And we couldn’t be more excited! It’s all part of Phase 2 of our coral biobank project to protect the rare resilient corals of Tela Bay.

The video below shows the arrival of twelve raceways (that’s just another way to say big tanks that can hold lots of corals) at the Tela Marine aquarium. We’ve still got a lot to do to ready them to hold corals over the next several months. That will include moving them down to the biobank site on the beach, preparing the land, setting up the life support systems, and getting the seawater circulating for many months so the chemistry of the seawater is stable. We’re also planning to build a public-facing welcome center and a small lab for the scientists and aquarists who are going to care for the corals. It’s a lot but it’s going to be amazing!

The purchase of these raceways was made possible through the Stanley Creator’s Fund and the incredible donations we’ve received Music for the Ocean, which has committed to helping us raise $100,000 to build this urgently needed coral biobank system. If you’d like to contribute: here’s a link. And check back frequently to see when we’re planning a concert nearby. You don’t want to miss it!

We get it that these tanks might not look like much. But this really is the first, and a critical step toward building Tela’s coral biobank. As you can hear Antal say: we think these big tanks are beautiful. They’ll be even more beautiful when they are full of Tela’s incredible corals.

Stay tuned!