Water quality is top priority at Brighton aquarium 20 June 2012

Water quality at the Sea Life Centre, which has been going through a renovation programme next to the pier in Brighton, has been successfully monitored throughout the project by Hach Lange instruments.

With hundreds of valuable marine creatures to protect, water quality is a key issue," explains curator Carey Duckhouse.

"The recent building work presented challenges, but we have been able to protect water quality with a monitoring regime designed to quickly detect any deterioration in water quality and to provide the highest level of vigilance for our most sensitive species," she says.

Each tank at the Brighton attraction has its own filtration system, including a pressurised sand filter, a biological filter and a carbon filter where appropriate. Some tanks, containing particularly sensitive species – such as seahorses, octopus and jellyfish – are also equipped with an ultraviolet treatment system.

Dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature and salinity levels are the key measurements, with DO measured three times/day in the main ocean tank, and salinity and DO twice per week in all tanks.

Duckhouse explains that a hand-held HQD water quality meter is employed for this purpose, utilising sensor technology such as an optical LDO sensor, said to substantially improve the reliability of oxygen measurements.

"Even subtle changes in water quality can stress marine organisms, which makes them more sensitive to disease, so a range of other parameters such as ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, copper and iron, are also measured with a Hach Lange DR 2800 spectrophotometer," she adds.

Brian Tinham

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