GraviTank is a project to design, build, and stock a large aquarium as a permanent installation in East Campus. This project involves four people using several disciplines, including mechanical engineering to design and build the tank, electrical engineering to install multi-colored LEDs, biology in selecting the compatible fish and plant life, and art to create a pleasing visual appearance. The tank will be a 75-gallon version of a "bottomless" tank, an aquarium with a large, shallow base, and a tower of water in the center held up by a lack of air pressure at the top of the tower. A 3-D rendering of the tank has been included in the supplemental materials. Gravitank will be constructed out of polycarbonate sheets, glued together with epoxy and sealed with aquarium-grade silicon glue. All materials used to make the tank will be certified kitchen-grade and thus completely safe to the fish. Our team will use fifty LEDs to light the tank, in addition to the standard tank lighting required for healthy fish and plant growth. The LEDs will cycle through five color channels, providing a variety of lighting options to enhance the natural tones of the fish. In the spirit of the arts at MIT, the centerpiece of our tank will be GloFish. Genetically engineered by injecting GFP DNA into the common zebra danio, the beautiful GloFish is a living example of melding art and science. The GloFish will be just one of the diverse array of fish we are planning for the tank. Other fish, including boesemani rainbow fish, corydora catfish, tetras, and mollies, will complement the GloFish and lead to a peaceful, healthy aquarium full of color and life. GraviTank’s aquascape will be organic. We will use driftwood and live plants (java ferns, Christmas moss, hornwort, and other low-maintenance plants) to create a natural feel to the tank, providing a safe environment for the animals without distracting viewers from the fish.
Our main goal in working on GraviTank is to build a vivid, dynamic piece of art that shows that many different disciplines can work together to create something amazing. Our community already puts a great deal of effort into beautifying our living space, through murals and other installations, and our team feels that GraviTank can be our contribution to mixing art and science at MIT.
The immediate impact of this project will happen right after its completion at the end of August. Our goal is to finish building and stocking the tank by the start of undergraduate freshman orientation. We feel that this tank is a great way to introduce freshman to MIT, as it involves so much of what we do. The tank will be viewable by all students at any time, and we will have an reception during Rush to display the tank and answer any questions others might have about GraviTank. After this, the tank will be on permanent display in East Campus, and remain a fixture for all future residents and visitors to see.
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