New Aquarium for St Jude Children's Hospital (800+G)

[bshumake]

Thanks for checking out the Aquarium thread here on Reef Central. This is a project that has been in the works for about a year and a half here at St Jude. It all started with a phonecall from Design and Construction head John Curran. We at the West Tennessee Marine and Reef Aquarium Club have been maintaining two 225G aquariums in the B clinic waiting room with much success and lots of praise from the staff, parents and most importantly, the patients. These little windows into another world help to aleve their minds of the treatments and pains of hospitalization. So when John asked me how I would like to take on a 1,000G reef I was estatic!
We met and worked out some of the rough ideas and off I went to do some research. Of course the first stop was Reef Central. All the help and guidance I have received from this site and its members has been worth its weight in gold. Through Reef Central via Energy, I met Scott (Spazz) Ledin founder of Aquatic Acrylics . His tireless efforts and expertise are two thing that have kept this project running as effectively as it has been. Scott came in and designed the tank, the tank’s room and all of the equipment, electrical, plumbing and more than I can think of.
With the addition of project leader Doug Tran from Design and Construction, the three of us (Doug, Scott, and I ) have brought this project into being.
The aquarium was delivered June 27, 2007 after Scott drove it two days from his home in Minnessota to us here in Memphis, TN. With the help of WTMRAC members Willem and Jennifer Burmel, Lary Casey, BJ Yancey and myself we unloaded the first round of equipment and took a tour of the construction site.

 

[bshumake]

Scott and I unstrapping the hospital and frag tanks. The display is all wrapped up in the blue plastic. With a little help from Starbucks coffee, the job went well.

Scott making a final inspection of the tanks before moving them.

Willem and Jennifer making easy work of moving the hospital tank.

Scott and Willem moving the frag tank.

Cell phone capture of Willem striking a pose for the little woman. (See how enamored she is)

 

[bshumake]

Afterward, we took a quick tour of the two 225’s at the Medicine room (B Clinic).

Fabulous slimer colony I bought from a local hobbiest.

A quick pic of the kids favorite fish, Reggie the gobie! I’m fighting red slime as you can see. And the ever present finger smudges. Love seeing those!

Out of focus but basically the same as the first picture.

 

[bshumake]

Nice neon green sarco donated by WTMRAC member Cathy Peck.

This is a shot of the construction site and the new cafateria that their building us.

Here we see the Chili’s Center in all of its raw construction glory. (Right to left)Scott, Doug and Bart Conner

 

[bshumake]

Scott, Doug and Bart working out the details.

The stand for the tank.

Stand needs some more primering and the floor needs waterproofing so they moved the stand.

Due to the changes the tank had to be stored off site until the space was ready. Enter the boom fork!

 

[bshumake]

Driving the fork is Jose Gonzalez, and he makes it look so easy.

Sudden realization: the tank won’t go in through the habger door without hitting the roof so we had to sling the tank with straps.

Slung and lifted into place the tank is making this spot home for the next week or two.

 

[bshumake]

Due to construction delays St Jude gave me an empty lab (a rare find in this place) to hold equipment, fish and coral in until the tank is ready. Here we are unpacking and cleaning all the road grime out of the tanks.

 

[bshumake]

The Chili’s aquarium was moved into its new home on July 6, 2007. The following pictures document this occasion. In attendance were BJ Yancey and myself from the WTMRAC, Scott and Doug.

Doug guards the destination.

The men cleared the way for the tank to come in.

Jose met us at the storage bright and early.

And a few of Cooper Moving’s best were on hand to help in the relocation.

 

[bshumake]

Jose is well on the way to getting the tank into the van.

The Eagle had landed.

 

[bshumake]

Out of the truck and into the building.

And now to get it onto the stand.

Almost there.

Last check for problems and a quick skinning of the protective plastic from the bottom.

Touchdown!

 

[bshumake]

And now the most important part; the men that made it happen!

Left to right Jose Gonzalez, Mike Moser, Bart Conner, Doug Tran, Albert Pitts, Ed Burns and Israel Granados
You guys are real troopers and the kids will love you for this!

 

[bshumake]

Today’s pictures. 8-22-07. The tanks room is pretty much finnished.

The guys having a little fun. Walls were built around the tank after it was placed.

One of the surge tanks. These puppies are 100G and their's 2 of them.

The sump and part of the Volcano Skimmer Aquatic Acrylics sells.

 

[bshumake]

Scott and I unloading the lighting rack. BJ took all the pictures she could until her battery died.

Size comparison for everyone. The sump is behind BJ. Shes about 5’8”.

The skimmer! Almost as tall as the sump is!

 

[bshumake]

Scott has been working on the install for about 2 weeks now. He's got a lot of pics of the set-up and once things get back to normal i'll be posting them.
On a side note, he fired up the surge tanks today. We were going to get one of the construction crew to get into the tank to help with the test... but he was a bit too smart for that. On the other hand, 100G in 6 sec is a heck-uv-ah lot of flow!

 

[Nanook]

Looks awesome! Thanks for posting pics:thumbsup:

 

[spazz]

more pics from the chilis center.

this is barrott the main person who will service the tank.

the sump is sitting in a 4 in depersion in the floor so any water that is spilled by accieent can be contained and will run down the drain in the floor.

all the main pumps on this system are from sequence. the closest one is the famous reeflo dart. the second two are the sequence hammer head pumps to run the 2 tidal surge tanks. nothing but the best pumps are bing used on this system.

 

[spazz]

the 2 tanks on the left are water storage and the single one on the right is 1 of 2-65 gallon tidal surge tanks.

the other surge tank above the fish room door.

a look down onto the tank from the upper water storage tank platform.

twin 75 gallon per day ro/di units to fill the 2-100 gallon ro/di and salt water storage tanks.

this stand will house a 70 gallon Q tank for corals just under the storage tanks, and a 100 gallon hospital tank for fish with a divided sump for the 2 tanks to keep the water form the 2 different treatment systems sepreate.

 

[spazz]

here is the left side viewing pannel. the tank is covered so the tank is not scratched from all the construction work that is taking place in the room.

the large uv steralizer

because the acrylic was so thick they had to recess the bulkheads. the bulkheads are made for 1" thick material. the tanks is made of 2" thick acrylic.

this is the air operated 3 inch valve for the tidal surge tank over the main door. the other tank will have the same valve on it.

 

[spazz]

this is the main mixing valve bank to make ro/di water into salt water. everythig is controlled from this set of valves and is pumped up to one or both of the tanks on the stand. then it can be transfered to the sump or the skimmer for the water change.

this is the control box that will run the 2 tidal surge tanks. it has 4 simple items in it. 2 delayed break relay switches and 2 electri solinoid valves. the relay is activated by a float switch mounted into the surge tank.

more pictures and maybe a video or 2 tomorrow.

 

[erics3000]

Wow this is awsome. Keep the pics coming..