand they are huge, the plan the our engineer and architect are working on is too the tune of 75000 gallons of saltwater spread in various displays throughout the home. Anyhow, just turned here looking for king crab sources.
 
contact one of the aquariums wheres you live. What state are you in. NC for example has a whole slew of them and I'm sure they might be willing t o help out or at least point you in the right direction.
 
You can e-mail or call the curator..well I think that is what they call them.. I dunno but worth a shot. Let them know what you plan on doing and sometimes if it means helping the environment or saving a population they are more willing to help out.
 
If you're serious about designing a large home around 75,000 gallons of saltwater, it's nearly an imperative that you take 8-10 trips around the country to get a behind-the-scenes look at public aquariums. Your displays may not be public, but the size and complexity still fits in the "public aquarium" category.

Keep in mind I'm not talking about visiting the public facilities as a tourist, but getting a look at the equipment necessary to run the tanks, and speaking with the folks looking after the animals.

Rather obviously, you'll be hiring several folks to do the same at your home, since taking care of 75,000 gallons is not possible for any one person, but it still helps to get the perspective of folks that do it as a full-time job.

You'll also absolutely need to hire a company that specializes in this sort of thing. A firm like Reynolds-Polymer, for example. Such a company would not only be able to design your exhibits appropriate to the animals you'd like to keep, but also have significant contacts for sourcing such animals, like the coldwater crabs you're contemplating.
 
I work in an aquarium where they kept a couple of those for a while some years back. (No, don't have a source for crabs, as I'm more in the education end of things... I know that they often do acquire new fish through commercial fishermen, though.) One of the problems they faced was keeping the water cold enough. Seemed like there was always a big block of ice floating around in there. . .

Good luck, and I hope it works - 'cause this plan of yours sounds amazing!

~Bruce
 
dkeller_nc said:
If you're serious about designing a large home around 75,000 gallons of saltwater, it's nearly an imperative that you take 8-10 trips around the country to get a behind-the-scenes look at public aquariums. Your displays may not be public, but the size and complexity still fits in the "public aquarium" category.

Keep in mind I'm not talking about visiting the public facilities as a tourist, but getting a look at the equipment necessary to run the tanks, and speaking with the folks looking after the animals.

Rather obviously, you'll be hiring several folks to do the same at your home, since taking care of 75,000 gallons is not possible for any one person, but it still helps to get the perspective of folks that do it as a full-time job.

You'll also absolutely need to hire a company that specializes in this sort of thing. A firm like Reynolds-Polymer, for example. Such a company would not only be able to design your exhibits appropriate to the animals you'd like to keep, but also have significant contacts for sourcing such animals, like the coldwater crabs you're contemplating.
Click to expand...


My/our thinking was that a most public aquarium are still too large scale to really pertain to this project. We have spent some time examining smaller facilities such as some zoos that have smaller scale public aquariums, as well as some research facilities, such as sea turtle rehab, and such that the size is more similar. ... In short I appreciate the advice, the project is still in it's infancy, I'm sure we will be seeking more information from the boards as well as sharing the progress as we get more into it. As for hiring out the whole deal, not only does that not fit our budget, but it's just not my style. What I find most exciting about this is our intent to DIY a vast majority.
 
HeavyChicken said:
My/our thinking was that a most public aquarium are still too large scale to really pertain to this project. We have spent some time examining smaller facilities such as some zoos that have smaller scale public aquariums, as well as some research facilities, such as sea turtle rehab, and such that the size is more similar. ... In short I appreciate the advice, the project is still in it's infancy, I'm sure we will be seeking more information from the boards as well as sharing the progress as we get more into it. As for hiring out the whole deal, not only does that not fit our budget, but it's just not my style. What I find most exciting about this is our intent to DIY a vast majority.
Click to expand...

So I see two potential problems.

1. You have a budget. 75,000G is no joke, even just the salt to make that much water would be $$$$.
2. Have you considered the power draw of this system? Not just the lighting, filtration, etc, but the cooling to sustain the temps you need will be an absolutely massive power load.
 
Halo_003 said:
So I see two potential problems.

1. You have a budget. 75,000G is no joke, even just the salt to make that much water would be $$$$.
2. Have you considered the power draw of this system? Not just the lighting, filtration, etc, but the cooling to sustain the temps you need will be an absolutely massive power load.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your concern, I assure you even public aquariums being build have a budget they are working within. 75k is just a "kicking around number" could end up only being 30 or 40k gallons, depends on what it takes to get the appearance and feel we are seeking.

I will gladly share costs and sources for all materials when the time comes, I can tell you it will be instant ocean in super sacks delivered by an 18 wheeler.

My electrical engineer is working directly with the electric company at our homesite. As well as exploring alternative sustainable energy options.
 
Our geographic location lends itself well to geothermal cooling.

And just for entertainment consider that even if I was going to buy 200g boxes of IO at full blown retail, the cost would only be 24k to make 75000 gallons, not to discount 24k as being nothing, but it's small potatoes on the scale of building a home, let alone a project of this scale
 
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Halo_003 said:
So I see two potential problems.

