Controlled Environment Facility

The AIMS@JCU Controlled Environment Facility (CEF) was completed in February 2006 and is now available for use by students and researchers. The million-dollar state-of-the-art facility, located at AIMS, Cape Ferguson, gives users access to environment-controlled rooms with air conditioning, filtered ambient seawater, filtered heated or cooled seawater, and freshwater reticulation.

The facility makes efficient use of energy through clever design. Air conditioning and seawater cooling will be made possible by re-circulating water from a nearby chiller plant. Seawater will be circulated through solar strip heaters on the roof of the building to provide heated water. Within the facility, air and seawater temperatures will be continuously monitored and the facility will be managed by Matt Kenway.

The CEF has two large broodstock rooms and three smaller rearing rooms, and it is expected that initial use of facilities will include research into larval rearing of marine ornamentals and the nutritional requirements of target species larvae, for example rock lobster.