Several species of coral along the Florida coastline are dying off due to a rapidly spreading disease. However, a new facility recently opened in central Florida dedicated to not only saving the coral but growing more for the future. WESH 2 got an up-close look at the Florida Coral Rescue Center.Inside a dimly lit 2000-square-foot warehouse near Orlando's tourist area, the ocean is being recreated. Thousands of gallons of salt water are in bins for a life-saving mission.It's the largest coral rescue center in the United States.It might look like a plant, but coral is an animal living across the ocean and it's under attack. "All the coral down here was collected from the Florida Keys down around the middle Keys or lower Keys, and it was collected in front of a disease called stony coral tissue loss disease," said Justin Zimmerman, supervisor of Aquariums at the Florida Coral Rescue Center. The disease is spreading throughout the Caribbean and the Florida Keys and is causing the deaths of coral.Some scientists blame the spread of the disease on rising water temperatures and run-off. "The corals that were collected here probably would have maybe died if they were in the environment. So these corals were collected from the disease brought back here to SeaWorld, or we can keep them safely in our care until we could possibly turn them back to the wild," Zimmerman said.There are 700 types of coral at the Florida Coral Rescue Center.Marine biologists constantly monitor everything from the acidity to the salinity of the saltwater. They even pump calcium into the bins to help the coral grow. "A lot of these corals have grown like, two to three centimeters in diameter, which might not sound like a lot for it, but for a coral like this, it is a lot because they grow very slowly," said Midori Mendoza, a coral aquarist at the Florida Coral Rescue Center.The facility is monitored 24/7 with cameras with backup power. Everything, including the 100 LED lights, have to be set to the perfect color in order for the coral to thrive. "So what we try to do here at the RC is to basically recreate their environment as close to as possible as humanly possible. So as you see the lighting that we have here at the facility, it's actually attended blue a little bit. That's to recreate the lighting that the corals are used to at their depth. Its corals are collected from around 50 to 60 feet of water," Zimmerman said. The goal is to save the coral and help them reproduce. Doing that outside its normal environment is a challenging task. The science has to be exact, down to when the lights turn on. "The lights here in our facility, the sunrise is the same time as Key West and the sunset is the same same time as Key West. So we're basically simulating the natural daylight cycle before that, and that's what gets them to spawn. So that's the key in getting to the spot on time," Zimmerman said. "If one corresponds one night and another coral spins weeks later, it really doesn't help the other cause."The rescue center has been successful in getting the coral to spawn.In fact, just recently, some coral did spawn in the center. Inside a tank are thousands of fertilized eggs.Eventually, those eggs will be transferred to a bin where the eggs will attach onto the tile, allowing them to grow.Zimmerman said by genetically diversifying the coral, it helps future generations survive. "Where if you have the genetic diversity on the reef and they're all unique individuals, the same species are all unique individuals and they catch a disease, you may lose a portion, but the chances are there's going to be a couple that are more immune to the disease just through genetics so they're more tolerant of disease," Zimmerman said. It takes 1-2 years for the coral to grow big enough to be put back in the reef. The success of this project is vital for Florida's coast. "Yeah, I mean, if you're a fisherman, they say 25% of all fish that are in the ocean start or live a portion of their life on a coral reef, so it's huge for fishing. It's huge for scuba diving," Zimmerman said. "If you're a recreational scuba diver, if you just have a house in Florida, it prevents, you know, the strength of hurricanes. It can lessen storm surge by up to 90%. It's beautiful. It's like the ecosystem, it's like the rainforests of the ocean."The Florida Coral Rescue Center project is a collaboration between several organizations including NOAA, the Florida Wildlife Commission, the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, SeaWorld and Disney.Since its start, the center has successfully spawned seven out of the 18 different species of coral under its care.