Tag Archives: glycol

Squid – done and dusted!

20 March 2009 – 4.50pm
The new wheelchair ramp is completed and gives a great view for everyone into the squid tank.

The new wheelchair ramp is completed and gives a great view for everyone into the squid tank.

Breaking news from our squid fix-it team – the work is complete and we are on track to reopen the colossal squid exhibition to the public from tomorrow 21 March 2009.

Yesterday Robert Clendon our Conservator and Hutch Wilco, one of our exhibition preparators finished the last few tweaks to the squid itself. They  managed to draw the bulk of the squid’s body beneath the surface of the liquid in the tank, but this then caused the mantle to float up!

After much discussion the team decided to stitch through the tissues around the gladius and attach the mantle of the squid to the support raft underneath. By attaching weights to the support they managed to get the mantle under the liquid too.

Today the team have been putting the tank back together, which included slowly and carefully rebolting the lid onto the tank.

The glycol and water mixture used to fill the tank is still producing gas.  The team have refilled the tank just enough to fully cover the squid and make contact with the lid.  This has left an air gap at the sides of the tank which will reduce the risk of the tank pressurising and minimise the chance of a spill.  It will also reduce the chance of bubbles forming on the lid. Sometime over the next fortnight we will put in the last little bit of liquid.

Our hardworking squid fix-it team have also completed the new wheelchair ramp, installed the railing, and put new carpet down.

Smile - it's the end of a long week working on the squid.

Smile - it's the end of a long week working on the squid.

The gallery space is being tidied as we speak and we are on target for reopening tomorrow morning when you get to see the colossal squid again.  Enjoy!

By pamelalovis | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Disappearing hooks, or not?

12 March 2009 – 5.06pm
Close up view of the amazing rotating hooks on a freshly thawed colossal squid

Close up view of the amazing rotating hooks on a freshly thawed colossal squid

More news from the squid tank. This morning I caught up with Robert Clendon the conservator who is looking after the work on the squid.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been a bit concerned about the hooks on the tentacles and the arms. It looked as though the hooks could be disappearing. Not something we wanted to hear, as these are one of the most interesting and distinctive features of the colossal squid.

Robert has been away in Wichita, Kansas looking after Te Papa’s touring exhibition Whales | Tohorā so we had to wait until he was back to see what could be going on.

With the lid off the tank and some of the liquid drained away Robert has been able to take a good look at the hooks. We’re happy to hear the excellent news that the hooks aren’t dissolving – it just looks that way!

The hooks on the squid’s tentacles and arms have tissue around them. When the squid was first thawed and dissected the hooks were very prominent and stood well up from the surrounding tissue.

After being preserved and sitting in the glycol for several months the tissue around the hooks has swelled up and is now covering more of the hooks. 

So it just looks as if the hooks have disappeared, but in fact they are still there – which is a relief. A colossal squid with no amazing, big hooks is not a good look.

By pamelalovis | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Men at work – fixing the squid

4 March 2009 – 5.53pm

We’re working on the squid!

Tuesday 10 March -  Thursday 19 March 2009

Level 2, free entry

The colossal squid has been on display now for 3 months and it’s time for a bit of a makeover and a check-up.

So from Tuesday 10  March we’ll be doing some work on the colossal squid and its display tank.  We’re hoping to get everything finished by Thursday 19 March – if everything goes according to plan.  

While we’re doing this work, you won’t be able to see the colossal squid in the tank, but you will be able to see all the other great squid stuff we have for you! This includes a 3D animation, a video that tells the remarkable story of how the squid was caught, examined by the scientists and put on display, and some amazing squid computer interactives.

You’ll also be able to watch the work being carried out on the squid by our team of technicians, conservators, and collection managers.

What’s going on? 
No museum in the world has put such a bulky squid on display – we’re learning all the time. We’re doing a bit more work to make sure the colossal squid and her tank look their best. We’re doing this now, so we can keep her on display for as long as possible.

A first in many ways
Lots of things about the colossal squid project have been a bit of an experiment. No one has tried to keep and display such a big squid in glycol before.  As with many experiments, that’s thrown up a couple of surprises. For example, the metal wire crimps holding up the squid’s arms are reacting to the glycol and corroding - so we need to replace the crimps.

