Post #11

Yorgos got a new customer in Wayland and we had to carry the tank into his house. Originally it was supposed to be on a Thursday at seven pm. The customer then wanted to move it to nine pm. That would have been ridiculously late so we said no. he then wanted to do it Friday at eight pm. We rejected this and agreed on Saturday at ten in the morning. The night before he changed it to nine in the morning. So I woke up at seven drove to Beverly  met Yorgos's employee and his friend and we then drove to Wayland. We got there at nine and started the job. The tank weighs four-hundred-twenty pounds so between four guys it isn't so bad, but it still had a little bit of weight to it when you hold it for a while. To hole it we had suction cups with handles. You put them on the glass and then pumped the air out making a vacuum. We carried it in and had to rotate it around when we got inside which was tricky. We got it into the spot without much trouble though. We took all the other components and took those in too. Then we moved all their furniture back into pace and were done. At some point we will have to go back and actually install the tank's filters and other components but that's for another day. It was a relatively quick job and the customer tipped us all $20. It was a pretty good day.

Post #10

We went back to the house in Essex and installed a reverse osmosis filter. This takes absolutely every single particle out of the water besides H2O. To install the filter we had to tap their water pipes to bring water into the filter. So we had a special fitting that punctures the pipe and then takes water out into a tube. We attached all the tubing and finished the filter up pretty quickly. The next part was the hard part. We had to run a line from the basement to the reef tank on the second floor. The tube had to go up a ceiling, through a wall, then up the wall and through a hole to the tank. This involved drilling a hole through the ceiling of the basement, drilling a hole in the wall in the correct place, and then somehow getting the tube up the wall and out the hole. What we did was take fiberglass sticks and attach the tube to it and then put the sticks through the opening in the ceiling and hope that the person in the other room could grab that stick with a hook. It didn't work. So we ended up wasting about an hour and a half trying that. Then we took a wire and attached it to the wire. This worked. I just fed enough of it into the hole so that eventually Yorgos would be able to hook part of it. The hard part was we couldn't communicate because we were in different rooms and I had no cell service and the house had no phones. So I had no clue if he could see it and needed me to move it in a certain direction. It took a while but it worked and we finished the job in Essex.

Score Post #9

The shop got a new shipment of fish the other day. We now have hundreds of tropical fish in the tanks and have been distributing them to customers. We took a few fish on the road today and brought them in plastic bags like you would at the pet store. We had a couple yellow tangs and then a few clown fish. We stopped at Ocean Optical and delivered a yellow tang to them. We took the fish and put it in their tank, did some quick maintenance on their system and then moved to the next customer. We gave the two clown fish to a customer in Marblehead and then gave the other tang to a customer in Salem. In Salem we had to replace the carbon filter in their filtration system. The filter has carbon pellets that will take any particles out of the water and completely clean it. It's the same kind of filter you would have for a Brita filter for your water. Every month it has to be changed because it has taken up too many particles. So we took the filter apart, took the bag of carbon out and put a new one in. Before we put a new one in we had to rinse it out in the sink for a while because the carbon has carbon dust on it which would come off and get into the tank. After we did that we put it back in and put the filter back into the system. It was a relatively easy day and there were no huge hassles.

Score Post

At the shop  Yorgos and I made some high concentration ion solutions for a customer in Beverly. We took three one gallon jugs of water and then made magnesium, calcium chloride and alkaline solutions. We took two cups of pure ion crystals and then added them to the water. After we mixed them up they became completely dissolved and went clear. These are essential nutrients for the corals to grow. Calcium chloride is a key nutrient for the coral's hard skeleton. Magnesium is also essential for the growth of the coral animal. We brought these solutions in to the customer's house and I put them into three different containers that would pump small amounts of the solutions into the tank for the coral. After I filled the containers we then fed the coral and the fish. To feed the coral we took small shrimp and actually took pipettes and gave it directly to the coral.  We then went back to the shop and continued to do maintenance on the tanks. We cleaned any algae off of the corals that are all in one tank now and then cleaned out any algae in the tank. Since all the coral is in one tank it is necessary to make sure that algae or waste do not   accumulate too much. It is also possible for disease to be spread quickly with so many corals in one tank. After a week of being shut down the other tank should be ready to hold coral again.

Week Three #1

We have been doing some maintenance for the reef tanks in the shop. One of the tanks has been growing a ton of algae which is overgrowing the coral. This is probably because it has a full spectrum lighting fixture. We started by manually taking all the algae off the corals and then moving them to the other tank. After that we took nets and removed all of the remaining large algae in the tank. Then we took nets and just waved them around the tank to collect any other smaller pieces. After we cleaned out the algae we then had to make a water change. We took out fifteen gallons and then used the salt water we make in holding tanks to replace it. After that we turned off the filters, pumps, and lights for that tank. This will kill any remaining algae. We’ll let that tank sit for about a week. We also siphoned any remaining debris from the bottom of the tank. I’m hoping to make a second rack for the coral to grow for that tank. Some corals prefer lower light levels or they will become burned by the light and UV. We will make a rack below the one we have at the surface so we can have more space and better distribution of the corals. I’m also hoping that after we do that I can start to really set up variables for the tank using the lighting system. Now that the tank is clean I can grow corals and measure them. 

