Georgia aquarium
I was in Atlanta for a conference last week and was able to go to the new Georgia aquarium, which calls itself the world's largest aquarium. They have a very large reef tank, complete with a couple of smallish (3ft) black tip reef sharks) and a cool overhead wave maker. Someone once called me to make a calcium reactor for that tank, but I guess someone else got the job because I never heard back. They said at that time that the tank is 250,000 gallons, but looking at it I would estimate closer to 50K. Still, they probably need someone who can build something much bigger than I could; I had suggested an array of several 6ft (8" tube) reactors.
Anyhow, the star of the show is their central HUGE tank containing 4 whale sharks, a school of rays, some of which are 5-6 feet across, and many, many fish. This tank has viewing windows on several sides, including a tunnel that allows you a real panoramic view. The big window for that tank looks like a movie screen, and the tank is deep enough (front to back) so that the fish disappear in the depth. It's pretty cool to see a 20 ft whale shark swim a few feet from the window, then turn and gradually disappear into the tank's depth.
They also have some cold water tanks and a very cool amazon river exhibit. I would highly recommend going for anyone who's in the Atlanta area, or as a road trip for the fanatics among us. Maybe MAAST could organize a trip with a behind the scenes sort of thing like we once had at Seaworld.
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