Something Fishy

Posted on 11 Aug 2018 @ 8:12pm by Commander Aren Ban & Commander Marisa Wyatt

1,542 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Atrium - Deck 7
Timeline: MD141

ON

Operations had done a marvelous job of installing the enormous fish tanks for breeding fish as an addition to the food supply on the Galileo-A.

When she'd had a good look at the ship layout, Marisa decided it would be a good idea to have an entire large room set up as an aquarium of sorts with several types of fish that grew quickly and were good food sources. It also gave her the opportunity to experiment with seaweed and plankton. While she was more a mountain/desert person, she found that this new area of the ship provided a unique relaxation area to supplement the arboretum and hydroponics garden.

Now that construction was finished and the tanks stocked, she sent a message to Commander Ban to stop by when he had some free time.

Aren just finished going over the deck 4 power consumption. "One down, plenty more to go." Aren said to himself as he opened the next one. The next one caused his eyebrow to raise. A message came in from Lieutenant Sandoval, with a report about her aquaponics on deck 7 set up, and how it was complete. Aren checked the time, seeing that it had been awhile since he had stretched his legs. Deciding that he would like to see what she had accomplished, he stepped out of his office and made his way to see Lieutenant Sandoval.

It only took a few minutes to arrive. The tanks where impressive, and the set up looked to be in good working order. With his hands clasped behind his back, he leaned into to inspect one of the tanks.

It took a full two minutes for word of Commander Ban's arrival to reach Marisa. She was in the back room, inspecting the oxygenation and filtration system. She'd never had a fish tank before and there was a great deal she wanted to be sure she understood. She turned and smiled at the Ensign. "Thank you."

She paused as she came through the side door and paused for a moment to make sure her mental shields were well in place before walking over to Aren. "What do you think?"

Aren turned his head at the sound of Sandoval's voice. "I am very pleased." He said, a small smile spreading across his face. "It looks like you have improved over your original designs. Theory vice application. I haven't had a chance to review your entire report, so please bear with me, how are you handling the oxygen and ammonia levels?" Aren asked. He knew one the common challenges with a closed system such as aquaponics meant that the solid waste from fish must be removed or otherwise diluted as the ammonia excreted by the fish tends to be very poisonous to them, even in low concentrations. He had read some reports that the water could be crystal clear, but still be highly toxic.

"We use the traditional bubbles for oxygenation and we keep a current flow that helps remove waste. As a backup, we keep the hatchlings in a separate facility and introduce them into three larger tanks when they're big enough. This allows us to rotate the fish if necessary and harvest the seaweed and other plants while we clean the tanks from time to time. It's a little more complicated than that with the filtration system and tank rotation, but that's the basic answer." She handed him a PADD with all the details. "As we designed the tank system, we did some modifications." She grinned. "It turned out a lot better than I anticipated."

Aren nodded. "What species of produce are you using to go along with the fish? It looks like some sort of cabbage and root vegetables, but I will be the first to admit that I am no botanist, and what has sprouted already isn't familiar." He asked, intrigued about having the occasional fresh produce coming from the botany lab, as well as from Sandoval's aquaponics set up.

"Wakame, dulse, spirulina, kombu, nori, carrageen moss, arame, chlorella, sea grapes." She pointed to each one as she named them. "Those are the terran varieties. We also have triticale, altarian sprouts, and Meridian algae. We'll expand once we see how these species adapt. Sharing a wall of the arboretum and a workroom gives us the space we need for the experiment."

Aren nodded. "That is quite the range of produce." He said as walked to another of the tanks and inspected her handy work. "How long do you have the growing time to?" He asked, wondering how often they would have fresh produce.

"It depends on a number of factors. In sushi, we can probably use it once a week. As a side dish, maybe once every other week, to begin with. We have to be careful about iodine levels with seaweed, but it makes an interesting replacement for spinach. However, it can be an aquired taste, so we'll start with small amounts in other foods. There are 3500 varieties of terran seaweed, so we'll experiment to see which varieties work best. Marine scientists have been testing theories on fish as well. We'll start small and see how it goes."

Aren nodded again. "Depending on the yield I am hoping that we could have a fresh and full meal for the crew at every other week. But I don't want you to stress the system. If we need to split it up among duty shifts that also works." He said as he stepped to the last tank on the wall, already thinking of some of the other uses of this system. "I know I have said this before, but this is quite impressive."

"It is," she agreed. "And it's partly due to you. You're the one who brought up the idea. I think we could definitely rotate shifts to make sure everyone on the ship has a chance to have a fresh meal. We'll see what we can do to produce a higher yield as we go on. Theory is not always proven in practice." She couldn't help grinning at him.

"Fair enough." Aren said returning her smile. "I am looking forward to see what you can come up with. It takes someone with talent, ingenuity, and a touch of the creative flare to create something like this." He said as he motioned to the decorative fish tanks and floating planter bays in the arboretum. He brought his arms back down. "How have you been adjusting to your new team?" Aren asked, slightly changing the subject.

"This is a team effort, but I thank you." She looked around the newly-renovated arboretum/aquaponics area. "This is going to take a little getting used to, although it's going to be exciting, too. I generally prefer mountains and deserts, but we're going with a different theme to go along with the fish and sea plants. I'm even considering a holographic pirate ship peeking out from behind the Spanish Moss, just to add to the ambiance." She raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe some mythological creature."

Marisa shook her head. "We'll see what strikes our fancy. Or we'll change it every few months to add variety. As for my department, I've had no problems so far. They're all taking to my rule that all science officers need to have personal projects to work on in their free time. They won't have as much here as they would on other ships, but they need to work on their own academic credentials to keep honing their skills. That'll keep the labs and the department busy enough."

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at Ban. "What about you? How are you settling in?"

Aren smiled. "Busy. But otherwise, quite well." He said with a laugh. "There is always something to do, but I do enjoy the work." He motioned to the view-port in the arboretum. "I am looking forward to breaking moorings though."

"So am I. I didn't realize how much I missed working in science."

Aren could only smile. He was about to say something else when his combadge beeped. "Commander Ban, this is the Bridge." The voice sounded. "This is the Commander Ban, go ahead." He replied. "You asked to the notified when the final series of the new gel packs were installed." The voice sounded. "Thank you, I will be there in a minute, Ban out." He finished before turning to Sandoval. "Always something to do," he said with a smile, "in the next few day we need to meet with stellar cartography for possible survey sites for our shakedown cruise. I need to speak with the Captain first, but expect to hear from me again soon. And keep me posted with regular updates on the aquaponics system. Again, great work. Before I head to my next meeting, do you have anything else for me?" He asked, wanting to see if she had anything else that she wanted to talk to him about.

"I have nothing right now, but I will ask you to be among the first to try our new augmented cuisine." She smiled again. "Thank you for coming down."

OFF:

Commander Aren Ban
Executive Officer
USS Galileo-A


&

Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

RSS Feed