1. The Georgia Aquarium:A LookInside OceanVoyager
I feel thatmostpeople, whohave takenaseriousinterestinThe Hobby,have compiledalistof people
theymustmeet,or placestheymustgo before theirtime onEarthisup and theyare returnedto the big
reef inthe sky. Visitingthe largestaquariuminthe worldwasdefinitelyin my top5. Many a nighthave I
lainawake,dreamingof whatitwouldbe like tolookat notone, or two, or eventhree,butfourwhale
sharksthroughtwo feetof acrylic!Needlesstosay,whenanopportunitytogoto Atlantaarose,I was on
board.
The Georgia Aquariumiswell knownforbeingthe world’slargestaquarium.Those whostaycurrentin
the happeningsof The Hobbyalreadyknow thatas of the endof 2012 The GeorgiaAquarium isactually
the secondlargestaquariuminthe worldbehindthe S.E.A.Aquarium inSingapore.That
notwithstanding,the GeorgiaAquariumboastsacapacityof over8 milliongallonsof seawater,four
whale sharksandhundredsof otherskatesandrays, and that isthe Ocean VoyagerExhibit alone.
I was delightedtohearthat we wouldnotonlybe seeingOcean Voyagerfromthe publicside,butalso
frombehindthe scenes.Andbybehindthe scenes,Imeannoholdsbarred.We were given carte
blancheon anyand all picturesandvideos,andboywas there a lotto photograph.Our Behindthe
scenestourbeganina vast room containingmostof OceanVoyager’ssupportsystems…
Pumpafterpump,twenty-fourintotal,eachthe size of a small car linedthe immense concrete hallway.
The soundscomingfromthe pumpswere almostdeafening,theirvibrationsshakingustothe core. We
laterfoundoutthat what we actuallysaw was onlya thirdof the seventytotal pumpsusedtocirculate
waterin OceanVoyager. Sothere we are,behindthe scenesof one of the largestaquariumsever
created,tryingtotake inthe enormity of the facility surroundingus andstrugglingtofindthe wordsto
verbalize ourfeelings, whenMatt(Co-Creatorof AquaticEnvy.com)leansovertosay somethingabove
the soundof the pumpsrunningall aroundus.
“MajesticPlumbing,”he yelledintomyear,leaningawaywithasmile.
“Indeeditis!”I replied withabashful lookonmyface.
MajesticPlumbing hadbeenthe name printedonthe back of a local Atlantaplumber’struckthatwe
had beenbehindintraffic,onourwayfromthe airportto the GeorgiaAquarium.Ihad founditto be
somewhatof an oxymoron,andhadmade the commentthat I couldnotimagine ascenarioinwhichthe
word“majestic”couldbe usedto describe plumbing.And yet,there Iwas,standinginthe life support
room forOcean Voyager,surroundedbymilesandmilesof majesticallyrunpipesof all differentsizes,
eatingmywords.
At the endof the roomwe came uponone of these massive skimmersthatOceanVoyagerusesto
remove organicwastes.Itwaswell over10 feettall andthe skimmer’scollectioncuplookedlike it
COULD holdat least50 gallons,thoughitappearedtobe fittedwithanauto cleaningfeature.

2. I was alsointriguedtofindthatwaterchangesare not a part of OceanVoyager’s maintenance regime.
The water ispurified by asystemof 72 sand filters,eachthe size of aminivan.Afterthe sandfilters,itis
run througha seriesof heatexchangers,whichbringitbackto tanktemperature,atwhichpointa
portionof the water isdivertedtoa seriesof SulfurDenitrificationUnits (SDU).The wateristhenpassed
throughtwelve Ozone ContactTowerswhere itismixedwithozone tokill anypotentiallyharmful
organisms.Atthispointthe ozone needstobe removedfromthe waterbefore itcanbe returnedtothe
display,soitisrun throughwhat isknownas a DeaerationTower(DAT).The DATservesa dual purpose,
as it notonlyremovesthe dissolvedozonegasfromthe previouslyfilteredwater,butalsoprovides a
large surface area forbacterial colonization. Sandfiltersare automaticallybackwashedperiodically
throughoutthe day;however,noteventhe waste waterfromthe backwash isdiscarded.Waterfrom
the backwashesiscleaned andstoredastop off for the nextbackwashcycle ina cleanbasin. By using
thismethodof filtrationwaterchangesonOceanVoyagerare almostcompletelyobsolete,thoughthey
still mustbe performedoccasionally.
