- [Narrator] Inside this 270,000 gallon tank,
live over 600 animals, ranging from sharks
to tiny fish.
National Aquarium in Baltimore brings in
around 1.3 million visitors a year.
But what guests don't always see is what goes on
to keep all these animals alive,
from turning salt pallets into seawater
to training the fish. - I kinda have to be
a Jedi with this.
- [Narrator] To scrubbing the unique 3000 piece
replicated coral reef system,
National Aquarium's total operations add
up to $45 million a year.
(kids chattering)
The Blacktip Reef exhibit was renovated
with $12.5 million and $800,000 went
to this entire replicated coral reef system.
So maintaining this expensive habitat
is a top priority.
Three times a week,
scuba certified divers gear up
to clean the exhibit.
- In total, when you look at this equipment
and you add a mask to it,
it can be about $2,000 to outfit one diver.
- [Narrator] These acrylic pads originally used
for car washing also work on the viewing windows.
- [Allison] Since we're very buoyant in the water,
we use suction cups to help keep us anchored
to the window.
One of the most time consuming tasks
we have is hand scrubbing
because the algae growth is regularly occurring
and we have these larger utility brushes
that are good for an overall area.
We have these awesome grout brushes
that really help into getting into some
of those smaller areas and better
on more textured areas.
And these little toothbrushes are really great
when it comes to brushing
some of those more detailing areas.
- [Narrator] This cast coral costs anywhere
from $25 to $1,700 a piece.
Animals are used to the divers like Zoe,
who gets close because she's curious
about the bubbles they create.
But not all animals in the exhibit
are considered safe so the divers have
to constantly be aware of their surroundings.
- [Diver] We do have some hazardous animals
in there with spines.
- [Narrator] And dive cleaning is just the first step
in quality control when it comes to the water.
- [Allison] The next line of defense
behind us is the water filtration systems.
- So all the animals in Blacktip Reef
are complete relying on this set of equipment
that we're looking at.
- [Narrator] This exhibit's life support system
is monitored 24X7.
- We actually have two people
at all times any given night.
- [Narrator] First, this de-nitrification system
helps remove toxic nitrates,
which creates healthy living conditions
and mitigates algae growth.
A second filter backwash process takes water
from the exhibit, filters it
before pumping it back.
This system prevents roughly 2.7 million gallons
of water from being discarded annually.
- [Andy] That's a lot of sea water
that we would be throwing away.
It's very expensive.
- [Narrator] With this system,
the aquarium only needs to replace a portion
of Blacktip Reef's water at a time,
and instead of sourcing seawater,
the aquarium makes its own
with these 2,500 pound salt pallets.
- [Andy] The animals that we are supporting
in these habitats have learned to survive
in that vast full compliment of seawater ions.
If any of them are missing,
it can throw that internal process off balance.
- [Narrator] It takes eight of these pallets
to create a batch of replicated seawater,
which can be used
for all the aquarium's seawater exhibits.
And thanks to Blacktip Reef filtration systems,
the exhibit only needs around 20,000 gallons
of new seawater every three months,
saving the aquarium roughly $450,000 a year.
To fill this tank with living animals,
the aquarium had a budget of about $325,000.
Some of these fish cost nearly $8,500 each
to ship from Australia.
But in the past,
some of the predator species
have eaten the smaller fish,
which is why it is crucial
to keep the apex predators well fed.
- [Worker] Pepe is our black-blotched stingray
- [Narrator] And trained.
- He is quite rambunctious.
Oh, Pepe.
- [Narrator] The exhibit spends about $21,000 a year
on feed for the animals.
Feed varies by species ranging
from mackerel and squid to krill and pellets.
And in total, the Blacktip Reef goes
through about 6,700 pounds of feed in a year.
The eight sharks in this exhibit eat 30% of that.
- We're gonna be working with Zuri today
so she'll be receiving her food, her diet
during the training session.
- [Narrator] This buoy guides Zuri, the shark
on where to swim and this orange target signals
where to stay.
- It took Zuri a few months to learn to target
and to really follow the target.
Nice, nice.
She was very curious about the platform,
but staying nice and still in calm
is a bit of a challenge for her.
- [Narrator] Aquarius also use feeding sessions
to train an animal for routine health checks.
Other animals that go through training sessions
include the pack of Blacktip Reef sharks,
Australian whiptail rays,
Zoe, the other zebra shark,
and Bertha, the Queensland grouper.
She's still working on it.
- We use positive reinforcement training
in order to help us do as many things
with them as we can
with as little stress as possible.
The more stress an animal experiences, of course,
the more negative health ramifications
that can have.
- [Narrator] Predators get fed separately
from the rest of the fish and during feeding,
Aquarius will monitor for unusual behavior
of all 630 animals.
- There is the chance that we would need
to move a fish to a different exhibit,
for instance, if they are not getting
along with another fish in the habitat,
we might need to separate the two fish.
Or perhaps they are eating things
that might cause them harm.
- [Narrator] Some animals like Duncan, the puffer fish
were relocated because they were eating the coral
which didn't cause any medical issues
but did damage the reef.
Duncan will likely be replaced
with other creatures
which will continue the aquarium's conservation
and education initiatives.
- Adding animals into the Blacktip Reef habitat
is something that typically takes place
about once a year.
- [Narrator] The National Aquarium generated $430 million
in tourists related economic impact in 2022
and new residents could bring in more guests.
- [Stephanie] Guests who have come
to know the Blacktip brief habitat
for a long time.
New Calypso, who was a green sea turtle
although we were devastated to lose her in 2020,
we are excited at the prospect
of hopefully being able
to add another green sea turtle
into Blacktip Reef in the future.
(gentle music)