Bristol Aquarium

Hi Sea Fans!

The UK is treating me well!  I've been all over the place and done so much, I even went to the Bristol Aquarium where a friend of mine used to work.  Thanks to Daniel, the curator, for showing me around!

Here are some pics from my visit:

Meeting a school group.

 I love meeting new schools and it's even cooler when it's the littlies!  So nice to have met you guys.

Taking a seawater delivery for the aquarium.

 Some aquariums make their own seawater, but this is very expensive, it takes up a lot of space and it means some heavy lifting of salt bags!!  It also takes time to mix it and make sure that the mixture is just right.  The easier option, if you live close enough to the sea, is to suck it up and transport it to the aquarium.  Bristol, Dubai and others get it delivered in a truck, the aquariums in South Africa (and others, of course) have a pipe that goes out into the sea and they pump it in directly.

The workings of an aquarium seem so easy from the outside, but when you look at all the little details that have to be taken care of, you realise why it costs so much to run one!!  We love it though!  :)

Hanging around the turtles in the Amazon tank.

 I always love to hang out with the animals when I go to a new facility, they can tell you so much :)  (No, I'm not a fish whisperer, its just that you get to know how to read them.)

Doing a backwash of the sand filters.

Another big job...sand filters come in all sizes, depending on what size tank you have, but some can be HUGE!  and somebody has to make sure that all the filters stay clean so that they can do their job of cleaning the water properly.  There's usually a technical team that maintains (looks after) the sand filters, but the smaller systems are usually looked after by the aquarists who look after the animals in the tank.   So you see, aquarists need to have many talents and learn lots.   No day is the same as another!  :)

So if you want to know more, why not stop your local aquarists and ask them about their jobs!!

Have a great week Sea Fans!

Cheers

Abby

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