Zoos & Aquariums

SIVAT Water Solutions supplies life support system equipment for zoo and aquarium exhibits, quarantine and holding systems: filtration, ozone, foam fractionation, UV, heating and cooling, pumps, tanks and controls, selected for the species, the water chemistry and the clarity the exhibit is judged on.

What these systems require

Water clarity in an exhibit is a display requirement as well as a water-quality requirement. Depending on the application, achieving the target may require a coordinated combination of mechanical filtration, fractionation, ozone or other oxidation, and control of dissolved organics that mechanical filtration alone cannot remove.

Marine exhibits add seawater to every material decision. Titanium instead of stainless in heat exchangers, ozone-rated elastomers throughout the contact loop, and non-metallic pump components. Substitutions made at buyout to save money tend to be the ones that fail.

Quarantine and holding systems are separate from exhibit systems by design. They isolate new arrivals, they run different treatment protocols, and they frequently manipulate temperature deliberately. They are also where pathogen control matters most, which often can mean upsized UV systems and the ability to drain and fill water quickly.

Behind the glass, most of the building is equipment room. LSS galleries are dense, and access for maintenance is a design constraint from the first drawing.

Exhibit types and what changes in the life support system

Marine mammal pools (sea lions, seals, otters, dolphins, manatees). Large volumes, heavy organic loading from feeding, and a clarity standard set by the viewing windows. Treatment leans on high turnover, ozone with contact and destruct, and foam fractionation, in seawater or fresh water depending on the species. Duty and standby pumps and remote alarming are not optional on animals this valuable.

Penguin exhibits. Cold water held by chillers with titanium heat exchange surfaces, high solids loading from feathers and guano, and feather oils that mechanical filtration alone will not remove. Fractionation and ozone carry the clarity load; the chiller carries the temperature.

Shark and large marine exhibits. The largest volumes in the building, sized on turnover and organic load rather than on the tank alone. Ozone and fractionation for clarity, UV where pathogen control is the target, and materials selected for seawater throughout. Redundancy is designed in because a shutdown is not an option.

Jellyfish exhibits. Kreisel and pseudo-kreisel tanks need laminar, low-shear circulation, fine mechanical filtration, and no air bubbles in the display. Pump selection and flow control matter more than raw treatment capacity.

Coral reef exhibits. Low nutrient targets, intense lighting that adds heat, and calcium and alkalinity chemistry managed by the husbandry team. The life support system contributes fine filtration, fractionation, chilling and stable flow.

Touch tanks and stingray pools. Shallow, high guest contact, and often the exhibit with the most demanding pathogen control. High turnover, UV sized on dose, and a quarantine system that runs independently of the display.

Kelp forest and cold-water exhibits. Chilled seawater, surge or wave generation to keep the kelp moving, and heat exchange and pump internals rated for cold seawater service.

Quarantine and holding. Independent treatment loops that never share water with the display, with the ability to run different temperatures and treatment protocols, and UV specified for the pathogens of concern.

Where projects go wrong

Water clarity is treated as a filtration problem. It is usually a dissolved organics problem. Systems specified with mechanical filtration alone and no fractionation or ozone often never achieve the clarity the exhibit was designed for.

Redundancy is value-engineered out. Duty and standby pumps, redundant probes on critical parameters, and remote alarming are the first items cut and the ones a collection cannot afford to lose. On an animal system, an alarm nobody hears at 2 a.m. is the failure mode that matters.

Maintenance access disappears as the room gets tight. Filter media replacement, UV lamp and sleeve service, probe calibration, and strainer basket removal all need physical clearance. Once the equipment room is built, adding extra space is often an expensive option, if it is an option at all.

Materials get substituted late. Seawater and ozone rule out materials that are fine on freshwater. This is a buyout risk, and it is a common one.

How SIVAT helps

We review exhibit LSS drawings and equipment schedules against what the system has to achieve, clarity target, biological load, species requirements, and quarantine protocol. We confirm materials suit seawater and ozone throughout. We check that access exists.

Our multidisciplinary team includes marine biology, construction, and project-management experience. We review the same drawings from both system-performance and constructability perspectives.

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Common questions

What does an exhibit life support system have to achieve?

Two things at once. It has to hold the water conditions animal health requires, and it has to deliver the clarity a public exhibit is judged on. A system that satisfies the veterinary staff and disappoints the visitor has failed, and so has the reverse.

What is a quarantine system and why is it separate?

Quarantine and holding systems support animals arriving, recovering or under treatment, and they run independently so that water, and anything in it, is not shared with the display system. That separation is the point of the system.

What equipment does a marine exhibit need that a freshwater exhibit does not?

Seawater rules out materials that are acceptable on fresh water. Wetted components, elastomers, heat exchange surfaces and pump internals all have to be reselected, and marine systems more often carry ozone for organic control and clarity.