Week Two Post Three

Today I was on the road with Yorgos again. We stopped at a customer's house in Salem to feed his fish and his cat. It was pretty cool to have an easy job to do at first. The fish tanks were some of the most brilliant ones I've seen with tons of strange exotic fish. He even had a sea horse tank with about five sea horses. After feeding his fish while he was gone we went to the next job. This was not as simple as feeding some fish and playing with a cat. We went to an optician in Marblehead and were replacing a bunch of seperate filtration components with one system. There was not much room in the store so we were going to have the filter on the floor and have tubing run up through the walls back into the tank. We started by drilling a hole in the wall. we immediately had trouble. The wood we were trying to drill through ended up being five inches thick. It took us over an hour to drill through the wood. Then we drilled another hole by the filtration sistem. We were then going to just bring the tubes up to the tank. unfortunately we learned there was a wooden beam between the two holes. So after a long time of thinking we just had to cut a hole in the wall and then drill holes into the wooden beam. The whole installation was a complete disaster and then the filtration system started to leak. It was a pre-made system and just started to leak for no reason. We were so angry by this point already that this was just too much. Eventually we got the system to stop leaking, but for all we know it started again and the entire store will be flooded by morning. I learned that things don't go according to plan. It was supposed to be a quick installation and we should have had time for another job. Instead we spent about four hours installing this one filter. When things can go wrong they will; you just have to react to the situation.

Week Two Post Two

On Thursday I went and finished my first job with a customer. I went with Yorgos to the house in Essex to finish installing the second tank. It was pretty much the same as installing the first tank except that there was a broken return valve which had to be replaced. The valve didn't fit into the PVC and we could not find any reason why it shouldn't have. It must have just been faulty. This is something that I have noticed a lot while working with Yorgos, things brake. It's something that you have to anticipate when going to do a job. Since all the parts are constantly submerged in water, and there are countless pieces of PVC tubing, valves connectors, pumps, filters and more, eventually something will break. When we installed the tank and nothing leaked Yorgos didn't believe it and double checked everything. This goes to show how often things go wrong.
Besides the malfunctioning equipment I learned that the process isn't that complicated. All it really is is a pump or overflow tank that takes water in, a filtration system of some kind, and a pump to bring it back to the tank. The filtration system can have varying levels of complexity. So far I haven't seen two systems that are the same. Some are all housed in one tank, some have many different parts to them, some use manual filtration, others use chemical or biological filtration. It is all very interesting. I have had a lot of hands on experience with Yorgos.

Score Post

Today I went with Yorgos to a customer's house and helped him install two fresh water tanks. I got a text from Yorgos at the last minute asking if I could meet at a customer's house in Essex instead of at the shop. He also wanted me to bring him an iced coffee with "a little milk and sugar." After stopping at Dunkin' I went to the house in Essex and started to help with the tank installation. We realized we were missing a piece of PVC tubing so we went to the Building Center but they didn't have the piece, neither did True Value. So then we finally got the part at a plumbing store. We went back and started to attach the tubing to the overflow system and connect the tubing to the sump, the filter, the the pump and then back into the tank. I then filled the tank the rest of the way and let it flow into the overflow tanks. It was nerve rattling to let the water overflow, hoping that all the connections we made were secure and nothing leaked. Everything seemed fine until one of the  return valves became disconnected. this was a very easy problem to fix since the water just went back to the overflow tank. By the end of the day we had one tank working perfectly but one of the return valves for the other tank was broken so we couldn't install that one without the part. So the other tank will be done tomorrow morning. This was the first time working for a customer instead of doing the tanks at the shop. Some time soon we need to do some serious maintenance on the coral tanks in the shop because they are not doing too well. 

Score Post

Here is the second post from earlier.
The next day I contacted Yorgos about the research on the internet. I told him that I needed some guidance because I wasn't finding anything relevant. He sent me a link to the National Coral Research Center in Miami where I was able to go through papers and research about the basics of coral, nutrients and coral, and their uptake. This was very useful. I was able to find out how corals are able to integrate calcium into their skeletons by exuding calcium carbonate to form an exoskelleton. and how magnesium is absorbed as well and contributes to growth. I also found that it is important to pay attention to the zooxanthellea, the symbiotic algae that provides the coral with the energy needed to survive. This led me to research what factors would promote the algae. This will likely be what I test for the most part. Yorgos has avery high tech LED lighting system that can use all the light in the full spectrum, not the white light. This means that I can adjust the types of light that the coral is exposed to. In nature coral mostly gets blue light because the other wavelengths cannot penetrate the water as well. This means that I will test whether the coral is best suited to blue light or if it thrives in some other wavelength. I can also experiment with UV light. the LED also does UV which could be interesting for coral growth. UV can be damaging, it is what causes skin cancer. I may test if no UV at all is preferable to regular levels of UV. These are all factors I will consider.

