Behind the painted wall of the Puget Sound Saltwater Tide Pool touch tank, a pump, chiller and two large vats work nonstop to circulate, cool, and filter the water. Just like most home aquarists, we do a partial water change each week. And like many, we back-flush our pipes and filter media to keep them clean and operational.
Sometimes routine care is not enough, and we need to do some special maintenance to keep our system working its best. After the September full clean, the tide pool looked great, but changing out so much sand and water had diminished our population of beneficial bacteria.
To help foster new beneficials, we never clean both the touch tank area and our filtration vats at the same time; we try to leave at least six weeks between the two jobs. This keeps a reservoir of good bacteria, most of them lodged in floating Bio Balls that provide lots of surface area for helpful organisms to grow.
Unfortunately, the same surface area acts as a trap for lint, dust, hair, glitter, undigested food and sloughed material from the sea creatures, and a host of other unwanted debris. This waste drifts to the bottom of the vat, clogs the manifold that draws water into the pump, and therefore slows down water circulation. So after the six weeks elapsed, we knew the vat was ready for a little cleaning.
First the Bio Balls were lifted out of the vat to allow access to the water below. Note that the water in the touch tank area was perfectly clean looking, but the vat had accumulated enough solids to make it hard to see the bottom.
Next, the cloudy water, along with precipitated solids, was siphoned out of the vat. The last bit had to be cleaned out by hand.
At this point we could reach the manifold, which desperately needed cleaning. The manifold’s job is to allow water into the pump without allowing solids to get sucked in and possibly damage the machinery. The screen material that should let water through had become filled with particles and was causing the water to slow down. A good, hard rinse dislodged the gunk and the manifold was back in business.
We never use anything but water, salt and elbow grease to clean objects in the tide pool; soap and other cleaners can be deadly to the animals.
Putting the system back together is always easier than taking it apart. The manifold and Bio Balls were returned to the vat. Then we added enough synthetic sea water to make up for what we siphoned out. Through the rest of the day, we monitored the temperature, salinity, and circulation. Everything looked good, and by the end of the day, our system was back in business.
"Synthetic seawater" - What's that? Sounds phoney.
ReplyDeleteSynthetic seawater does have a funny sound to it. But when you think about it, real seawater contains much more than salt - it has trace amounts of nearly every naturally occuring element. Commercial salt mixes are available that provide all of these important substances to our sea animals. Mixed with tap water, buffered to the correct pH and aerated to remove chlorine, these synthetic salts provide everything real, filtered Puget Sound water would.
ReplyDeleteAt one point we were purchasing 100 gallons of filtered natural Puget Sound water every week to replenish the tidepool. The cost savings seemed good. However the weight of the water was hard on our truck, and moving it from our loading dock to the tidepool was a serious chore that took a staff member out of the lineup for the better part of a day.
In the end, the animals prove just as healty with a synthetic mix, and our staff are freed up to do other things. Perhaps this blog would not have been written if I were off hauling water!
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ReplyDeleteTide pool should be cleaned with that which chemical which can't affect the animals.As you shared this can be cleaned with the salt and elbow grease to clean the tide Pool.
ReplyDelete