School Project: designing an shark tank (help?)

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Littletiger

Feeder Fish
Mar 28, 2009
2
0
0
Wisconsin
Hello,
I am a undergrad at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point. One of my classes (zoo and aquarium design) requires a group project of designing a captive facility. My group is designing an aquarium and even though we will not be following through in building it, we need to plan all the steps out as if we were. We have determined from our site location that our aquarium will only be about 20,000 sq ft. (This was determined on how many people will come) half must be set aside for the visitors which leaves 10,000 sq ft.

I wanted to put a shark tank in the aquarium that could house a sand tiger shark (at least). I have been unable to find any information online about requirements for this species. I have checked aquarium's websites but the only information I can find is gallons of water. I need to know the required tank dementions for a sand tiger shark and if it's possible to put its tank in our 'aquarium'

I would appreciate any help. If you know of literature references that would be amazing. Thank you,
(**this is a school project. we are not physically building the aquarium)

-Littletiger
oh, and as this is my first post, hello to everyone!
 
Hello Littletiger.

There is a Species Profile for the Grey Nurse(Sand Tiger) on Shark & Ray Central that gives both a minimum volume & footprint recommendations for a single Adult shark.

However if your looking for a real world design to base the tank on - around multiple species of Atlantic Sharks - I would suggest using figures from the North Carolina Aquariums @ Pine Knoll Shores - the Living Shipwreck (Shark Tank) Exhibit is listed as being 306,000 gallons.

The tank is built to house - 2 adult Sand Tigers, 3-4 adult Sandbar sharks & several adult Nurse Sharks, along with several species of local game fishes. The exhibit is has an approximate footprint of 2,500 sq.ft. and an approximate depth of about 16 ft. Although the whole NC Aquarium as covers an area of about 90,000 sq.ft.
 
U of Wis SP huh.... I know people there who are into the shark stuff. Wonder if we know any of the same people.

As for your question, figure an average size adult sandtiger to be roughly 8-9' or so. I'd take half of your over all tank space (5,000 sq ft) for a large tank. Something about 10 feet in depth and half a cicle for shape, allowing for a nice curved edge and a large flat viewing window along one side. One large tank that is well done and a handful of well done small tanks make for a well balanced aquarium display.
 
I attend the same college....where did you find a zoo & aquarium design class?

Listen to Zoodiver, he's had plenty of shark experience. Also, I would make the tank a bit bigger than what you think would suffice - the more room the better for sharks.

This is my first post too! Hi everyone!
 
i would think if you talked to atm in las vegas they could help you out tonnes

they do some very large tanks
 
Just wondering - if the design is suppose to represent a real aquarium of about 20,000 sq.ft.

If so you may want to have your percentages to be reflective of a real aquarium - dividied into the following - Vistors' Space (i.e. walking space, gift shop, snack bar, & restrooms), Exhibits (tanks), and Aquarium Operations (Administrations & tank Filtration)
 
Still - when I drew up plans for my ultimate fish room(for fun) which would be about 7,200 sq.ft. total. The hardest part was to figure out where the 40,000 gallon Shark Tank - with a footprint of about 850 sq.ft. would go.

So I could imagine attempting to do a 20,000 sq.ft Public Aquarium - with even a 2,400 sq.ft. Shark tank would kind of difficult.
 
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