Swedish fish - behind the scenes rebuilding a public aquarium

[d.fast]

I've had a skimmer with recirculating flow(airstone) feed by overflow. Have now disconnected it from the overflow and feeding it with a dedicated pump.

I had constant problems with the skimmer not working consistently, the return flow varied to much even though it was a low flow and the internal water level in the skimmerbody caused havoc with the skimmate production with the small but frequent changes. The problems might have been mitigated by making the exit pipe out of the skimmer a much larger diameter, making it handle the uneven flow better. I used 20 mm pipe for the return flow from an Eheim 1048. The skimmer was a modified Aqua Care ACF1000V.

It will probably work and it is a great idea, but there is a lot of possibility for headaches dialing it in and you might have to do a lot of tinkering with the skimmerbody.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I don't forget, you guys were going to run the over flow through a wet dry filter, is that still happening, I know skimmer sounds better idea removing dissolved organic compounds quicker

 

[Pascal89]

Hi David and Lasse,

What a journey! 117 pages, read it since last Friday. Very cool to see the build of a public aquarium this closely. With this amount of knowledge about reefing, these tanks will become a joy to watch . Although the journey just started I will be following you guys closely for coming years.

Regards,

Pascal

 

[Sallstrom]

All tanks are different even if the equipment is the same and the same water is circulating through them.
I think it is a good idea with a recirculating skimmer pump because You can optimize speed and air intake to the pump to get the best bubble size. And that independent of flow through the skimmer. I would have a bypass valve to be able to reduce the skimming without shifting the parameters of the skimmer or reducing the turnover. Overskimming can be a great problem especially when the fishes are small and You have nutritional demanding filterers like tubular worms or soft corals. And the skimmer must be big enough when the fishes have grown up.

I don't see an issue with it. Gravity seems to work very well more often than not, so no concerns there. The only negative I can see is the need to adjust flow to maintain level as things get dirty. Not sure I would recommend it for a hobbyist but an elegant solution for a professional staff.

Great! Thanks for the input!

My plan is to have valves on water in and out of the skimmer, so it'll be easy to adjust the water levels inside the skimmers. And it'll be some kind of bypass too, absolutely. If we do it this way.

Thanks again!

 

[Sallstrom]

I've had a skimmer with recirculating flow(airstone) feed by overflow. Have now disconnected it from the overflow and feeding it with a dedicated pump.

I had constant problems with the skimmer not working consistently, the return flow varied to much even though it was a low flow and the internal water level in the skimmerbody caused havoc with the skimmate production with the small but frequent changes. The problems might have been mitigated by making the exit pipe out of the skimmer a much larger diameter, making it handle the uneven flow better. I used 20 mm pipe for the return flow from an Eheim 1048. The skimmer was a modified Aqua Care ACF1000V.

It will probably work and it is a great idea, but there is a lot of possibility for headaches dialing it in and you might have to do a lot of tinkering with the skimmerbody.

Thanks!
Yes, it could be some work getting it working as we want. I hope the engineers are good at their work dimensioning the pipes and valves! We got a couple of month now to work on this before we have to decide, so we will think things through some more to find all there is that might cause trouble in this setup. And hopefully find ways around it.

If we could use the gravity we could save in on two really large pumps, so I hope this solution is possible.

 

[Sallstrom]

Hi David and Lasse,

What a journey! 117 pages, read it since last Friday. Very cool to see the build of a public aquarium this closely. With this amount of knowledge about reefing, these tanks will become a joy to watch . Although the journey just started I will be following you guys closely for coming years.

Regards,

Pascal

Thanks you Pascal!! It's a real achievement going through all those pages! Wow

I should probably start a new thread, a part 2, and start it with a sum up. So newcomers doesn't have to catch up 100+ pages Perhaps that thread can start after the summer when the building starts.

 

[Tristren]

Then what happened ?

 

[Sallstrom]

Then what happened ?

I went out sailing
Back at work on Monday!

 

[Sallstrom]

Back at the Temporary Aquarium! @Lasse et al has been doing a fine job (following my instructions.. ).
Really nice to get away for a couple of weeks so I can come back and see the progress.

This Montipora colony will soon reach to the coffee machine. We're thinking on learning it to brew coffee for us.

The spawning experiment goes well too. Or at least it looks well. We haven't started to look for gamets yet, so I can't say if they are getting ready to spawn or not. Spawning, if we succeed, will be in about two month.
We are still running this tank at 0-0,2 ppm NO3 and 0-0,05 ppm PO4, while feeding a lot of food and nitrogen(NO3 and NH4). In a less stable tank I think we would have gotten cyanobacteria with these numbers. So I think it's a fun side experiment running it like this as long as it looks well.

The building of the new Aquarium has been on a summer break and will start up again this week. The "hole" is now done, and the next step will be doing the concrete floor(bottom plate if translated directly from Swedish). So more building stuff coming weeks I think. It will be kind of special for us, since in that floor lots of aquarium pipes will go. So finally some aquarium pipes!

 

[Brew12]

Back at the Temporary Aquarium! @Lasse et al has been doing a fine job (following my instructions.. ).
Really nice to get away for a couple of weeks so I can come back and see the progress.

This Montipora colony will soon reach to the coffee machine. We're thinking on learning it to brew coffee for us.

The spawning experiment goes well too. Or at least it looks well. We haven't started to look for gamets yet, so I can't say if they are getting ready to spawn or not. Spawning, if we succeed, will be in about two month.
We are still running this tank at 0-0,2 ppm NO3 and 0-0,05 ppm PO4, while feeding a lot of food and nitrogen(NO3 and NH4). In a less stable tank I think we would have gotten cyanobacteria with these numbers. So I think it's a fun side experiment running it like this as long as it looks well.