Afterbeingutterlyshockedatthe size of the supportfacility,we came acrossanequallyimpressive food
prepkitchenthatshone everywhere withthe colorof stainlesssteel.The prepareawasas large as any
restaurantkitchen,buthada cold,clean, feel,asopposedtothe warm, greasyfeel of mostcommercial
kitchens.A quickpicture anditwas on to the top side of OceanVoyager.
The top side of OceanVoyagerwas two storiesabove the life supportsystemsroomthatwe were
previouslytouring,andiswhere the maintenance andanimal care teamsaccessthe aquarium.The top
of the aquariumstretchedafootball fieldinlength(minusthe endzones) andwaswell over20 yards
wide withasmallerholdingtankto itsleft.Alongthe wall toourleftwere hunghundredsof wetsuitsof
varyingsizes,oxygentanks, SCUBA apparatus,andevenahalf dozeninflatable 2personrafts. Overtop
of the OceanVoyager, Inoticeda large crane,like one youwouldsee inasteel plant,orboat yard.Hung
fromit was a large blue slingthattheyhadusedto raise the whale sharks andsome of the largerrays up
and intothe displaytankthroughthe large garage doorthat had beenplacedinthe floorbetweenthe
smallersupportpool andthe leftwall.
What came nextwasone of the mostenchantingmoments Ihave everpersonallywitnessed.A member
of the animal care team came up and showedusa large tub.Inside itwaswhat appearedtobe around
fiftypoundsof krill,squid,anda greenvegetable cube.Each whale shark hadtheirowntub of foodthat
theywere fedtwice aday. Seeingall thatfoodwasinteresting,butwhatcame nextwaswhatwe had all
hopedfor.
As feedingtime approached,the ventilation fansusedtoagitate the surface of the waterinthe middle
of OceanVoyagerwere turnedoff.We were toldthatthe whale sharkswere actuallyable torecognize
thisas an indicationof an approachingfeast.Ourexcitementbuiltaswe noticedthatseveral animal care
memberswere mountingthe small inflatable raftswe hadseenearlierwithlongfeedingpolesinhand.
Suddenlyitbecame readily apparentwhatthe longropesstretchedlengthwise acrossthe aquariumtop
were for. I wasamazedto hear that eachwhale sharkistrainedto go to a specificrope duringfeeding
time,toensure thateveryone isproperlyfed.Withthe foodloadedintotheir boats,andfeedingpolesin
hand,the workersbeganslowlypullingthemselvesdownthe lengthof the pool withone hand,and

3. feedingthe whale sharks withthe poleintheirotherhand. Atone pointone of the whale sharks came
so close tous we couldhave reacheda hand overthe edge andgave ita pet,itwas a huge animal,
stretchingthe lengthof a shortschool bus,it’sgrey,shiny skinmottled withsmall white spots.A truly
amazingcreature and itwas feedingjust feetawayfromus.
Afterthe feedinghadconcluded,we were shownthe otherdisplaysandtheirsupportsystems,then
turnedloose tofinishourtourof the aquariumas everyotherguestwouldhave, fromthe equally
stunningpublicside of the GeorgiaAquarium.Eventhinkingaboutitnow as I sitinmy warm office,
writingthisarticle,Igetgoose bumpsthinkingof the awesomenessthatisthe GeorgiaAquarium.If one
thingisfor certain,itis that I will definitelybe visitingthe GeorgiaAquariumagain,andnexttime…
maybe I will paytoSCUBA withthe whale sharks(youcan totallydoit).
A Special Thankyouto Bailey,the GeorgiaAquarium, andeveryoneelsefortakingtime outof theirday
to enlightenandexcite usall!!!