Nine years have passed since the creation of the “Natural Aquascape” in the Sumida Aquarium, which was considered the world’s largest Nature Aquarium at the time. We will share a series of behind-the-scene stories about its creation and maintenance, which has not been talked about much until now.

Even those who are unfamiliar with the world of aquatic plants will be drawn in by its beauty.
Photography by Takahito Mizuno (October, 2020)

The Sumida Aquarium was established in May 2012 as a part of “Tokyo Solamachi”, a shopping facility in the Tokyo SKYTREE. Despite the advantage of being “an aquarium in the SKYTREE,” there are many large aquariums in the Tokyo area that attract many visitors, and because of the relatively compact design of the Sumida Aquarium, our aquarium exhibition has to be something enriching and full of enlightenment. The Nature Aquarium layout style not only impresses the viewers with its beauty, but also draws their interest in environmental issues when they understand how ideal lush ecosystems are formed and how the aquarium system works. The idea was in line with Sumida Aquarium’s concept of an “environmentally friendly aquarium,” and so it was decided to install the Natural Aquarium on the entrance floor, the face of the aquarium. The world’s greatest Nature Aquarium was created at the foot of the world’s greatest tower. Two Natural Aquarium were completed: a 4-meter tank with 10 tons of water and the world’s widest (at the time of its installation) 7-meter tank. In the following year, a 3-meter tank and two 180-cm tanks were added to the exhibition that has been carried out using ADA’s maintenance skills to this day. From the next article, we will explain structure of the aquarium system and maintenance techniques with practical examples.

A scene from the production. After careful preparation, the layout was swiftly put together.