KML's Sea Water Tanks

KML's newly-renovated seawater tank farm is once again ready for education groups and researchers! Coarsely filtered seawater is drawn from the lagoon in front of the wetlab seawall... ...into a holding pond (formerly Shallows 4). Seawater is pulled from the holding pond to fill our various tanks. Over-flow from the holding pond runs directly to the large 220,000 gallon capacity Shallows (formerly Shallows 5) which has an average depth of 32".

We monitor water quality (temp, DO, salinity) daily from 4 locations around the lab: our marina basin, near-shore Florida Bay off our outer seawall, the lagoon near our intake point, and the Shallows. Dissolved oxygen readings in the Shallows have been consistently between 60% and 85% throughout the winter, in spite of dense mats of rack along the seawall.

Phase I of KML's seawater system offers a variety of tanks and wet tables with water flow rates ranging from 300 gal. per hr. to 600 gal. per hr. Water levels in the tanks and tables can be adjusted by variable stand-pipes.

Tanks and tables under lattice shade structure:

A total of 6 wet tables (23"W x 6'L) - 3 outside and 3 under the Wet Lab Pavilion, maximum water depth 8", approx. 60 gal. capacity; ideal for smaller specimens and student group observations

A total of 6 fiberglass tanks (foreground, 26"W x 4'L), maximum water depth 12"; approx. 75 gal. capacity
Two 6' diam. round fiberglass tanks (upper left), maximum water depth 24"; approx. 350 gal capacity
One 8' diam. round fiberglass tank (upper right), maximum water depth 36"; approx. 1100 gal. capacity


4 black livestock tanks (3'W x 5'L), maximum water depth 18"; approx. 1300 gal. capacity
Two 8' diam round tanks, maximum water depth 18", approx. 530 gal. capacity

Tanks exposed to full sunlight:

1 fiberglass raceway (8' long x 21" wide), maximum water depth 12", approx. 120 gal. capacity

4 fiberglass raceways (12' long x 21" wide), maximum water depth 12"; approx. 160 gal. capacity

We anticipate continuing to expand our seawater system to meet the needs of our visitors.

KML's Wet Lab Pavilion is ready to go!

KML staff have continued to work hard throughout the winter on our seawater system and open-air wet lab. We have 2 banks of acrylic aquariums set up inside the wetlab pavilion and plumbed for seawater.
One bank of twelve 15-gal. aquariums (12"W x 24"L x 12" deep) are individually plumbed. These aquariums have the option of using an in-line filtration system which passes through a series of two 20" filter housings. Filter cartridges are available from 50 microns down to 0.35 microns. The second bank of acrylic aquariums are plumbed as 3 flow-through unfiltered seawater systems. The top tier has eleven 2-gal tanks (8" x 8" x 8") and eight 10-gal. tanks (12"W x 15"L x 12" deep). The bottom tier consists of eight 15-gal. (12"W x 24"L x 12" deep) tanks. We have three 75-gal. seawater tables (23"W x 6'3"L x 12" deep) under the wet lab pavilion. Water levels in the tables can be controlled by stand-pipes. Work benches will be set up along the walls to accommodate a variety of separate aquariums and any other necessary equipment. Plenty of open floor space around the tables will accommodate students. Fresh-water sinks (no chemicals down the drains please!) and wash-down hoses are conveniently located around the wetlab.
And if that's not enough, you just can't beat the view from the wet lab and our new sea wall! Sunsets here are spectacular looking out over Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

Seawater is once again flowing at KML!

But first a brief glimpse behind the scenes these last 4 months:
As another hurricane season drew to an end, the beginnings of the new seawater system unfolded and we could finally focus on the task at hand.

October 2008 behind the KML wetlab

November 2008:
Laying drain pipes, setting up and leveling a variety of tanks and wet tables and plumbing them to the drain.

