Aquarium Diving

[norcaldiver]

One thing that hit me the other day while I was in the exhibit was that altho the fake corals may have been colored when they were new (you can see some paint in areas), they have been scrubbed so many times that they are all white. It gives it that bleached look like a dead reef. Only the fans and other items that really stick out have "some" color left because they are so hard to clean in the crevaces, but that kinda kills it because they are mostly brown from algea.

I just thought to myself, "Hey, Nice bleeched coral effect"

 

[SueMermaid]

Two questions for you aquarium divers,

1) Do you all log your dives? No, really. Do they count? I like to be honest about these things. I plan to log them in my regular book, they'll say something like "13 feet for 90 minutes". ut:

2) Is it normal for you to have to wear more weight than in open water? Anyone have any idea why that would be? I keep thinking of the physical reason, and I can't come up with anything. The tanks I will dive in are warm, fortunately, about 74 degrees, so I don't have to wear a 7 mil suit. Yet, even with a half-mil and a 3 mil shorty over it, I must wear 10-12 lbs, when I normally wear 6-8 in the ocean with the same exposure suit.

 

[roakey]

SueMermaid once bubbled...
1) Do you all log your dives? No, really. Do they count? I like to be honest about these things. I plan to log them in my regular book, they'll say something like "13 feet for 90 minutes". ut:

No. I log the first dive in an exhibit and whenever I do/learn something significantly new. So for example I've been diving our shark exhibit for over two years and I have only three dives logged in the exhibit: First dive, when I learned to use the FFM for a presentation and when I learned to use the power washer, which acts like NASA's MMU if you're not careful.

A thousand different dives is a thousand dives. The same dive a thousand times is one dive. This is why I think most instructors that claim a bizillion dives should actually have about 30-40 dives in their logs.

SueMermaid once bubbled...
2) Is it normal for you to have to wear more weight than in open water? Anyone have any idea why that would be? I keep thinking of the physical reason, and I can't come up with anything. The tanks I will dive in are warm, fortunately, about 74 degrees, so I don't have to wear a 7 mil suit. Yet, even with a half-mil and a 3 mil shorty over it, I must wear 10-12 lbs, when I normally wear 6-8 in the ocean with the same exposure suit.

We discussed this a bit back in this note I believe. I did a careful comparison and as far as I could tell there is no difference in weighting.

I dive in about the same temp water. I use a Henderson 7/5 jumpsuit and a beanie. I still sometimes get a little cold after two hours in the water! You'll be surprised how chilled you'll get being in the water as long as you are.

Roak

 

[norcaldiver]

SueMermaid once bubbled...
Two questions for you aquarium divers,

1) Do you all log your dives? No, really. Do they count? I like to be honest about these things. I plan to log them in my regular book, they'll say something like "13 feet for 90 minutes". ut:

While I think that a dive is a dive and since I can get to 27ft, I can say I'm over the 20 ft for 20 minutes, yeah, technically it could be a dive....it is really nothing more than a glorified confined water dive. So I don't put them in my logbook, I'd like to. Now because the aquarium and DSO does keep track of our dive time and we have to log our "total time under for the day"-prolly more to make sure we're actually working and not goofing off- I do wear my mosquito tho so I can keep track of my time in the pool. It's going to show a bazillion dives and hours by the end of the year so I could always show the combined history and talk big...heh

2) Is it normal for you to have to wear more weight than in open water? Anyone have any idea why that would be? I keep thinking of the physical reason, and I can't come up with anything. The tanks I will dive in are warm, fortunately, about 74 degrees, so I don't have to wear a 7 mil suit. Yet, even with a half-mil and a 3 mil shorty over it, I must wear 10-12 lbs, when I normally wear 6-8 in the ocean with the same exposure suit.

I'm not sure, but here's me:
I wear a drysuit, lots of underwear and 35 pounds in the water in montery where the water is 52 MAX. Now at the aquarium, I wear a 1 piece 5 mill and wear 27 lbs where it's a nice 79 degrees...I thought I should have been able to drop a LOT more than 8 lbs so it seems to me that it takes more too.

 

[mgri]

SueMermaid once bubbled...


