Swedish fish - behind the scenes rebuilding a public aquarium

[Brew12]

Back to larger frags this week. We've started to move corals from the 10000L tank

Those holding systems are going to fill up fast with "frags" that size!

 

[Sallstrom]

Those holding systems are going to fill up fast with "frags" that size!

Yes

 

[Sallstrom]

Today we moved our first two-person colony (it took two people to carry it)

We're also rebuilding a propagation tank. From 6 meters to about 4 metres. Björn is leading the work. What left is to fix the two parts together with epoxy.

And now we can see the whole Montipora colony in the 10000L tank from the surface. It's really big Might take more than two persons to move that. The question is if it fits in any of the tanks in the temporary Aquarium.

And if you're in the construction business and want to build our new Aquarium building, now the public procurement is out(here should be a link, but I don't know where to find those procurements..).

 

[najer]

Nice frags!

 

[Brew12]

Its going to take a large frag plug!!

 

[Sallstrom]

Nice frags!

Its going to take a large frag plug!!

I like frags you can carry like a briefcase.

 

[Sallstrom]

So this week we've started to move out the corals from the 10000L tank. It's been running since May 2014. Since it's a pretty large and deep tank, we haven't really done that much to manipulate the growth. The first period I added as much corals as I could, mostly from our other tanks. After that we've moved out some colonies now and then. Other than that, the corals have done the aqua scaping by themselves. And with lots of light, flow and space they've grown a lot. Some staghorn branches are thicker than my thumbs.
They have also died at the bases due to self shadowing. So now when we remove the 10-30 cm live coral layer on the top, there's a 20 cm layer of dead corals beneath. Then comes the rocks and our old home made background. So in this tank the corals have really built a reef
This is after removing some of the top layer of corals

And this will go to the calcium reactors (some of the layer of dead branches)

 

[Sallstrom]

It's always great when you take a chance and it works out. The two coral systems in the temporary Aquarium were started quite fast(except the delay due to the heater incident in system 1..). But using old live rock directly from well working tanks and using some "live water", my gut feeling said go, just move in the fish and corals. So we've done that, plus started up with the lights turned up so the PAR is around 200-250 in most areas. We will probably go up a little bit more later on, but I wanted to see if our grazers could get the algae in check before. At the moment there are some algae here and there. But not enough to disturb the corals. Or me
The Core7 consumption is increasing, so something is growing. And the nitrate and phosphate are also used up quickly, even if we add quite much each day.
The measurements today were about 0,5 ppm nitrate(Salifert) and zero(Hanna LR) in both systems.
All fish are okey. Some damsels are not very nice, and one we had to move. That one is a monster, and bullied the new tank mates a bit too much..

So at the moment it seems like our kick starts have turn out well. Even if we forgot to "cure" the rocks and cycle the new tanks
I won't say it was a success yet. Too soon. I'll wait a year or so for that kind of words.

 

[Sallstrom]

And the sea cucumber found the sand!

We needed some sand for our tube anemones, so we used a glass baking dish that was left from the cafeteria.
The cucumber spawned layer, so I guess it was very happy for finding some sand.

 

[najer]

I have no idea how many tiger tail cucumbers I have, very under rated cuc!

 

[Sallstrom]

I have no idea how many tiger tail cucumbers I have, very under rated cuc!

I agree! We had 4 black one when I started working at the museum 2008, and three of them are still with us today. Really like the slow but steady sand eating/cleaning they do.
Do the tiger tail cucumbers reproduce asexually(by "fragmentation)? I know some do, but not ours(yet at least).

 

[najer]

I agree! We had 4 black one when I started working at the museum 2008, and three of them are still with us today. Really like the slow but steady sand eating/cleaning they do.
Do the tiger tail cucumbers reproduce asexually(by "fragmentation)? I know some do, but not ours(yet at least).

Yes, I'd love to know how many I have but rarely see more than 2 at any given time.

 

[Sallstrom]

Moved the large Montipora and Sacrophyton today from the 10000L tank! Jens jumped in the water and the rest of us carried corals. Got some help from staff from Tropikariet, another public aquarium. They had room for the Sacrophyton in their 75000L reef/shark tank. So instead of making frags out of it, it can carry on growing
The Montipora we'll keep. It broke and came out in 3-4 pieces. The largest one you can see below.

 

[Brew12]

Moved the large Montipora and Sacrophyton today from the 10000L tank! Jens jumped in the water and the rest of us carried corals. Got some help from staff from Tropikariet, another public aquarium. They had room for the Sacrophyton in their 75000L reef/shark tank. So instead of making frags out of it, it can carry on growing
The Montipora we'll keep. It broke and came out in 3-4 pieces. The largest one you can see below.

That is just one piece???

 

[najer]

I need a bigger tank!?

 

[Brew12]

I need a bigger tank!?

And biologists to clean and care for it!!

 

[najer]

I now have a happy gorg, I am now reasonably comfortable about putting anything (except clams) in my tank now, I'd love to try a 4 inch frag!

 

[Sallstrom]

That is just one piece???

Yes, but it is the largest piece

I need a bigger tank!?

That why we will build the next reef display tank 14 meters long

The coming week, or weeks, there will be lots of time gluing frags and sorting species. Since the frags will just be in propagation tanks for two years, the looks of the frags aren't that important now. So it'll be drilling holes in live rocks and sticking the sticks(we have a lot staghorn branches) into those holes. That also saves some glue, just need a couple of drops.
I'm not sure on how to do with all plating Montiporas..

Here's the 10000L tank now, almost emptied of live corals.

So much space after the Montipora was removed! We should have removed that colony years ago..
I almost started to plan on how we could restart this tank with new corals, but I stopped myself quickly

Just to ensure you we also work on the planning for the new Aquarium, here's a drawing on the reef tank system. There will be some smaller tanks connected to this systems as well, but they are on the next paper
This is mostly a drawing for the engineers, to get all things together. Some flow rates have been changed and the GFO filters and reactor are just there to show we will need water supply/pipes and pumps for those things too.

 

[Stigigemla]

If You are going to use the algae filter I would expect active carbon or ozone to clear from yellowing water.
And I am surprized that the drip filter is not after the protein skimmers as degassing.

 

[Sallstrom]

If You are going to use the algae filter I would expect active carbon or ozone to clear from yellowing water.
And I am surprized that the drip filter is not after the protein skimmers as degassing.

The GFO filters could be used as filters with active carbon(we just use GFO as an example of type filter type).
Ozone we can not bring up when talking to engineers.. (We can't afford the security standards for using ozone) But we might use hobby ozone generators if it's needed.

The drip filter(not really a good name for ours, more high flow water fall) is just an idea on how to use the water fall to get some gas exchange "for free". After the skimmers there will be many meters of way for the water to flow, and there will be baffles. And the possibility to add more baffles if needed.
As I see it a protein skimmer is a degassing filter in itself. I'm more concerned having air bubbles escaping and reaching the returpumps. That's why we want baffles and a long way, with not too high speed, for the water after the skimmers.