The building of the new Aquarium has been on a summer break and will start up again this week. The "hole" is now done, and the next step will be doing the concrete floor(bottom plate if translated directly from Swedish). So more building stuff coming weeks I think. It will be kind of special for us, since in that floor lots of aquarium pipes will go. So finally some aquarium pipes!

Montipora are the weeds of the SPS coral kingdom! I've gotten to the point where I have to remove a few inches of growth a week in order to protect other corals. If I just let them grow I don't think my fish would have room to swim by the end of the year!
I wonder if I can add a parrot fish to trim them back.....

 

[Sallstrom]

Montipora are the weeds of the SPS coral kingdom! I've gotten to the point where I have to remove a few inches of growth a week in order to protect other corals. If I just let them grow I don't think my fish would have room to swim by the end of the year!
I wonder if I can add a parrot fish to trim them back.....

Oh, is there a fish that eats only Montipora?! We need to fish that fish!

 

[Brew12]

Oh, is there a fish that eats only Montipora?! We need to fish that fish!

Probably not only Montipora, but it sure would be nice!

 

[deeb]

wow this is great!
i wish i can go there someday in my life!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I’ve been away from the board for awhile, so it looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. Just looking at the last 2 pages, there is a lot to digest. But everything looks awesome!

Re: gravity skimmer....sure, why not? As long as you valve the effluent line and can control water level, it should work. I wonder if you can install something within the drain line to further break the water up on its way down and create more fine bubbles. Of course, the risk would be something large coming down the drain and getting stuck. But as long as you can prevent that (shouldn’t be difficult), you should be able to really chop that water up in the drain. Then supplement with a good old fashioned wooden air stone and pump.

 

[Lasse]

@Lasse et al has been doing a fine job (following my instructions.. ).

Very hard job for me - first biking 22 km into the job, try to understand the instructions, do the instructions and after that - bike 22 km home - and repeat this every Saturday and Sunday since the middle of June. (22 km - around 13.5 miles but the bike have an electric support engine )

sincerely Lasse

 

[Brew12]

Very hard job for me - first biking 22 km into the job, try to understand the instructions, do the instructions and after that - bike 22 km home - and repeat this every Saturday and Sunday since the middle of June. (22 km - around 13.5 miles but the bike have an electric support engine )

sincerely Lasse

Were you able to bring in your normal summer help this year? Didn't they do DNA sequencing last summer?

 

[Sallstrom]

Were you able to bring in your normal summer help this year? Didn't they do DNA sequencing last summer?

We have had one summer help, but he’s been working the whole year helping cover while the rest of us have done work on the new Aquarium and the coming exhibitions.
And Lasse has been the extra support for the summer.
For running the temporary Aquarium okey we just need one staff now. As long as everything goes well.. But this summer the aquariums have done great so far!

Yes, our help now knows the DNA lab and we have been taking samples during the spring. But if I understand it right (I’m not that good at the DNA part) coral DNA is a bit trickier than other animals to see the difference. So we have gotten results and put the DNA sequences into a database, but still need an expert to help us figure out how to interpret the data. They are not matching 100% I think. Again, this is me trying to remember what my colleague tried to explain to me a month ago.. But I know we will work together with a researcher from the university of Gothenburg soon to try to do a routine for our coral DNA work. I hope I can explain better then

 

[Lasse]

Even if you maybe not believe it - it is still strong covid-19 recommendations (rules) for sensitive people in Sweden (overweight (me BMI > 30) and overmature (me +70). Biking because not to use public transport (and will lower the BMI in time ) and working alone (social distancing). I´m still planning to work on weekends and biking back and forth in the fall - if the weather allow it.......... It will be much work with planning (and in time construction) off the new aquarium for the ordinary staff - and me taking care of the husbandry during some of the weekends will give them a chance to do a good planning and give me the chance to work with the thing I love in spite of the pandemic. And in front of @Sallstrom ´s eye of the argus - I will do a sufficiently job And my BMI will go down......

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Sallstrom]

I’ve been away from the board for awhile, so it looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. Just looking at the last 2 pages, there is a lot to digest. But everything looks awesome!

Re: gravity skimmer....sure, why not? As long as you valve the effluent line and can control water level, it should work. I wonder if you can install something within the drain line to further break the water up on its way down and create more fine bubbles. Of course, the risk would be something large coming down the drain and getting stuck. But as long as you can prevent that (shouldn’t be difficult), you should be able to really chop that water up in the drain. Then supplement with a good old fashioned wooden air stone and pump.

Hi Gregg!
Thanks! Nice to have you back.

Yes, if we choose to do gravity fed skimmers there will be a backup pipe where all the water could go if the level in the overflow raises/the skimmers can't handle the flow.
We will restart the talks with the engineer helping us with the drawings and dimensioning of the pipes for the large tank soon, so all this feedback on R2R is great!

 

[Sallstrom]

Some #honestyinreefing today
I just cut branches from five different Acropora colonies in the experiment and I couldn't find any eggs at all. We don't really have a expected date of spawing since we've colonies comes from different places and they probably have different "internal clocks", but if some of the colonies were reacting on the seasons I think there should be visible eggs by now. I know a full spawning on all corals were a very low chance, since we haven't had the experiment running for long. But of course I was hoping for some of them to spawn. There can still be spawning, and I'm not the most experienced egg-spotter, so it's just wait and see. The experiment will go on until we have to move it into the new Aquarium, and hopefully in the new Aquarium as well. So this year is mostly for tuning in the system and learning more on coral spawning for us.