The aquarium at the Albuquerque Biological Park was opened in October of 1996. Over the next several months the staff observed a steady buildup of nitrate in their exhibits and decided to install a small EcoMat denitrification system on their 13,000 gallon Ray exhibit. They selected this small exhibit in order to test the technology prior to purchasing a larger system for their 240,000 gallon shark exhibit.

In May of 1997 EcoMat worked with the Albuquerque Aquarium staff to install the first on-line continuous system of its kind to operate on an exhibit which contains fish (previous systems had operated on exhibits with mammals). Due to the compact size of this system (3'x6' footprint) the initial startup was performed in EcoMat's lab in Hayward, California using seed bacteria obtained from Albuquerque's ray exhibit. After establishing a significant denitrification bacteria inventory the system was disassembled transported and installed in Albuquerque. Two days after leaving EcoMat's lab, the system was operating in a slow continuous mode on Albuquerque's ray exhibit.

After reaching a peak nitrate concentration of 45 ppm NO₃-N in May of 1997 the nitrate level in Albuquerque's ray exhibit decreased to less than 15 ppm NO₃-N in October of 1997. Originally the denitrification system was designed to remove approximately 40 grams of nitrogen per day but after increased feeding of the exhibit animals, the system has consistently removed 50-100% more nitrate than its design capacity. Subsequently the steady state nitrate concentration in the exhibit water has stabilized between 20-25 ppm NO₃-N.