New aquarium in Georgia!

[ben3343]

Ok I am psyched about this. I live about an hour outside of Atlanta, and this is the best news I have heard in a while. Sorry if this is old news, but I just found out.


http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/


here are just a few facts I found from various articles.

-one of the largest in the world
-400,000 sq. ft.
-8 acres of floor space
-5 million gallons of salt and freshwater exhibits
-contain over 500 species and 50,000 fish, probably the largest amount in the world
-water will circulate every 60 minutes
-$200 million investment from the co-founder of Home Depot, Bernie Marcus

So far I've been to the Seattle Aquarium, Vancouver Aquarium, New Orleans Aquarium, Tennessee Aquarium, and Aquarium of the Smokies, hopefully this one lives up to all of those, and more.



Ben

 

[shalegac]

Co-founder of home depot huh?
There will probably be a shortage of Southdown then

 

[shalegac]

I wish there was an aquarium in MI. The one in the detroit zoo is so small... I've seen tanks bigger than that one in the nano forum!

 

[ben3343]

Don't quote me on this, but I believe I read somewhere that they were trying to obtain orca whales for the aquarium. That being the case, then they are going to have one massive tank there.


Ben

 

[bdelaney]

Ok I am psyched about this. I live about an hour outside of Atlanta, and this is the best news I have heard in a while. Sorry if this is old news, but I just found out.

So far I've been to the Seattle Aquarium, Vancouver Aquarium, New Orleans Aquarium, Tennessee Aquarium, and Aquarium of the Smokies, hopefully this one lives up to all of those, and more.

Yes, this is good news. I recently heard that they are moving the proposed location to downtown. The original location was midtown, and just across the street from where I work. (That would make for lot's of long lunch hours.)

How is the Aquarium of the Smokies? I've never been to it.

 

[ben3343]

How is the Aquarium of the Smokies? I've never been to it.

I'm definately getting an annual pass when the GA Aquarium opens up. I would say it is worth the drive up the for the weekend if you live in Atlanta to go to the Aquarium of the Smokies. I've been to it twice, and am going back to it when I visit Gatlinburg in October. If you like sharks you'll especially enjoy it, they have tons of them, with a tunnel & moving sidewalk that goes through it. They have a lot more saltwater species than the Tennessee Aquarium does. They have a really nice tank too with many, many tangs and such. They really only have one actual living reef tank, the other tanks just have fake coral. I've heard it is the most visited aquarium in the country.


Ben

 

[Anonymous]

Bruce Carlson left Waikiki to be a part of Georgia. Should be pretty cool.

 

[taco99]

I hope the Georgia aquarium gets better support than Ocean Journey in Denver. They had to sell due to financial problems and are now owned by a seafood restaurant!

http://www.oceanjourney.org/newsroom/

http://www.landrysseafood.com/news/2003/rmn-03-29.html

 

[Anonymous]

They won't have to sell out, they are already back by a major corporation, Home Depot.

 

[Anonymous]

man I wish we had cool aquariums in San Diego......... Ohh wait we do!!!!! :wink:

 

[taco99]

..oh yeah. I imagine home depot would be a good company to have on your side. At least they won't put some of their livestock on the special menu.... :wink:

 

[delbeek]

Just wanted to disspell some misinformation in this thread:

They won't have to sell out, they are already back by a major corporation, Home Depot.

They are not owned by Home Depot ... they are being funded by the Marcus Foundation, which is a non-profit organization started and funded by Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot.

I hope the Georgia aquarium gets better support than Ocean Journey in Denver. They had to sell due to financial problems and are now owned by a seafood restaurant!

Since the Georgia Aquarium is being paid for, they will have little to no debt load. This is what drains most other aquariums that had to borrow money to build. Now whether or not people will support it depends on a myriad of other factors.

I've heard it is the most visited aquarium in the country.

Sounds like marketing hype :roll: ... the Seaworld's are over 4 million per year, Monterey around 2 million, I doubt the Aquarium of the Smokies is higher than that. Just about every aquarium attracts people in their first year, look at the their attendance after five years and you get a better indication of actual attendance.

Don't quote me on this, but I believe I read somewhere that they were trying to obtain orca whales for the aquarium. That being the case, then they are going to have one massive tank there.

Sorry had to quote you :wink: ... but I don't think there will be any orcas. You basically can't even get them from the wild anymore ... all the ones in the US are SeaWorld's and they breed their own.

So far I've been to the Seattle Aquarium, Vancouver Aquarium, New Orleans Aquarium, Tennessee Aquarium, and Aquarium of the Smokies, hopefully this one lives up to all of those, and more.

I think you could fit two or three of these places into the new Georgia Aquarium. :wink:

Try also this link:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... index.html

JCD

 

[ben3343]

You bring up some good points delbeek, but I have to quote you too

Sorry had to quote you ... but I don't think there will be any orcas. You basically can't even get them from the wild anymore ... all the ones in the US are SeaWorld's and they breed their own.

So who is to say they can't buy some from SeaWorld? That wouldn't be impossible now would it? Just some food for thought.


Ben

 

[Anonymous]

J.C.:

"They are not owned by Home Depot ... they are being funded by the Marcus Foundation, which is a non-profit organization started and funded by Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot. "

Ah, thank you for the clarification.

However, where did Bernie Marcus get the money to fund the Foundation?

 

[ReefMon]

And to add, it to be located in Downtown Atlanta, adjacent to Centennial Olympic Park on land DONATED by Coca-Cola, 9 acres if I remember.

We had the fortune of having Dr. Carlson speak to our club a few weeks ago, I tried and tried to get the inside info, but he is sworn to secrecy. One thing he promises, is it will be truly spectacular!

 

[delbeek]

You bring up some good points delbeek, but I have to quote you too

Sorry had to quote you ... but I don't think there will be any orcas. You basically can't even get them from the wild anymore ... all the ones in the US are SeaWorld's and they breed their own.

So who is to say they can't buy some from SeaWorld? That wouldn't be impossible now would it? Just some food for thought.


Ben

perhaps ... but highly unlikely ... SeaWorld is a private for profit company, killer whales are their bread and butter and their symbol ... they are not going to sell one ... they are too valuable to them. ;-)

Then of course there is the environmentalist anti-marine mammal-in-captivity faction out there to deal with ... who needs THAT headache? :roll:

JCD