The pipes had to be carefully covered with dirt - 1 wheel barrow load at a time

Mike and Bill carefully selected and moved large tanks into position with equipment on-hand

A new view of the outer wet lab under the shade lattice with more tanks in place

Old Shallows 4 had to be cleaned out, repaired, sealed, and painted with a special epoxy paint to prepare it for our new seawater holding pond

Bill is the master-mind behind the building of the seawater intake system - affectionately called "the octopus" (well, it really has only 6 legs but it is a very impressive tangle of PVC!) Seawater was actually pumping into Shallows 4 by Christmas!

Three 3-hp Jacuzzi pumps draw water from the lagoon in front of the wetlab through a common uptake manifold to 3" outflow pipes over the 1000 gal settling tank in Shallows 4

Three smaller 3/4-hp Jacuzzi pumps send seawater from Shallows 4 to the various tanks

Seawater lines plumbed to the tanks - Bill had seawater running to the first 10 tanks New Years Eve 2008!! More tanks will soon be on-line and ready to fill.

Cleaning old Shallows 5 took a solid week, with help from several of the Marathon Lab staff. Three years of post-Wilma muck and debris had to be shoveled out. Major cracks were patched, old marcite chipped away and removed. A 2" trash pump sucked out the last of the sludge from the pit.

January 16, 2009 we had water running through the entire system... ....overflowing into the large Shallows (formerly Shallows 5).

A variety of odd critters have already made it their home!

A new boat at the KML dock

Happy New Year at KML! We are excited to announce the newest boat in our fleet, the R/V Diodon (Yes, the spiny puffer fish!).
This 30' Island Hopper, powered by twin Yamaha 4-stroke 250 hp engines, will carry up to 23 snorkelers comfortably to all of the various marine habitats around the Middle Keys.

Thus far, we have taken her on a 24 mile run to East Cape Sable to assist our SEAKEYS staff in tending their northwest Florida Bay C-man station.

Invertebrate class from NSU visits KML

Students from Nova Southeastern University recently came to KML to study invertebrates in the field with their instructor, Dr. Charles Messing. They explored creatures at Old Dan Bank.....
...and snorkeled off-shore near Long Key State Park.

New dive gear washdown area

Fall has been a busy time at KML, both on and off the water. New and returning researchers have been on-site conducting their studies and have been very excited at the progress of the rebuilding projects. We have housed several classes in our dorms and taken visiting groups out to explore the nearby marine habitats.

Divers and snorkelers can now enjoy the use of our new gear wash-down area at the end of a day on the water. We have 2 large tubs for wet-suits and dive BC's and fins. In addition, there are now 3 smaller tubs designated just for regulators, masks and snorkels, and camera equipment. Fresh-water showers are also available for a quick rinse-off.




Future plans include a second wash-down area to be constructed out near our wet lab.

SEAKEYS Monitoring Program at KML

By Jon Fajans, SEAKEYS Program Manager & Andrew Crowder, SEAKEYS Research Assistant

SEAKEYS, which stands for Sustained Ecological Research Related to the Management of the Florida Keys Seascape, is a research framework for scientists organized by the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) in 1989, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Keys Marine Lab provides the SEAKEYS program a base for its operations. As part of SEAKEYS, FIO, in cooperation with the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), established six enhanced Coastal Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) environmental monitoring stations. The program is now sustained annually through grants from NOAA and the EPA.

Renovated SEAKEYS building at KML (formerly the Conch Lab)

The SEAKEYS C-Man stations, located throughout the Florida Keys and the Bay, provide a wealth of oceanographic and weather data used by marine ecosystem managers and scientists conducting research. Scientists investigating topics like coral bleaching and algae blooms are not the only people that depend upon the real-time data provided by the oceanographic stations. Boaters, anglers, and divers, including commercial operators, also take advantage of being able to check the wind speed and direction on the internet before they leave the dock.

C-man station LONF1 Florida Bay north of Long Key

The SEAKEYS network encompasses the geographic scale of the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. The data is transmitted hourly via a Geo-stationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite (GOES) providing near real-time environmental baseline data for researchers, resource managers, and the public. These stations record hourly wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, barometric pressure, sea temperature, salinity, and terrestrial solar irradiance. These data are available on the web at the following sites: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/Florida.shtml and http://www.coral.noaa.gov/seakeys/real_data.shtml.

