We are the U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center headquartered in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
We provide scientific information for restoring, enhancing, managing, and protecting living
resources and their habitats in the Great Lakes.
The ability to hold live fish is a critical component of our mission.
Holding facilities that once played an important role in our research were no longer meeting
current needs.
So our pipes that would be this big around to start with, would have this much room for
water after 50 years of running that cold well water through.
So, the Great Lakes Science Center built a new Aquatic Lab in Ann Arbor.
The new lab holds 30,000 gallons of water and covers 6,000 square feet.
Who can use the new Aquatic Lab?
Really three primary groups.
The first group would be our scientists.
The second group would be our partners.
And, lastly, the nonprofit organizations.
It is a 21st century aquatic research laboratory that functions on completely recycled water.
We're not pumping and dumping.
I see a lot of opportunities with the new wet lab.
New questions that can only be answered with the new facilities.
Bigger tanks.
More tanks.
We have the ability to hold all but the largest size Great Lakes fish.
Eight-foot diameter tanks for northern pike and lake sturgeon.
Six-foot diameter tanks for walleye and lake trout.
And four-foot diameter tanks for sea lamprey and yellow perch.
Spray bars aerate and circulate the water in each tank.
The tanks are gravity fed with water from biotanks, which contain a filtration substrate
called Bioballs.
One biotank can filter the water for one 8-foot tank, two 6-foot tanks, or four 4-foot tanks.
We also have 10-, 20-, and 50-gallon rectangular tanks.
The tanks are insulated and opaque to reduce stress on the fish.
We can control the water temperature, oxygen, pH, and flow in all of the tanks.
These suspended, retractable outlets provide power for additional instrumentation.
We have 64 vertical Heath trays for incubating salmonid eggs.
And 72 McDonald jars for incubating eggs of other species.
Now we have a fish respirometer or swim tunnel.
With the respirometer, we're able to measure the rate at which oxygen is consumed by the
fish.
Which will allow for a very accurate fish bioenergetics model.
One floor below the tanks is where most of the work is done.
Clean water is chilled and pumped up to the biotanks.
While dirty water is returned, cleaned, and recirculated.
We have a new control system, where we're able to monitor things from afar.
We get notified when something goes out of whack, whether it's temperatures or levels.
We have 20 skids.
Each skid has a large holding basin, 3 pumps, a heat exchanger, and an ultraviolet sand
filtration system, all combined in one space for one water supply.
We have more space now, we have more water.
We have our own disinfecting system that allows us to handle species that we couldn't before.
The limitation is your own imagination.
There are a lot of aquatic laboratories at various universities and government organizations,
but I don't know of one that has these kinds of capabilities.
This truly is cutting edge, and it is just finished.
It is hot off the press.
And I think we'll see a lot of wonderful science come out of this.