2015 AALSO Symposium Cincinnati
March 29th - April 2nd 2015
The 21st Annual Aquatic Animal Life Support Operators Symposium was held in Cincinnati. We had over 300 attendees from over 80 different zoological, aquarium or research based organizations and more than 50 different vendors were represented. Registration included access to all workshops, lectures, hot breakfast and lunch Monday- Wednesday, two evening events with appetizers and the Wednesday Certification Banquet.The Hosting Facilities
Hosting facilities included:The Hotel
The Cincinnati Marriott RiverCenter was the venue for the symposium.The Airport
The local airport was Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).The Agenda
The Agenda Summary is now available below providing a daily outline of activities. The agenda was packed with even more workshops and included: Certifications:
- AALSO Levels 1-3 Certification
- ASME B 31.3 Certification
- OSHA Certification
- Certified Pool Operator Certification (New for 2015) *additional fee
- AALSO Levels 1-3 Test & Math Preparation
- Understanding the Benefits of VFD's
- Basic VFD Commissioning
- 10 Hour OSHA General Industry Course
- ASME B31.3 Solvent Cementing Training for PVC & CPVC
- Butterfly, Ball and Check Valve Workshop
- Small Pump Rebuild
- Laser Alignment of Pump and Motor Coupling
- Actuated Valves: Flow Dynamics, Level Sensing and Actuator Adjustment
- Maintaining Larger Pumps
- Plate Heat Exchanger Preventative Maintenance
- Ozone, ORP and Probe Calibration
- Ozone System Maintenance
- UV Sterilizer Maintenance
- Small Chiller Sizing
- Fusion Welding PE Pipe
- Glass Tank Drilling
- Proper Calibration & Maintenance of DO, pH & Conductivity Sensors
- Mechanical Seal School with Interactive Installation
The Future
2016: Denver, CO – Denver Zoo
2017: St. Louis, MO – St. Louis Zoo
The Past
Feed back from this year:
- “I left feeling invigorated about the state of the industry and felt good knowing there are so many intelligent passionate people out there working on a lot of the same problems who are so willing to share their knowledge and experiences.”
- “The last time I attended AALSO was 6 years ago. I decided to give it another try this year and I noticed that AALSO has made remarkable improvements… Keep up the good work and I plan on coming back.”
- “Seeing others’ operation and talking to other professionals in their environment makes me proud to be one myself.”
- “Workshops are great because they go beyond the vendor booths by providing additional and specific hands on time with the equipment and the vendors who make them.”
- “One of the reasons I joined AALSO to start with was to hear how other operators deal with problems and challenges because all life support systems have issues.”