Score Post

I forgot to post these two posts earlier, but here they are.
Last week after I met with Yorgos I started to work on some independent research. He told me that before we start to test the growth factors of the coral, I need to start researching coral; how it grows, what chemicals and nutrients effect the growth, and how these nutrients are used by the coral. The day after we met I started to do this online research. It was difficult to find what was relevant and what was not. I began to become frustrated with ads and irrelevant information so I quickly switched from Google to Google scholars. This was better. I began to find some relevant information about the corals and the effects of calcium. Unfortunately most of the information was actually about how calcium is unable to be absorbed into the coral because it binds with carbonic acid n the water and becomes calcium carbonate. This is interesting for my research paper but not for my project itself. Since the reef tanks I am maintaining are completely controlled by pumps and filters and do not use real sea water, I don't need to worry about carbonic acid or other chemicals that will block absorption of the nutrients. In summary I spend a lot of time trying to find information about calcium and how coral uses it and how it is absorbed, but only found information about calcium carbonate and "coral calcium", which is some vitamin supplement for people who lack calcium.

Score Week One Post One

Yesterday was my first real day at my internship, and I already know it will be a good one. I met with my internship supervisor and went over what I will need to do during my internship at Imagine an Ocean. I learned all the different things I need to check in the reef tanks to ensure that the corals do not die. It was a very thorough checklist and needed to be specific. I got hands on experience and went through the check list and maintained the tanks with the help of Yorogs, the owner of Imagine an Ocean. I started by testing the salt content of the tanks and the water holding system. The salt needs to be exact within .005 % concentration so it was somewhat nerve racking to know that if I mess up I could kill everything. I then went over the water temperature which also needs to be within 5 degrees of 76 F. After that I cleaned out any algae in the tanks and changed some of the water. We drained 30 gallons and then replaced it with the water in the holding tanks. Then I checked the sensors and drained the protein skimmer.
I realized that the conditions for the corals to grow need to be very precise and take meticulous care. The corals in the wild rarely have any changes in their environment so they are very susceptible to change. I'm glad that I will get to have hands on experience and will get to have a certain level of autonomy. I can come and go to check on the corals I am growing and check their tanks and systems. However, If I make a mistake I could kill everything since it all runs on one filtration system and destroy his business in one day. IT's a lot of responsibility, but I will have Yorgos and his employee Sean checking on the tanks too.

Kurt Statz-Geary's Score Outline

Kurt Statz-Geary

A wide variety of human and climate based threats including pollution, climate change, ocean acidification and many more causes are leading to the death of corals and coral reefs worldwide. Ocean acidification and increased water temperatures, however may turn out to be the largest factors in the deaths of corals in the future.

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Ocean pollution poisons coral polyps. Pollution can include oil slicks, pesticides and other chemicals, heavy metals and garbage

Human pollution and its effects

Effects of disasters such as oil spills

Other pollution

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Fertilizer runoff and untreated sewage add nutrients to ecosystems, creating elevated nutrient levels which promote algae growth. This can smother the coral polyps.

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Deforestation leads to topsoil runoff which can flow into the ocean and smother coral polyps.

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Coastal development and dredging can destroy reefs.

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Fishing practices that use dynamite cyanide or bleach can kill coral reefs.

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Fishing on reefs can lead to nets, lines, and traps damaging reefs.

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Increased water temperatures pollution and exposure to air can cause coral bleaching. This is when the symbiotic plankton that lives in coral cannot live with the coral and then the coral does not have the sufficient energy to grow and reproduce.

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The increased levels of carbon dioxide cause ocean acidification. The CO2 reacts with water making carbonic acid. The acid can decrease PH levels and then kill coral.

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Climate change is linked to a rise in global water temperatures. Water temperature increases as little as 1 or 2 degrees C can cause the bleaching of coral reefs.

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An increase in water levels can cause less sunlight to penetrate down to the reefs and prevent the plankton from photosynthesizing and therefore killing the coral.

Works Cited

"Coral Reef Bleaching." Coral Reef Bleaching. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

"Coral Reefs and Shellfish Battle Acidifying Oceans." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

"CORALS & CORAL REEFS - Longevity & Causes of Death." CORALS & CORAL REEFS - Longevity & Causes of Death. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

"Death of Coral Reefs Could Devastate Nations." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

"RSMAS Blog." RSMAS Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

Zelman, Joanna. "Coral Reefs May Be Gone By 2050: Study." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

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