A seventh monitoring station, a cooperative effort between FIO and the University of South Florida's Coastal Oceanographic Monitoring Program (USF/COMPS), is located in Northwest Florida Bay. This site has been down since hurricanes Katrina and Wilma destroyed the monitoring equipment and is expected to be back online fall 2008. Upon completion this data will also be available by visiting:http://comps1.marine.usf.edu/nfb/index.shtml or one of the websites listed above.

In addition to the rebuilding of the station in Florida Bay, this year the SEAKEYS Program began upgrading all of their stations throughout the Keys to process at a high data rate to accommodate a new suite of sensors that will greatly enhance the data. The oceanographic sensors that will be at all seven monitoring stations are a Falmouth Scientific NXIC-CT sensor, that measures water conductivity, temperature, salinity, and can power up to five other sensors, a Biospherical PAR sensor, which will show the amount of biologically productive light reaching the water that is important for coral growth, and a Falmouth Scientific 1-D wave sensor, that will give tide information and wave heights. Also, there will be Solar Light underwater UVB sensors at Fowey Rocks (FWYF1), Molasses Reef (MLRF1), Sombrero Reef (SMKF1), Sand Key (SANF1), and Pulaski Shoal (PLSF1) which will cover the entire Sanctuary reef tract. UVB rays from the sun are important for photosynthesis in the symbiotic algae found in coral tissues. MLRF1 will also get CO2 and pH sensors for a closer look at the impacts of global climate change on the reefs of the Florida Keys.

In the near future SEAKEYS will also be adding their first buoy creating an eighth station off of Carysfort Reef thanks to a generous contribution from the Ocean Reef Foundation. This station (CRYF1) is a YSI buoy that is over ten feet tall and will be replacing one of the corner buoys of the Sanctuary Protected Area (SPA) at Carysfort Reef near the Gulf Stream. Along with the standard oceanographic and meteorological data that the other SEAKEYS stations provide, the buoy will be equipped with a new Falmouth Scientific 3-D wave sensor that will not only give wave height and direction, but current direction and speed also. In addition, this sensor will provide water clarity readings which will be helpful to the anglers and divers of the Upper Keys. The SEAKEYS staff hopes that this cutting edge science will be well received by the public, which may lead to funding opportunities that would allow them to apply this technology to other locations throughout the Keys, such as deep water wrecks for added dive safety.

For more information about this program visit: http://www.keysmarinelab.org/seakeys.htm

Or contact the program manager at: jsfajans@keysmarinelab.org

Sea Turtle nesting on Long Key

Sea turtle nesting season stretches from May 1st through October 31st here in the Keys.
















The Loggerhead turtles are usually done nesting by early September but "turtlers" continue to monitor the beaches for the occasional Green or Hawksbill nest.

Long Key State Park staff and Save-a-Turtle volunteers have been monitoring the beaches of Long Key since early April. Walking the beaches each morning, they monitor the previous night's nesting activities. Only 10 Loggerhead nests were marked and monitored this year, 3 of which were within the State Park.


The eggs typically hatch 50-75 days later. The 7 nests located outside of the Park averaged 110 eggs per nest with a 54% hatching rate. Losses due to predation were around 15%, and typically are due to raccoons. The nest pictured above was flooded during the high tides and storm surges due to hurricanes (Faye, Gustav, and Ike). Turtlers usually wait at least 10 days after hatching occurs to "dig" the nests and assess hatching success. In cases of poorly-placed nests or in areas were raccoon predation is a concern, they may dig the nest sooner. Any late hatchlings left behind in the nest are scooped up, held for the day, and safely escorted to the water's edge at nightfall.
A grand total of 422 Loggerhead hatchlings left the nests from the Long Key beaches this year.

Introducing the 2008 KML staff

L to R: Lisa, Heddy, Bill, Dave, Cindy, Mike

Lisa Tipsword - operations manager
Heddy MacBain - office assistant (keeps us all in line)
Dave Norman & Bill Ferrell - marine and technical support (the guys who keep KML running!)
Cindy Lewis & Mike McCallister - marine biologists