[DebbyS]

I hope this isn't a repeat posting of this url...

http://vimeo.com/5606758

"The main tank called the "Kuroshio Sea" holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world's second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters. Whale sharks and manta rays are kept amongst many other fish species in the main tank."

 

[Strick]

So... if a 1.9-gallon tank is a nano-tank, then 1,900 gallons would be a micro-tank... and a 1,900,000-gallon tank would be a milli-tank.

Doesn't sound all that big to me...

 

[Voozle]

Oh wow, that's really incredible! Very nice find!

 

[hbosman]

Where is the largest? Atlanta Georgia USA. 8.1 million gallons, three baby whale sharks and several beluga whales in one tank.

 

[OverStocked]

Re read your quote, buddy. Second largest ACRYLIC PANEL.

Georgia aquarium is the largest, however that is TOTAL gallons at 8.1 million. I think by single tank, the one the OP posted would be largest. THe georgia aquarium is made of several tanks.

 

[Centromochlus]

That is amazing.. now don't most of us wish we could scuba dive in our aquarium? :hihi:

 

[macclellan]

Re read your quote, buddy. Second largest ACRYLIC PANEL.

No need to be chippy about it... It is entirely possible that the second largest aquarium in the world has the world's second largest piece of acrylic, and had you followed the link, the article is called "2nd largest aquarium tank in the world."

 

[hbosman]

The Georgia aquarium still wins "buddy", I cut and pasted below from Wikipedia. Didn't mean anything contradictory, just bein' a proud american. I went to the Georgia Aquarium in May, it's truly awesome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Aquarium


The Georgia Aquarium is the only institution outside of Asia to house whale sharks.[3] The sharks are kept in a 6.3 million gallon (24,000 m³) tank, and the aquarium was actually designed around the whale shark exhibit

 

[macclellan]

The Georgia Aquarium was hugely disappointing. The Ripley's Aquarium here in East TN is much nicer, albeit smaller. They don't have incarcerated whales though, if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[hbosman]

I haven't been to the Ripley's in Tennessee, I'll have to make it a point to visit. I like Tennesse anyway. So far, I've been to Shed in Chicago, the one in Mall of America in Minnesota, Baltimore, Ripley's in South Carolina and of course, Georgia. Baltimore is nice because of the Rain Forest but I thought Georgia had the nicest Amazon display. My daughter liked the Sea Otters best.

If I were a whale 24,000 m³ wouldn't be bad. No boat propellers or harpoons there. :smile:

 

[Feral]

Very impressive tank. Not a fan of the whale sharks in there though.

Cleveland Zoo has a nice aquarium too. Nothing that big, but a nice variety. They also have a giant Rainforest building.

I'll try and get some pictures next time I go.

 

[A Hill]

This is probably my favourite fish tank in the world, I would love to go see it in person someday. Thanks for posting that great link!

A few things on the other jumbled thoughts.

I've been to the atlanta aquarium. It is a completely different style its more like comparing your TV with 900 channels to going to the IMAX 3D two very different experiences and I think thats why a lot of people are disappointed when they go to the atlanta aquarium. Oh and add that the total gallon measuring is basically because they plumbed all the tanks together and count the gallons in the filters and everything too is a bit of a bummer in my opinion, since what you're sitting in front of isn't 9.8 million gallons or whatever. On the flip side I sat there for about four hours just relaxing watching life go by more or less. Let me tell you, I thought that was probably the most amazing experience I've ever had at an aquarium.

And with the whole super debated question about the whale sharks in captivity. Lets look at these places as first steps. Hopefully more people will become interested more money will be spent and much larger tanks will be built to research and possibly even try to breed these guys in captivity. I personally figure as long as the plus side of keeping these guys outweighs the negatives I'm not going to complain. Especially since they where bought for the food price or whatever and kept alive... Now the one that died, that was just a stupid error which is unacceptable, but then again we're all human right?

What this tank has that the GA doesn't (or at least I don't remember) is sea manta rays and those are one of my favourite species, they're so graceful.

-Andrew

 

[hbosman]

There is definitely valid arguments on both sides. Another point that may be brought up is if people see this amazing sea life in front of their eyes, it may make it more apparent that polluting and hunting whales, sharks etc. is not a good thing. It may be a decent trade off that some baby whale sharks are treated humanely as possible in an aquarium so that people might think twice before destroying the environment that houses the rest of their kind as well as even more magnificent creatures such as the Blue Whales. If I remember correctly, these Whale Sharks are on loan from Taiwan. They will of course have to be removed from the aquarium and returned to their owners before they are full grown. Hopefully, they won't wind up on peoples dinner plate then.

Atlanta in my opinion is still a nice aquarium.

 

[ictoae]

I spent 4.5 years in Okinawa and went to the aquarium a few times. It is so impressive and huge. The acrylic is something like 16" or 18" thick. The tank also has a portion with curved acrylic that bends up over your head. You can sit on the benches and look up at the giant rays and fish going overhead. wonderfully designed.

 

[hbosman]

They had a program on one of the cable channels describing the contruction of the aquarium in Okinawa, it was truely amazing how they assembled the acrylic window. Its not glued in like you would think, the water pressure holds it in place. They pump in fresh water from the ocean near by and the filtration systems are or course huge and redundancy has to be built in.

I to am in awe of the aquarium in Okinawa. I would love to see it someday as well.

That being said, "The sharks are kept in a 6.3 million gallon (24,000 m³) tank".
The Okinawa tank is 1.9 Million gallons. Sorry, had to thow that in. :smile:

 

[dthb4438]

That would make a very nice screen saver. I would watch it for hours!