Diving at The Deep Aquarium in Hull
I recently started a part time job as a Diver at The Deep. There are four part time divers, all from our club. Our role is to supplement the existing Aquarist staff over the weekend, to enable more work to be done in the tanks, to comply with HSE regulations.
On my first day, I had to read and sign a whole host of documents, including risk assessments, action plans and scenarios, all relating to diving in the 3 large tanks at the attraction. This included such information as how many people needed to be involved in each type of diving operation, such as cleaning or feeding. This changes depending on the risk involved, i.e. whether you are cleaning the Northern Seas tank, or feeding the Sand Tiger Sharks in the Endless Oceans tank.
Apparently there is more risk of a bite from a shark than a crazed Halibut, but what do I know?
Having signed my life away, and learnt what to do should I have my arm ripped off, it was down to work. Although my job title is "Diver" there is actually very little diving involved, accounting for about 1/8th of the working day. There is a daily routine to be followed, starting with a trip from top to bottom of the attraction, cleaning the acrylic viewing windows, before the public arrive. The smaller aquariums then need to be checked, and any algae removed from inside the tanks. Then there is the food preparation.
The day before, a variety of fish are removed from the cold store to defrost overnight. The food is then divided up between tanks and cut to the relevant size for the mouths it feeds. A typical menu consists of squid, sprats or sand eels, mackerel, whiting, and shrimp. To this is added vitamin supplements, for each species of fish in the relevant tanks. Feeding in the main tanks is carried out over the course of the day at 2-3 hourly intervals.
Once the food is prepared, it is clean up time. All surfaces are cleaned down, then sterilised, to prevent the place stinking of rotting fish! Not that it smells too good before hand either.
Once the attraction opens, we have a short meeting to discuss what jobs are required for the day, and who will do them. This generally involves cleaning of various equipment and other aquariums in the quarantine area. This is the main work area for the Aquarists. There are a number of smaller glass tanks, which house new and sick fish in isolation, prior to them joining the exhibits. Larger tanks are kept in readiness for any animals that require removal from the exhibit at any time.
There are also tanks housing jellyfish, which the attraction is trying to grow and display, not an easy task. There is "live" food for certain species, mainly several different varieties of shrimp, which need to be housed and fed prior to them becoming the dish of the day.
Part of this area is given over to "making" seawater. This is quite a complex process, but results in seawater ready to top up tanks, being held in a large cistern. All tanks are connected to this by an intricate series of pipes, which would not look out of place in a power station.
I was also shown round the plant room housing the attractions filter system. This is extremely complex, and whilst I tried to take it all in, all that stuck in my mind was theadvice " if that big red light starts flashing, and the alarm goes…….run!" Apparently this is the control system for reedox, or Ozone- used to sterilise water.
Finally I get to go diving. The job today is to clean the corals with a nylon brush, the same as you would normally find with a dustpan. The corals in the main tank "Endless Oceans" are plastic, fitted on plugs screwed into the concrete "rocks". They do look very effective underwater, especially from the other side of the window.
Whilst all the water is filtered to remove detritus, excrement from the fish settles on the bottom, and covers all the corals in a brown slimy coating. This needs to be removed by brushing, which puts it back into the water column, and then is removed by the filter system. Another method of cleaning the gravel on the floor of the tank is to use a glorified vacuum cleaner.
I spend just over an hour in the 26-degree water, scrubbing away, and occasionally waving at small children transfixed against the window (more cleaning!!!) looking at this strange addition to the fish, and no doubt wondering if they will see a limb removed by the circling sharks!
I was reminded of an early scene in Deep Blue Sea, the diver with a full face mask swimming in a large concrete tank, surrounded by sharks. This diver was only armed with a selection of cleaning materials though, not a harpoon!
The Deep is a fascinating place to work, not just for the visual stimulation of the various fish species, but also to see the inner workings and complex operations involved to keep it running. And then there is the diving, which sure beats the long drive on a wet motorway to West Yorkshire, for the rest of the week!
Chris Storey
On my first day, I had to read and sign a whole host of documents, including risk assessments, action plans and scenarios, all relating to diving in the 3 large tanks at the attraction. This included such information as how many people needed to be involved in each type of diving operation, such as cleaning or feeding. This changes depending on the risk involved, i.e. whether you are cleaning the Northern Seas tank, or feeding the Sand Tiger Sharks in the Endless Oceans tank.
Apparently there is more risk of a bite from a shark than a crazed Halibut, but what do I know?
Having signed my life away, and learnt what to do should I have my arm ripped off, it was down to work. Although my job title is "Diver" there is actually very little diving involved, accounting for about 1/8th of the working day. There is a daily routine to be followed, starting with a trip from top to bottom of the attraction, cleaning the acrylic viewing windows, before the public arrive. The smaller aquariums then need to be checked, and any algae removed from inside the tanks. Then there is the food preparation.
The day before, a variety of fish are removed from the cold store to defrost overnight. The food is then divided up between tanks and cut to the relevant size for the mouths it feeds. A typical menu consists of squid, sprats or sand eels, mackerel, whiting, and shrimp. To this is added vitamin supplements, for each species of fish in the relevant tanks. Feeding in the main tanks is carried out over the course of the day at 2-3 hourly intervals.
Once the food is prepared, it is clean up time. All surfaces are cleaned down, then sterilised, to prevent the place stinking of rotting fish! Not that it smells too good before hand either.
Once the attraction opens, we have a short meeting to discuss what jobs are required for the day, and who will do them. This generally involves cleaning of various equipment and other aquariums in the quarantine area. This is the main work area for the Aquarists. There are a number of smaller glass tanks, which house new and sick fish in isolation, prior to them joining the exhibits. Larger tanks are kept in readiness for any animals that require removal from the exhibit at any time.
There are also tanks housing jellyfish, which the attraction is trying to grow and display, not an easy task. There is "live" food for certain species, mainly several different varieties of shrimp, which need to be housed and fed prior to them becoming the dish of the day.
Part of this area is given over to "making" seawater. This is quite a complex process, but results in seawater ready to top up tanks, being held in a large cistern. All tanks are connected to this by an intricate series of pipes, which would not look out of place in a power station.
I was also shown round the plant room housing the attractions filter system. This is extremely complex, and whilst I tried to take it all in, all that stuck in my mind was theadvice " if that big red light starts flashing, and the alarm goes…….run!" Apparently this is the control system for reedox, or Ozone- used to sterilise water.
Finally I get to go diving. The job today is to clean the corals with a nylon brush, the same as you would normally find with a dustpan. The corals in the main tank "Endless Oceans" are plastic, fitted on plugs screwed into the concrete "rocks". They do look very effective underwater, especially from the other side of the window.
Whilst all the water is filtered to remove detritus, excrement from the fish settles on the bottom, and covers all the corals in a brown slimy coating. This needs to be removed by brushing, which puts it back into the water column, and then is removed by the filter system. Another method of cleaning the gravel on the floor of the tank is to use a glorified vacuum cleaner.
I spend just over an hour in the 26-degree water, scrubbing away, and occasionally waving at small children transfixed against the window (more cleaning!!!) looking at this strange addition to the fish, and no doubt wondering if they will see a limb removed by the circling sharks!
I was reminded of an early scene in Deep Blue Sea, the diver with a full face mask swimming in a large concrete tank, surrounded by sharks. This diver was only armed with a selection of cleaning materials though, not a harpoon!
The Deep is a fascinating place to work, not just for the visual stimulation of the various fish species, but also to see the inner workings and complex operations involved to keep it running. And then there is the diving, which sure beats the long drive on a wet motorway to West Yorkshire, for the rest of the week!
Chris Storey