The Clownfish are Back!!!

After a few weeks of working on cleaning the original tank, we finally got the balance of chemicals to be able to support clownfish. Because of this we were able to add the clownfish back to the tank. To do this, we had to put the clownfish in a small bowl. We did this so that we could rest the bowl in the water and let the clownfish adjust to the water in the tank. If we had placed the fish directly into the tank, they would have been shocked by the difference in temperature and water quality.

The clownfish were pretty angry while being moved because moving from one area of water to another tends to cause a lot of stress on the fish. Another reason that the clownfish were mad is because the box that we placed them into while they were being moved was small, causing them to be crowded together. Other interesting animals that we have recently added to the tank are 3 Mexican Turbo Snails and 3 Nerite Snails. Mexican Turbo Snails are large for snails, about 1.5-2 inches in diameter, and are white and sometimes having a shiny surface. On the other hand, Netrite Snails are smaller, about 0.5 inches in diameter, and have a white and black striped surface. We added these snails so that they would clean some of the algae that has been growing on the rocks and sand of the tank. Another way that we are dealing with this abundance of algae is by pulling out individual rocks and manually cleaning them.

Water Tests and Lots of Algae

      I just visited the HMNS to work on the clownfish tank. I took a sample of the tank water downstairs, where I would be able to perform multiple tests to determine the levels of different chemicals in the water. I tested for pH, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, phosphates, and carbonate hardness; I, however, was most concerned with the calcium test. This is because in the previous weeks, Christine and I have found that all of the chemical levels in the tank are normal except for the calcium, which is a little low. I found that the calcium was lower than it should be, but it was higher than it has been in the previous weeks. It was about 320ppm, which is a 20ppm increase from the 300ppm that it used to be during the past few weeks. To further increase the calcium levels, I added calcium supplement to the tank. Christine and I have been adding this calcium supplement once a day for the past couple of weeks, and the calcium levels have slowly begun to rise.
       One interesting thing that I found while at my internship was that the clownfish tank had a thick layer of algae covering the bottom. This is interesting because I visited the museum two weeks ago and saw almost no algae in the tank. It was so impressive that algae could grow from barely being in the tank to coating the entire floor in just two weeks.