The Desert Divers Club/ Deeper Shark tank

[Ammon]

I went to the Dive Club meeting Tuesday and met with some of the people in the Club, what a fun group of people. I had the pleasure of talking to then and having a question and answer time that was informative for them and for us. Sounds like The Club wants to help us in any way they can. They also suggested that we make the Shark tank 15' deep even if it is a small area so they can preform deep dives. This isn't as hard as it seems really. If we can do this I would like to see the entire tank that deep. This would more than double our gallon size to around 190,000 gallons bu i think it would be worth it in the long run. Think about how fun it would be to actually scuba dive while feeding the fish having fish on all sides of you not just above you. The more i think about it the more i think it is possible.

I haven't talked to Chris yet regarding this but if we can get a discussion of the pros and cons maybe it could be considered.

Any comments?

[ChrisConk]

If the tank rises 8ft above ground level, which is 4 ft above and beyond the outer river, then we would have to dig down 7ft. Pressure ratings would be mostly applied to the upper 4ft, and cut down by the river in the lower 4 ft.
It is possible we might want to rise above the ground 6ft and above the river two or three feet to lower the pressure.
I think the biggest concern is the water volume. We are talking about triple the filtration, and water changes. I would say we would nearly double the cost of the exhibit.?

[Ammon]

pressure is rated a 4.3 lbs per foot so as long as we go deeper than the glass not higher then that wouldn't be the problem I think the only problem is the cost of water/ salt initially and the circulation so yes double the water flow. This would add more electricity per month and twice the life support. might be worth it though.

any other input from the public?

[parnold]

Sounds good to me! If the Boise Aquarium is going to do it-- I think you should do it the way you want to the first time. I think the sharks would love it too. ;D
Patty

[parnold]

Now, your talking Ammon!
I would love to participate diving at the"Boise Aquarium"! Wow, what an experience that would be. Does the "Desert Divers Club" offer diving lessons? Can you imagine watching divers feed the sharks. The public would be thrilled!
Patty

[Ammon]

well I'll tell you what I know we can make the Shark tank that deep if we do a few things first if we reach our goal of selling 5000 season passes and second if we combine the Shark tank with the fish then we could do it after all the sharks aren't going to really eat the fish if you divers keep feeding them so much!!

[desertdiver]

The desert divers do not give SCUBA diving lessons. We are just a group of certified recreational divers that get together to dive and discuss diving. However, if you want to get some training there are two SCUBA dive shops in Boise that are both great places to get the proper training.

I think it would be cool too to be able to dive with sharks without traveling to Hawaii. Ammon gave us a presentation on the whole thing at our December meeting. We have had some discussion about it and we really think the only way you are going to get the diving with the sharks program to fly is that you will need a tank that is deeper than the 8' proposed. We train in pools that are around 12' deep. The 12' is just about right to get a good SCUBA experience and of course the deeper the better.

How much "stuff" is going to be on the bottom of this tank? Will there be coral, sand, and other items? All this will eat into the depth as well. And you would not want any divers in the tank to be trampling on the delicate corals.

Just some thoughts on the subject. Love the idea of the whole project though. I think it is going to a popular attraction.

Jim

[Ammon]

we are going to try our hardest to make the tank 15' deep and i think we can

there wont be anything but sand on the bottom and all the rocks will be concrete replicas so there wont be anything delicate to trample on.

thanks for you comments

[desertdiver]

15'! That sounds cool. I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Seems you mentioned something about a "dock" or platform to enter from. Would this have stairs or just drop in?

As for diving in this tank. Have you thought about what to do about diving equipment? I have never dived in a tank at an aquarium before but would think contamination might be a problem? Say I bring my wetsuit I wore last week on a diving trip to Mexico and did not clean it all that well and then jump in your tank. Would that be problem for the fish? Seems you should have a way to control this to some extent.

[Ammon]

we are relying on the dive club to come up with the equipment we might need I know nothing about it other than the few times i went while i was on vacation.

[ccatgo]

In talking about the bottom of the tank you mentioned that the rocks would be artificial in nature. You might want to contack LeRoy at GARF (Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation) They make artifical reefs called aragocrete. They have been instrumental in helping to rebuild reefs destroyed in natural disasters. I am going to stock my new salthingyer tank with it - no environmental impact!!

[Ammon]

We dont want to use that kind of concrete in the aquarium