What you can't see from the outside...

The interior of the aquarium, still hidden from the general public, is rolling along towards completion. Beautiful beams, donated by Iisaak, surround the Great Tide Pool. This centre tank will hold schooling fishes and tidepool species.

The Great Tidepool, Casey at work,

and the glowing windows out to the harbour

To the right, allow the imagination to fill the broad space by the front windows with rows of touch tanks. With any luck, future visitors may glance up from these tanks to view the rare sight some of the crew were privy to last week. A pod of killer whales swimming through the bay. No photographic proof is available for this claim, but trust us, it happened. (really). The aquarium currently feels as if we were building a whale from the inside out. Beams and rafters enclose the space like a giant ribcage. Electricians lace the neurons of electrical wire through and around the framework; the plumbing spreads into the future sites of displays, and into the belly of the building, where rows of filters and pumps will pulse cold life into glass cases.

The basement: a lone chair and two rows of sand-filters

From the back of the building, the Great Tide Pool to the left, the view will one day be an art piece displaying the names of our sponsors. The upstairs will be the aquarium's very first on-site office. Ask staff members what this means to them. Be prepared for wide grins and unlimited excitement.

The view towards the upstairs mezzanine (future office) and front desk.

Aquarium Construction Update (January 5th)

The roof is on, sides are almost complete, and the structure is beginning to take shape

Precision, Salvation, and Mucking Around

The JCP crew has been hard at work lately, continuing construction on the wooden tank stands for the new aquarium. This has required a great deal of precision, with sub-millimeter measurements and careful clamping being the name of the game. We had the opportunity to rent a 16-inch beam saw for some of the most recent cuts, which made for pretty fun work! The finished product will be tank stands with lap-joints, a very strong and stable structural choice.

An action shot of Seamus with the 16-inch beam saw

The elaborate clamping setup








Another objective for the crew has been to collect substrate for use in the new aquarium, such as sand, rocks, and shells. This involved trips down to Big Beach, where there is an abundance of ideal substrate. We even lucked out with some gorgeous sunny days, which made hauling around heavy bins infinitely more pleasant!

Jeff, Seamus, and Diana collecting substrate on Big Beach

The mini-aquarium has entered into hibernation mode, now that the big release day has come and gone. We have been hard at work emptying and scrubbing the old tanks. When siphoning out the used water, it is always a fun challenge trying to avoid a mouthful of murky waste water – a distasteful experience as I’m sure you can imagine! Probably the most joy came from discovering little crabs, clams, fishes, and other creatures that were still hiding at the bottoms of the tanks (all of whom were released, of course). The old aquarium materials and merchandise are being packed up, ready for re-use at their deluxe accommodations in the new aquarium building!

However, a few tenants still remain in the mini-aquarium. Our little red octopus female continues to care for her many eggs, which are scheduled to hatch any day now. Also, three fascinating and unidentified fishing anemones are being kept in their tanks in the hopes that with expert consultation, we may be able to identify these mystery specimens. We will keep you updated as much as possible on the births and potential discoveries of these remaining animals!

Diana is the newest member on the JCP team. She has been living in the area for 3 years, working as a naturalist on whale watching boats. Diana is excited to help contribute to the creation of what is sure to be a world-class aquarium facility.

High School Wood Working

Jeff and Seamus using the planer.

Back to High School, well kind of... John Millar the shop teacher from Ucluelet Secondary School very kindly donated his after school hours to help out the Aquarium Society.

Here is Mr. Miller jointing a piece for us.

We worked together to joint and plane our lumber for the future tank supports. We think they turned out beautifully!

Thanks John! We couldn't have done it without you. Hahahaha. Here is a real picture of the results!

The forest comes to us....

Our construction crew has spent the last couple weeks installing beams on the developing structure of our new building. Walking past the site these past few days conjures images of old forest.

The Garbage derby wrapped up last weekend with Jamie's Whaling station taking home the trophy for most garbage collected by a business. Jesse Vedova, one of Jamie's' drivers, towed in a freezer and filled it with collected garbage, fishing floats and other oceanic debris. Matt Harbidge and Kane Edwards collected together to bring home the individual prize. These two drove out to a remote beach in the sound where dogwalkers, runners and beach combers can't add their efforts to keeping it clean. Thank you so much for your efforts!

Thanks also to Zoe Jewell, and Jordan Odney for your help, and to Garth Grimes, Seamus Little, Jason Hasz and Keanna Hasz for your efforts!!!

JCP crew goes to Vancouver Aquarium

We had three days of fun and useful information, half of the time for travel and the other half for inspiration at the Vancouver Aquarium. We started off our morning at Vanaqua with an orientation and behind the scenes look of the facility led by Danny Kent, Curator of B.C. Waters. We were all amazed by the complexities of the plumbing systems. None of us are plumbers by trade so looking at the plumbing of a large aquarium was a lot to take in.

We asked to meet with the carpentry department to see if they had any suggestions that may be useful in building and finishing our supports properly. Danny directed us down to the depths of the basement where the wood shop is located. . We were greeted by Ken Sulivan (Ken on the right) head of the carpentry department. He gave us some great suggestions on what type of leveling feet they have found work well on the bases of the tanks.

Ken showing us some hardware that they have used for leveling feet

The afternoon was spent walking around the galleries of the aquarium. The Vancouver Aquarium is a very amazing place. Here are some of the rad specimens we got to check out!

Bonus points to who can tell us the name of this tropical sea creature!

Daisy the Porpoise

Day two at Van Aqua was spent with Bryan Kent. He showed us on the computer the steps taken to go through to make fake rock that looks real. Basically Bryan started with a scaled down box and made the rock formation he was looking for out of plasticine. He then takes that plan to a company that specializes in artificial rock work to build it for him. Here are the before and after shots.

Before with Plastisine model

After in finished concrete display immediately after rock work was complete

Bryan also took us around for some more behind the scenes look at displays.

Bryan, Jeff and Jonnie checking out the display tank

We had the opportunity to meet with the painter of the Vancouver Aquarium to pick his brain on finishing products that work well in wet environments.

After spending time at the Vancouver Aquarium we are better equipped to create durable wooden structures, and really excited to contribute to the construction of another great aquarium!

2011 JCP Tinkerers

* * * NEWS FLASH * * *

The brainy research squad have been working hard designing the tank stands for the new Aquarium. This handsome crew have been performing diligent calculations to figure out the complex design criteria for the containment systems. The new tank stands will be a timber- frame structure, materials chosen for the tank supports is fir. Fir is a strong and beautiful species and should last for years to come.
The construction will be a lap joint with hardwood doweling to add strength and rigidity. The choice of hardwood doweling is there to keep the stands free of materials that will deteriorate or rust.


As you can see the crew is still working hard to solve the engineering details of our finalized designs.

Having calculated the precise dimensions, volumes and densities of the tanks, substrate and fish the crew was able to accurately estimate the design weights for each display tank.

* * * Stay tuned for more NEWS to come! * * *