Dolphin lagoon in Kolmården

The dolphin lagoon in Kolmården. The lagoon is not used for shows, they are held in the show pool Final of dolphin show "Life" in Kolmården - ZooChat There is a bleacher beside the lagoon, which I'm standing on top of here, as the lagoon often is used for lectures. The rock in the background is a real rock built-in in the construction. Through the large window you can spot the sea behind the trees.

There are three pools in the dolphinarium, the large show pool and the lagoon. Between them is the "between-pool" (a direct translation of the Swedish name of the pool, mellanbassängen). Normally the dolphins have free access to all pools at all time. The show pool is only open for visitors during shows and the "between-pool" is off-show. The lagoon is open at all time. It's normally very calm in here and very relaxing to just observe the dolphins. As you can see in this picture, it was not very calm. This is really unusual i don't remember why it was so much visitors here. Normally it's just a few persons in here at a time. I think (just my thoughts) that many visitors don't find the lagoon. The entrance is quite far from the show pool and is in a remote corner of the park. To enter the lagoon you have to pass an ordinary small door with a small sign, beside several doors for staff. I think that many visitors don't find the door to the lagoon.

The dolphinarium was built in 1969, but there were some problems as it was built in a hurry, just 8 months from idea to completion. No one at Kolmården know much about dolphins when it was built, leading to a failed construction. To solve the problems the dolphinarium was rebuilt and extended with the lagoon in 1993. The show pool is from 1969. A quite unique feature built 1993 is the filter house outside the dolphinarium. To aviod noise from water pumps, a filter house was built in a slope below the dolphinarium. The water flows to the filter house by gravity and is then filtered. When it's filtered, it's pumped up in a tower, giving it enough pressure to flow back to the dolphinarium without pumps and noise.

Interesting info, do you happen to know the size of these tanks?

@lintworm I'm not sure about the size. I've read it so many times but right now I can't remember and I can't find it. A number that pops up in my head is 6400 m3 of water in the whole complex, but as I said I'm not sure. I don't know the size of each tank but I've heard somewhere that the lagoon is 6 m deep. The dolphinarium is one of the largest in the world.

Kolmarden Zoo is actively looking for new homes for its dolphins (perhaps a dozen left?) and it will be interesting to see what becomes of this complex. Sea lions would be the obvious new species for the exhibit.