Design Brief, Specifications, and Limitations of Designing the Tank

Design Brief: Design, model, develop, and build a simulated habitat housing for future MAST students to house 100 horseshoe crabs from 6 months to 1 year in a climate controlled lab setting and have a survival rate of 20% while also allowing for scientific research to expand human knowledge of the species.

Specifications:

• have space to raise 100 six month to one year old horseshoe crabs (five cubic feet)
• increase the survival rates of horseshoe crabs to 20%
• be beneficial to the study and understanding of the horseshoe crab as a species
• replicate the natural environment of the horseshoe crab by simulating natural nutrients, temperature, and features
• be stable enough to not collapse or leak under the pressure of the water in the tank
• properly connect with the pump and nutrient systems
• have a constant flow of salt water
• be waterproof
• run constantly as an entire system
• be replicateable for others to use

Limitations:

• variability of the size of young horseshoe crabs
• availability of space in the lab
• not all natural processes such as inclement weather can be replicated in a lab setting
• joints and seems are weak points
• ability to filter the water within the system to reuse water instead of constant replacing 
• over filtration causing an imbalance of nutrients
• availability of non-corroding materials (ie: plastic, glass)
• the length of the average human arm (limits depth and width of tank)
• availability of generators for power outages
• design simplicity