Swedish fish - behind the scenes rebuilding a public aquarium
- Thread starter Sallstrom
- Start date
- Tagged users None
- Status
Brew12
Electrical Gru
I love convict tangs!!!! I miss mine. Once I do a tank upgrade they will be back!Long time since a tried to upload a movie. Let’s see how it works now!
Another type of tube feeding
OP
OP
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
Me too! i still dream of a large school of convict tangs (or shoal? ;Bookworm) in the new reef tank. I got to test 8 together in the old bamboo shark tank, but they were not that interested in swimming together that often.. More chasing after each other.. So perhaps they are not the greatest schooling fish. Even if there are cool pictures of them schooling from the ocean. Or perhaps we needed more individuals in the group.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
My understanding is that fish will only shoal if they feel threatened since it is a defensive measure. They likely didn't view the bamboo shark as a threat.
I've thought about trying for a shoal of around 5 and using something like an Achilles tang to keep them shoaling. Probably wouldn't work in a public display sized aquarium, but I think it might work in a 300g system similar to what I'm looking at.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
How is the schedule proceeding? Still think you will have display tanks set up and running by early 2022?
Nothing special. Just going through pictures from the old Aquarium trying to find some inspiration. I miss having display tanks! ;Bucktooth
OP
OP
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
Yes, something like that. At the moment they do a layer of drainage. After that they will start the concrete work. Not the most exciting phase right now
But I shouldn’t complain! Another colleague is back from his holiday and we are already into rearranging the urchin breeding setup, plus playing around with an update on a cold water algae/anemone tank ;Happy More light and more flow! Time to collect some small kelp and red algae soon.
d.fast
Community Member
Woho, the requested coldwater images! Things just got real.
Looks like the regular tang method isn't working in this case. I have a hard time finding good grazers from our waters, so I have simply decided to keep the tank dark until I wish to view it. But as a public aquarium you do not have that luxury and need light so the inhabitants can be seen all day. Perhaps have a separate algae tank as a refugium? My limited experience is that kelp also has a hard time battling with hair algae. The conditions that favors the hair algae simply must go.
Looks like the regular tang method isn't working in this case. I have a hard time finding good grazers from our waters, so I have simply decided to keep the tank dark until I wish to view it. But as a public aquarium you do not have that luxury and need light so the inhabitants can be seen all day. Perhaps have a separate algae tank as a refugium? My limited experience is that kelp also has a hard time battling with hair algae. The conditions that favors the hair algae simply must go.
OP
OP
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
That’s true. When setting up a North Sea Kelp tank finding the right grazers can be hard. No tangs here.
Urchins are great but they will probably eat the kelp as well
Snails can work, if they stay in the tank..(but they usually climb out). We did have a bit better success with the yellow ones, Littorina saxatilis, if I remember it right.
Right now I like to experiment with high flow, lots of light and water temp around 10-11 degrees. To see if we can get the types of algae we want, and if we can avoid too much epiphytes. There are two quite large urchins in there now, mostly to clean up the worst. Perhaps we’ll move them to another tank later on.
My guess is that we’ll need to double the flow compared to a reef tank.
Love it!
OP
OP
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
A video of the flow in the cold water tank. I haven’t cleaned all of the front window yet. I take a little at the time. I’m not that into winter bathing so for me it’s pretty cold cleaning that window As you can see there are a lot of hair algae. Some good ones, some bad. We moved the urchins so they won’t eat the brown algae(brown macro algae=kelp etc). Let’s hope the new snails prefers the hair algae!
Edit. Wasn't that great quality on that vid. Sorry!
As you can see there are a lot of hair algae. Some good ones, some bad. We moved the urchins so they won’t eat the brown algae(brown macro algae=kelp etc). Let’s hope the new snails prefers the hair algae!Edit. Wasn't that great quality on that vid. Sorry!
Last edited:
d.fast
Community Member
Very nice! Looks like a tank with a fairly square footprint. You have lots of flow but it looks more chaotic than powerful, the kelp might benefit more from making larger and longer "sloshes" from left to right so the hair algae and other growth on the kelp is sort of scraped off. But that might be tough to do in that tank shape, easier to do in a long rectangular tank. Where two sets of pump could make hard reverses of the flow instead of a "standing wave" which moves the whole water column but mostly vertically.
However you are actually the expert here Just some random thoughts. I never really had any luck with kelp, though I never really tried either. I just got lots of hair algae, and after a while they really started to clog up the pumps quickly causing lots of maintenance issues. Moving to airstone circulation solved that problem, but caused some new instead.
However you are actually the expert here
Just some random thoughts. I never really had any luck with kelp, though I never really tried either. I just got lots of hair algae, and after a while they really started to clog up the pumps quickly causing lots of maintenance issues. Moving to airstone circulation solved that problem, but caused some new instead.
d.fast
Community Member
The green sea urchin is according to literature supposed to be an omnivore that eats many things from kelp to barnacles. The one I am keeping has not really been interested in anything in my tank but I do feed it sinking pellets with high protein and it eats those. It has recently(current specimen is 9 months old in my tank) started to investigate my rocks and tested the coralline algae. They might eat hair algae but I would not count on it eating that reliably from the specimens I've kept.
I caught mine on the side of vertical harbor structures.
I caught mine on the side of vertical harbor structures.
OP
OP
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
Yes, we've tried those urchin as well. They were really good at eating algae. Too good
They chew off the stipes and holdfasts of the kelp 
GlassMunky
2500 Club Member
That seems to be a Common issue with urchins all over the worldYes, we've tried those urchin as well. They were really good at eating algae. Too good
Purple Sea Urchins Are Devouring California Kelp Forests, What Can Scientists Do To Stop Them?
Urchin populations along the California coast have exploded during the last decade, threatening kelp forests and commercial fisheries. New solutions and experiments to address this are in the works.
www.google.com
OP
OP
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
Yes. The example with the sea urchins and disapearing otters we talked about at the University when I studied. It's a fine balance out in nature. And in our tanks sometimes. To much fishing on one species can lead to unexpected results, since we don't know all the interactions in the sea.That seems to be a Common issue with urchins all over the world
Purple Sea Urchins Are Devouring California Kelp Forests, What Can Scientists Do To Stop Them?
Urchin populations along the California coast have exploded during the last decade, threatening kelp forests and commercial fisheries. New solutions and experiments to address this are in the works.
OP
OP
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
Now they are installing pipes from the main museum building down to the future Aquarium. Probably for cold beverage from the restaurant down to the aquarium staff office. Or it could be something for the heat exchangers. Not sure
- Status
Similar threads
-
- Poll
