New Biological Filtration For an LFS

The Animal Jungle 2,600 Gallon Shark Tank

The 2,600g shark tank at Animal Jungle in Kinston, NC is a popular local attraction and is the pride and joy of the owners, Mike Ingalls and Perry Jones. The tank contains a small (20" at the time of this writing) Black Tip Reef Shark and a number of other small fish including Damsels and Squirrel Fish. There is a 5' diameter pile of rocks in the center of the tank which provides some cover for the small fish (midnight munchies for the Black Tip). The original filtration system consisted of a 2' X 2' bio-ball tower which was supplied with tank water from a 4,000 gph pond pump. The original mechanical filtration consisted of a few filtration pads in a tray over the bio-balls.

As you can see in the photo below, the water was quite yellow in color. There was also a film of DOCs (Dissolved Organic Compounds) on the surface of the water. The test results were: Ammonia .50 ppm, Nitrites 0 ppm, Nitrates 80 ppm. Since the Black Tip Reef Shark is very sensitive to nitrates, it was determined that reducing the nitrate levels and improving the general water quality was very important to the health and well being of the shark.

The contractors (Stan & Debbie Hauter, your About Saltwater Aquariums Guides :-) surveyed the shark tank system and determined that the problems stemmed from 2 areas.

1. Lack of mechanical filtration.
2. Insufficient biological filtration.

We installed a 4,000 gph pond pump in a pond overflow skimmer, which pushes water from the skimmer through a Hayden 50 sq. ft., 10 micron canister filter, then through a Hiatt Torpedo (the red tank in the photo) which contains 55 lbs. of Hiatt's Tri-Based Pelletized Carbon (TBPC). The filtered water then flows back into the shark tank.

The system was fired up and dosed with Hiatt's SW Right Now! bacteria (put directly in the pond overflow). The original bio-ball wet/dry system was left running side-by-side during the "run-up" period. The following day, the test readings were Ammonia .10 ppm, Nitrites 0, nitrates 40 ppm. This is what the water looked like:

Three days after installation, the test readings were: Ammonia 0.00 ppm, Nitrites 0.00 ppm, Nitrates .10 ppm and falling.

The Black Tip Reef Shark now appears much calmer and is eating well.

Tank maintenance consists of removing the skimmate from the skimmer daily and cleaning the cartridge filter twice per week.

Return to The Animal Jungle 1,000 Gallon Saltwater System

.