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Aquarium paludarium in Aquatica Oceanarium, Kogalym
05.01.2023
On the Aquatica website, the description of the "Tropical Coast" zone very accurately characterizes the idea behind the development of this exposition: "Huge coastal forests located on the edge of the river delta are home to a wide variety of plants and animals. The supportive roots are ideal refuges for many species of fish. The rocky shore of the tropical coastline is teeming with life in the tidal zone. At low tide, small pools form, the bottom of which is covered with colonies of animal fouling." This intertidal zone is called a littoral zone in oceanology.
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Our company built and has been maintaining the Aquatica Oceanarium in Kogalym for the seventh year. The Siberian team of Aqua Logo Engineering is characterized by great experience and constantly generates new ideas in such a specific area as the operation of a large aquarium system.
In order to surprise and attract visitors to the oceanarium, it is necessary to replenish the collection of animals with new species and expand the expositions if possible. It is not easy, because the space of Aquatica is not rubber. Nevertheless, a place for a new unusual aquarium was found at the very beginning of the "Tropical Coast" zone.
In the "Tropical Coast" zone it was decided to mount a paludarium aquarium instead of benches against the wall
On the Aquatica website, the description of the "Tropical Coast" zone very accurately characterizes the idea behind the development of this exposition: "Huge coastal forests located on the edge of the river delta are home to a wide variety of plants and animals. The supportive roots are ideal refuges for many species of fish. The rocky shore of the tropical coastline is teeming with life in the tidal zone. At low tide, small pools form, the bottom of which is covered with colonies of animal fouling." This intertidal zone is called a littoral zone in oceanology.
Small fish such as splashfish, four-eyes and mudskippers, hitherto absent from Aquatica, are typical inhabitants of the littoral of the tropical coastline
That is why we named the new exposition aquarium "Litoral". So far, it is inhabited by splashbugs and several species of plants on the steep "shore". Four-eyed and mudskippers will arrive later. For the sake of brevity, we will call it Litoral hereafter.
Senior ichthyologist Ekaterina Zoricheva talks about the creation of Litorali
When the location, design and opening date of Litorali (January 1, 2023) were approved, the assignment for the production of the glass part with a sump and a bollard was sent to the design department of Aqua Logo Engineering. It was decided to make a marine water part and a land area with freshwater puddles for mud jumpers, and the wall was decorated with live plants.
Senior engineer Andrey Bybko and senior ichthyologist Ekaterina Zoricheva actively participated in the design of the Litoral. They adjusted the originally conceived dimensions of the Litoral, the height of the water column and the arrangement of the overflow column, thought over the system of point watering of plants, chose the shape and location of the shore puddles for mudskippers.
On December 26, 2022, Litorali's dimensional parts arrived from Moscow
On December 27, more than 10 people carefully carried the heavy aquarium with a length of 2.5 m to the place of installation. On the same day our technical service (Andrey Bybko, Sergey Sergienko, Nikolay Glyzin, Ilya Zotov) started assembling the life support systems, and senior ichthyologists Taras Fagelsky, Ekaterina Zoricheva and fish breeder Anastasia Glyzina started decorating the Litoral.
We were given a very short deadline for assembly and launch - until January 1, 2023. Therefore, we worked day and night. We had a screen to keep visitors out.
Taras and Katya glue grids to the back wall of the Litorali. The grid structure serves as a basis for attaching snags and creating the relief of the wall.
Fixing the decorative bark to the grid
After fixing the bark, we applied special colored foam on the lattice and created relief. We could start further work only the next day, when the foam had dried.
To create the future "living" wall, it was necessary to cut off the glossy layer of foam, make pockets for planting plants and finish the relief. It was also necessary to apply colored silicone and stuff it with special substrate.
Since silicone has a specific odor, they worked in masks and respirators. The photo shows Katya inside the aquarium getting close to its edges to form a decoration
If with the water part and puddles there were no problems (for the puddles a custom-made decoration was molded from stadont, which arrived together with other parts of the Litoral), then for the "living" wall you needed a creative approach, assembling by hand, molding decorations on site, planting plants.
Planting of plants in automatic irrigation zones (December 31)
In the foreground is a mini pond for mud jumpers
The location of irrigation nozzles and planting locations are strictly coordinated
We consulted with the experts at Florariumplants when creating the overwater plant display and selecting professional materials
Our team rose to the challenge and on December 31, 2022, Litoral was ready for operation
A flock of squirrels settling into their home
On January 1, 2023, visitors looked with interest at the new exposition of the Aquatica Oceanarium
Photo and text: Anastasia Glyzina