Advice for the 2014-2015 Marine Teams

This is some advice from last year's marine teams to keep the sea critters in the tank healthy.

1.  Feed the critters frozen krill twice a week.  The frozen krill should be about the size of a 1 cm square cube.  The frozen krill is kept in the staff room freezer.

2.  Keep the glass clean using the magnetic cleaner.  Put one side inside the tank and one side outside the tank move it around the glass.  Be careful not to bump into any of the creatures clinging to the glass.  WARNING:  Do not get your fingers caught between the two magnets.  Leave some algae on the glass for the algae eaters.

3.  Don't tap on the glass because it disturbs and scares the animals especially if they are new and just getting used to the tank.

4.  Ten degrees celsius is the best temperature but anywhere between 9 to 14 degrees is okay.

5.  Use the hydrometer to find out the salinity of the water.  That means how much salt is dissolved in the water.  It should be around 27 or 28 parts per thousand.  When you empty the hydrometer, make sure the water lands back in the tank.  Rinse the hydrometer with plain water - NO SOAP.  The hydrometer is in the cupboard underneath the tank.

6.  Make sure that bubbles are coming from the oxygen flow pipe, and that the water flow is going.  You will know the water flow is going because some of the plants will be moving.

7.  Make sure the light comes on during the day and turns off at night.

8.  Complete the daily check list of jobs and make sure to record good observations every day.

8.  If you have any problems or questions contact Iain at World Fisheries trust.  He helped us to find our that our nudibranch had spawned last year.

Welcome to a new school year!

School is back in session!  Soon our Seaquarium will be filled with critters and plants found in our surrounding Salish Sea.  Stay tuned for details!

New Critters

Some of the new critters.

Giant Sea Anemone and large star fish. 

Stressed sea cucumber with ejected innards. 

The new animals are finally here! We have three small sea cucumbers. One of them has dropped his internal organs. We must e-mail to find out what to do. We have a giant sea anemone that is about 30 cm tall.  We have a big, orangish-red starfish and a small purply-blue starfish. We also have a tide pool shrimp.  It swam up when we fed the animals.  We also have a very cute, plump little fish.  It has feathery orange fins, and an orange and black striped butt.  Q-T-Pie!!  by Johnny, Linden and Ms. Sea.

Where are the critters?

      This is a very important message for all of you

Seaquarium fans out there! The big sea cucumber died from too much warm water in the tank but did not have a funeralL. But the baby sea cucumber made it and the sea cucumber evolution will still be aliveJ. But we got the fish outta there! Let’s start on Christmas Eve. The teacher found out that the temperature was above 18 degrees (ideal 10, max 14). But later on Boxing Day the teacher called Y.C. to get the sea animals out of the tank and now the sea animals are safeJ

By Pierce and Johnny

The Super Spikey Sea Urchins

Hi, we are the Super Spikey Sea Urchins.  We have some information for you.  One time a tide pool shrimp was standing up like a neighing horse and we have a baby sea cucumber that is getting bigger. 

The Golden Blood Stars

We are the Golden Blood Stars.  We saw a swimming scallop swim to the top of the tank and back down again.  We also saw a Lined Chiton on a rock.

The Pocket Krill 500

Bonjour!  We are the Pocket Krill 500.  Our job is to take care of the sea tank in our school.  We recently observed something strange about our sea cucumber.  It has something white coming out of our sea cucumber.  But now we know that it's just feeding on the algae on our sea tank's glass.  Last month the sea cucumber had a baby. The shiner perch recently went mad for frozen krill.  We are the Pocket Krill 500.  See you next time!   by A.W., B.P., J.S., L.E.