Across Indiana
Hautian Ocean
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Somewhere in Terre Haute, the tropical sun never set. Dave Stoelk visited AquaTech in 1994.
As the weather gets a little more cooler and the sun begins to set a little more sooner, this is a remainder that somewhere in Terre Haute there was once a place where the tropical sun never set. AquaTech was once one of two coral growing businesses in the entire country. In 1994, Across Indiana producer, Dave Stoelk, sailed on down to Terre Haute to get a glimpse of this "Hautian Ocean".
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Across Indiana is a local public television program presented by WFYI
Across Indiana
Hautian Ocean
Clip | 5m 22sVideo has Closed Captions
As the weather gets a little more cooler and the sun begins to set a little more sooner, this is a remainder that somewhere in Terre Haute there was once a place where the tropical sun never set. AquaTech was once one of two coral growing businesses in the entire country. In 1994, Across Indiana producer, Dave Stoelk, sailed on down to Terre Haute to get a glimpse of this "Hautian Ocean".
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipWhat can yo say about Terre Haute, Indiana?
Probably not known to be a social hub or cultural, metropolitan area or anything.
Sadly, over the years, Terr Haute has been the butt of jokes and tagged with some unflattering nicknames.
Armpit of Indiana I think mayb I heard once or twice in school.
Terre Haute is kind of known for that mysterious smell.
Tis better to light a votive candle than to curse smelly armpits or something like that.
Lifelong resident Morgan Lyster has done his part to brighten Terre Haute image on the shores of the fabled Wabash.
He's found tropical sunshin where, if you were to consider at least one awful Terre Haute nickname, some folks think the sun don't shine.
Not a whole lot of tropical marine biology goes on in the middle of the Midwest.
And, people seem particularly surprised to find that we're doing this.
And right in the heart of Terr Haute, right behind the courthou Matter of fact.
And we know it's always daytime and it's always humi and 80 degrees in our facility.
So, you can pretty much come and enjoy the tropics here just about any time.
It looks like just another Terre Haute storefront, but the sign out front identifies it as Indiana's largest reef display in terms of coral reef display or living coral, living reef display.
We have the largest facility that I'm aware of in the United States.
Some people might look at this and think it's just a giant aquarium, a tank with some rocks in it.
Nope.
It's a functioning reef.
A miniature version of the kind you might find off the Florida Keys.
Yeah, we do consider the live functioning pieces of reef.
We basically let them functio just like a natural reef would.
The secret to reef building rests in a box like this.
Morgan licensed this simple process from a Smithsonian scientist.
Morgan cultures tiny plankton as well as specific algae, the same species found growing along natural reefs.
Salt water is added.
Tidal flows are simulated.
Ultraviolet lights turn on and off in the same cycle as the sun and the moon.
The result a delicate marine ecosystem, a living reef growing in a Terre Haute, Indiana warehouse.
This reef right here, this 6000 gallon system, only about six, six and a half months old.
And we're really.
Who would have thought tha in Terre Haute, you would find brain cora growing and replenishing itself, or clownfish living in symbiosis with a poisonous purple sea anemone.
And then also on this particular piece of Acropora, you can see the pair of, what are called Acropora crabs because they don't live anywhere else except for on the, Acropora.
Morgan, a 25 year old biology graduate from Indiana University, started AquaTank.
one of only two such businesses in the entire country.
The idea is to raise cora creatures and other marine life in captivity, so you don't have to buy the reefs in the wild.
My personal feeling is it's really hard to get people motivate to predict something like this, as theyve never seen it.
The exotic species farme here are then sold to pet stores and to customers in a retail store out in front of the warehouse.
Here we have a couple of, eels.
These are both, species from Hawaii.
The zebra eel.
They're in the back.
And then we just call thi a Hawaiian or a Hawaiian moray.
That's pretty good sized starfish.
This is a baby brown banded bamboo shark.
He doesn't seem really excited.
There he goes.
There's a hom version of the aqua reef system.
A little more manageabl than the 6000 gallon variety out in the warehouse.
Morgan's father, a local businessman, promised his so that when he got out of college and if he had a sound business idea, hed back him.
So Morgan's family invested several hundred thousand dollar into PVC piping and giant tanks.
Maintaining a delicate reef system requires a lot of attention.
So Morgan had an apartment built overlooking Indiana's only reef that would make it Indiana's only apartment with an ocean view.
A lot of folks have come to call it our Hautian Ocean.
Hautian Ocean?
The Hautian Ocean.
Thats Hautian as in Terre Hautian.
It's safe to say that this is the only ocean in Indiana.
I'm pretty sure, you know, if you brought some sand here, you can make a nice beach.
Yeah.
It's true.
We've been looking into the whole tourist, aspect of it all before you have this.
Haven't developed that yet.
For more Across Indiana stories, go to wfyi.org/acrossindiana
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