In late 2019 I was contacted by Imagine Children’s Museum (ICM) in Everett, Washington. They were looking to incorporate whale bones into their new marine ecosystems exhibit. However, looking through their designs, I noticed that they were planning on displaying local, coldwater marine life. Further inquiry led to me learning that they were in need of a specialist to help design the aquarium as they were originally planning on hiring a company that maintains office aquariums.
I offered my help, began creating plans, and then the COVID-19 pandemic started and everything stopped! However, I was able to reconnect with the museum in November 2020 and they are still moving forward in their expansion! I created a booklet outlining the aquarium and recently proposed it to the board of ICM and was very well received. I can’t wait to see this come to fruition throughout next year!
The aquarium will be 8′ L x 3′ W x 3.5′ H and with the sump hold about 600 gallons. What makes this aquarium so exciting is that all the filtration will be visible to the public. That way, not only can visitors learn about animals, they can also learn about water chemistry and what goes into marine animal husbandry. I will be doing the rockwork over the next few weeks, and hopefully, fabrication will start in early 2021! I will update this post periodically as I progress.
I threw together some concept art illustrating the kinds of animals that will call this aquarium home. Some of these will include, shiner surfperch, striped seaperch, painted greenlings, plumose sea anemones, and more!
The “Shallow Sound” Aquarium will be the only local aquarium easily accessible the Everett area, and I hope through my hard work it will inspire countless children to care about Puget Sound as much as I do over the years.
Click to Download the ICM Promotional Booklet
This is a very exciting project for me as it is the first system I will have completely designed from scratch for a facility that doesn’t specialize in animal husbandry. I will have to use my community science skills to create training and resources for inexperienced staff to care for these animals, but if I can do that with jellies, I can do it with anything!