1. You have a budget. 75,000G is no joke, even just the salt to make that much water would be $$$$.
2. Have you considered the power draw of this system? Not just the lighting, filtration, etc, but the cooling to sustain the temps you need will be an absolutely massive power load.
Click to expand...

add to that, out of curiosity i just looked it up and the average 21-foot residential swimming pool holds 21,000 gallons. to run nearly 4x in aquarium form seems like a very ambitious goal without having your hobby become your part time job.
 
Like I said though, I didn't want to derail this thread, the only reason for mentioning the project, was to avoid responses like "they get really big" or " your going to need a chiller" .
So like I said I will start a build thread when the time comes. I have been researching and planning for nearly 10 years. This is a dream becoming reality, and I will be glad to share
 
JohnnyHildo said:
add to that, out of curiosity i just looked it up and the average 21-foot residential swimming pool holds 21,000 gallons. to run nearly 4x in aquarium form seems like a very ambitious goal without having your hobby become your part time job.
Click to expand...

Like I said 75k might end up being 40k or 30k we have had plans drawn with everything from 15k to 90k over the last 5 years.

It will undoubtedly become a part time labor of love.
 
HeavyChicken said:
I appreciate your concern, I assure you even public aquariums being build have a budget they are working within. 75k is just a "kicking around number" could end up only being 30 or 40k gallons, depends on what it takes to get the appearance and feel we are seeking.

I will gladly share costs and sources for all materials when the time comes, I can tell you it will be instant ocean in super sacks delivered by an 18 wheeler.

My electrical engineer is working directly with the electric company at our homesite. As well as exploring alternative sustainable energy options.
Click to expand...

Sorry, wasn't intending to derail, just was thinking about the power draw from phase change cooling (works the same as an AC or chiller essentially) on a computer processor to -100C, it's in the range of 2kW or so, where the CPU is a 350W heat load.

I think as mentioned above your best shot at finding some of these crabs in good health would be to go through public aquariums, they definitely have the contacts.

Doing some Googling, you might see if you can get in touch with Aquarium of the Pacific, (located in CA), they seem to have a distributor for their AKC who might be able to help. Not sure if the link below will work, but they list him as Lamar Ballard. Obviously a visit out to them would be a bit further than NC, but they might be able to point you in the right direction at least.
http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/blogs/comments/on_the_road_with_the_husbandry_team

And here's the page on the exhibit that has them: http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/exhibits/northern_pacific_gallery/
 
Thanks, I'll talk to them in two weeks while I'm there, then off to Monterey bay. I'll make contact ahead of time, I can't remember the girls name at AoP who we have been talking too right off hand.... I'll give her a call in AM.
 
MB is just for fun, they draw 100% NSW from the bay, doesn't help me much. But I'm sure I can pick up some husbandry advice! But we are excited to meet the giant Pacific octopus.
 
HeavyChicken said:
My/our thinking was that a most public aquarium are still too large scale to really pertain to this project. We have spent some time examining smaller facilities such as some zoos that have smaller scale public aquariums, as well as some research facilities, such as sea turtle rehab, and such that the size is more similar. ... In short I appreciate the advice, the project is still in it's infancy, I'm sure we will be seeking more information from the boards as well as sharing the progress as we get more into it. As for hiring out the whole deal, not only does that not fit our budget, but it's just not my style. What I find most exciting about this is our intent to DIY a vast majority.
Click to expand...

Certainly seems like you've done your homework (visiting zoos and other public aquariums). That's primarily what I was getting at. I do see quite a number of DIY'ers that haven't done their homework, vastly overestimate their skills when it comes to hydraulic design, power engineering, heat transfer and control system engineering and the like. And yet have a big enough budget and ambition to get them into real trouble.

Most of the time they simply don't realize that a 3000g + aquarium differs not only in scale, but also in kind from the 150g home hobbyist tanks that they're familiar with.

That was my thought about hiring a company that specializes in designing large aquatic display installations. Certainly doesn't keep you from sourcing, purchasing and installing the tanks and equipment yourself, but you'll have professional expert advice on what will work and what won't.

Sounds like quite an impressive opportunity, we'll all certainly be excited to see the results!
 
It should be fun, one thing a little different that we have been discussing with the engineer is using all framed/plywood displays , so that in the future the home could be converted for someone with dissimilar interests to ours. Of course footings, and such would have to stay, but having the ability to disassemble the displays in the event it is necessary is somewhat critical to potential resale. When I told the engineer that I wanted to make the displays out of plywood, he laughed, then called me back a week later and said .... "So it appears this actually happens" ... Lol
 
Don't King Crabs live in water well below 40F? Man, that's cold. I imagine the challenges of keeping that temperature in transit and long term in the aquarium would be considerable.

I would think you'd need a special cooler with dry ice air freighted direct from Alaska to a lower 48 airport on a non stop flight. Depending on the season they catch them, the best way to do it might be on a visit to Alaska and direct purchase at the docks.

Besides the temperature issue, the other problem will be all the jokes about "breaking out the steamer & drawn butter" from visitors.
 
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