Students say ‘tanks’ a lot

Lindsay Sandham

There’s no need for Orange Coast College students to go all the way

to the beach to get an education about ocean life.

The student-operated aquarium at OCC, located in the Lewis Center

for Applied Science, features numerous aquariums, including a living

coral reef tank.

“Each exhibit displays different parts of the Orange County

oceans,” said OCC marine science professor and aquarium director

Dennis Kelly.

A marine science class offered by the college teaches students the

ins and outs of starting and operating an aquarium by allowing them

to operate and maintain the school’s aquarium exhibits.

“People don’t realize how much work goes into this,” said Erik

Carlson, 23, of Newport Beach.

Carlson and his friend Adam Ereth are the two student managers who

oversee the aquarium class of 20 students. There are also two mangers

emeritus, Jennifer Kavanaugh and Larissa Clary, former student

managers who oversee Carlson and Ereth.

Carlson, a marine biology major, and Ereth signed up for Kelly’s

aquarium class last semester and were asked to come back as managers.

Students learn all aspects of running an aquarium, including

initial set-up, feeding, cleaning, maintenance and some animal

husbandry.

“They leave here, and they can get a job in an aquarium,” said

Kelly, who has been running the OCC aquarium since 1974.

Carlson is a volunteer diver at the Long Beach Aquarium and Ereth

works at the Kerckoff Marine Laboratory in Newport Beach. Ereth said

he loves his job as a student manager and that it’s helping him learn

valuable management skills.

“It’s a lot of fun; the students are a lot of fun,” he said.

Most students taking the Marine Science aquarium class are marine

biology majors, although there are a handful who simply want to learn

more about aquariums so they can better operate their own systems at

home, Carlson said.

“I’m living proof of this aquarium class,” Carlson said. “I never

had any knowledge of aquariums.”

It was always a goal of his to be an aquarium volunteer and diver,

he said.

“What I’m doing here got me the hands-on experience to take care

of aquariums,” he said. “That’s what this class does -- it gives you

all the book knowledge and the hands-on experience.”

Outside the center are five window tanks with an interpretive

display, so passers-by can read about the exhibits when no volunteers

are around.

Possibly the most expensive and fascinating exhibit is the live

coral reef display.

“This is the hardest tank to create,” Kelly said. “What’s really

neat about this system is once you get it set up, once you get it

balanced, the system actually takes care of itself.”

In order to keep the aquarium running and to continue offering the

aquarium programs, Orange Coast College relies on fundraisers. An

aquarium open house is held once a semester, with the next one

scheduled for April 9.

“The students here get hands-on experience I don’t think you can

get anywhere else,” Kelly said. “We’re the biggest little aquarium

around.”