Big tank at Monterey Bay Aquarium gets major face lift
Cleaning the fish tank is never fun. Ask any tropical fish hobbyist with a pair of angelfish, some gravel and a few plastic plants.But what if the tank is 35 feet deep and has a window the size of a drive-in movie screen?In what may be the mother of all fish tank spring-cleaning projects, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is putting the final touches on the overhaul of its Outer Bay tank -- a 1 million gallon structure that holds more water than the other 90 tanks in the aquarium combined and ranks among the largest tanks in the United States. It's all part of a $19 million transformation that re-opens to the public Saturday."It's been like remodeling a 30,000-square-foot home while 18 people are living in it," said David Cripe, special exhibits coordinator at the aquarium. "We stressed over how we were going to move things and catch things. But we got it done two weeks ahead of schedule."The exhibit, re-christened The Open Sea, features new species in the big tank and other nearby displays, including a sand bar shark from Oahu, tufted puffins and other seabirds, a high-tech interactive video wall display on plankton, deep sea jellies and numerous art installations. Aquarium scientists also plan to bring in a new juvenile great white shark in September, the sixth white shark the aquarium will have put on display since 2004.