2) Is it normal for you to have to wear more weight than in open water? Anyone have any idea why that would be? I keep thinking of the physical reason, and I can't come up with anything. The tanks I will dive in are warm, fortunately, about 74 degrees, so I don't have to wear a 7 mil suit. Yet, even with a half-mil and a 3 mil shorty over it, I must wear 10-12 lbs, when I normally wear 6-8 in the ocean with the same exposure suit.

You might have to wear more weight because you are staying shallow the whole time.

Do you kick down to depth on an OW dive? If you do, you might be a little light on the surface and by the time you get to your operating depth your wet suit could be compressed enough to make you netural with the 6-8lbs in the ocean.

Of course, if you are using Alu 80s and you are neutral during your safety stop then this wouldnt be the case.

 

[Don Burke]

SueMermaid once bubbled...
Two questions for you aquarium divers,

1) Do you all log your dives? No, really. Do they count? I like to be honest about these things. I plan to log them in my regular book, they'll say something like "13 feet for 90 minutes". ut:

I don't log mine. The only thing I need logged dives for is other certifications and I have enough dives for those.

I wouldn't be bashful about logging some of them. Perhaps one a month would be reasonable. There's nothing like being overweighted in a wetsuit hovering at five feet while talking to someone and being attacked by spadefish to knock the kinks out of your buoyancy skills. You'll get better buoyancy training in one dive in an aquarium than in a dozen dives to 60 feet.

SueMermaid once bubbled...

2) Is it normal for you to have to wear more weight than in open water? Anyone have any idea why that would be? I keep thinking of the physical reason, and I can't come up with anything. The tanks I will dive in are warm, fortunately, about 74 degrees, so I don't have to wear a 7 mil suit. Yet, even with a half-mil and a 3 mil shorty over it, I must wear 10-12 lbs, when I normally wear 6-8 in the ocean with the same exposure suit. [/B]

The airspace in the AGA mask requires two or three pounds. I have to wear about three extra pounds for being so shallow and another three pounds or so if I'm going to be scrubbing anything on the bottom.

The buoyancy of neoprene decreases with depth. In the ocean I weight for 10 feet. I never get that deep in the tank, so I need more weight. I also suck cylinders down to 300 psig or so.

 

[teamheatwave]

Wow, I ate that much food for breakfast! You must have a small frame. I am 26-28 pound range full 3/2 suit and a FFM.

 

[GQMedic]

Sue,

No, I don't log my aquarium dives. I don't count them, they arn't open water dives. At the aquarium, we log our dives in the aquarium's computer, but that's for the AOP's records, not ours.

Yes, I wear slightly more.

Often, the exhibits are being treated for cryptocaryon (Ich) with copper. This just adds to density thus making one even more buoyant. Not quite sure what that equates to specific gravity.(Not always though as copper can kill some fish faster than crypto it's self) NOW.. Wheather this is TRUE or not, I have NO idea, that is the generic answer I get when I ask around. Sounds good, so I guess I'll regurgitate it.

SueMermaid once bubbled...
Two questions for you aquarium divers,

1) Do you all log your dives? No, really. Do they count? I like to be honest about these things. I plan to log them in my regular book, they'll say something like "13 feet for 90 minutes". ut:

2) Is it normal for you to have to wear more weight than in open water? Anyone have any idea why that would be? I keep thinking of the physical reason, and I can't come up with anything. The tanks I will dive in are warm, fortunately, about 74 degrees, so I don't have to wear a 7 mil suit. Yet, even with a half-mil and a 3 mil shorty over it, I must wear 10-12 lbs, when I normally wear 6-8 in the ocean with the same exposure suit.

 

[roakey]

GQMedic once bubbled...
Often, the exhibits are being treated for cryptocaryon (Ich)

From the latin "crypto" meaning "Hidden" and "caryon" meaning "Small luggage."

Sorry, that's the first thing that popped into my head when I first heard the term a couple years ago.

If you're diving with any sharks, skates or rays it's highly unlikely that they'll be treating with copper or if they are, the levels will be very low.

Roak

 

[DivemasterBob]

What was the average wait time you all experienced after submitting your application to the Aquarium’s volunteer program?