The colossal squid at her best
Half a tonne of colossal squid takes some wrangling, and a small part of the mantle is pressing up against the tank lid. We’re going to try to fix this because it has the potential to damage the tissues of the specimen.

The best possible tank as well
The squid display tank is a complex piece of engineering and there are a few things we need to fix. We are going to make some improvements to the tank design so that getting samples and doing maintenance is easier.

Better access for wheelchairs
We’re also building a wheelchair ramp. This means our visitors in wheelchairs will be able to get a better and much more comfortable view of the squid in the tank. It will also help our many younger and shorter visitors see the squid!

So please bear with us as we do this important work so Wellington’s favourite squid can stay on display. We just hope you don’t have a reaction like this …

We’ll post more about the work and what’s going on next week.

By pamelalovis | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (6)

Bubbles in the system

18 December 2008 – 12.52pm

There are bubbles in the colossal squid tank!!! It’s not what we intended and we know that they may be interfering with your view of our big squid.

So why are the bubbles there and why can’t we get rid of them?

It’s not that easy to answer – you have to know a bit about the physics of bubbles, and what happens when you mix liquids which have dissolved gases in them. Te Papa’s Conservator Robert Clendon has been trying to explain it to me this morning, but my physics is a bit rusty – anyway here goes.

The tank that the squid is in contains a liquid mix of glycol and water. This is a preservative to stop the squid specimen from rotting. With a liquid that has dissolved gases in it the gas will start to come out and form bubbles. The bubbles then tend to stick to any tiny rough bits, or abrasions. Surprisingly enough the surface of the thick, acrylic lid of the tank is covered in these microabrasions. When you mix glycol and water together (as we’ve done) the water can’t hold as much dissolved air and bubbles start to form.

Usually we would leave the glycol and water mix for a good length of time to allow the bubbles to escape. When we first put the squid in the tank, filled it up and put the lid on there were hardly any bubbles at all – it was perfect!

However we had a problem with the tank at the last minute – one day before opening. We had to lift the lid off the tank, fix the problem and then top up the liquid. Time was against us to make the opening on Saturday and as a result…. we’ve got bubbles.

The bubbles are sitting under the curved lid of the tank. The small bubbles are gradually joining together (coalescing) to make bigger bubbles. When the bubbles are big enough they run off to the side of the tank and escape through the built-in tank vents.

The tank does have an internal pump system but it is very gentle as we don’t want to disturb the squid specimen too much. Robert is confident that the bubbles will go – but slowly. After all the whole tank and squid display is experimental and we are learning a lot through the process.

We’ll be watching the bubbles situation over the Christmas period and if it doesn’t improve we have a plan…. a cunning one.

By pamelalovis | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Long term storage solution – glycol

6 August 2008 – 3.32pm

Hi, it’s Robert Clendon, Conservator at Te Papa.

After all the sewing up, we need to prepare the Squid for long term display.

This involves draining the water that it’s sitting in at the moment. This will remove any residual formalin that is not bound up into the animal. That is fixed in with its tissues.

We’ll then slowly start to pump in the long term storage solution which is a mixture of 20% monopropylene glycol, 80% water and a biocide. The biocide we’ll use is a glycol ether which will stop bacteria, moulds or fungi growing. Calcium carbonate will also be added to maintain the correct pH range. Samples will be taken about once a week to check on the pH and if there is any biological activity within the tank, we would put in more biocide.

The display tank has been designed so that if it is needed, we can attach a low velocity pump fitted with a filter. This is so we can remove any cloudiness in the solution and will help to keep it clear.

We can also drain the entire contents of the tank if necessary and completely replace the solution.

Ethyline glycol © Copyright Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2008

Propylene glycol - 3255 - © Copyright Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2008

By Te Papa | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , | Comments (4)

Preservatives

4 August 2008 – 8.28am

Specimens in museum collections are usually preserved in a 70 per cent aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol or in a 2-4 per cent solution of formaldehyde (5-10 per cent formalin).

The great disadvantages of ethyl alcohol are that it is flammable, it volatilizes very readily, it tends to produce precipitates from sea-water, and it causes shrinkage of many specimens. Although formalin is not flammable, and it evaporates less rapidly than ethyl alcohol, precautions to prevent desiccation are still necessary; and it has the further disadvantage that it tends to oxidize to formic acid, which may dissolve calcareous structures, and it has a very strong smell and is toxic.

Glycol experiment - squid

Glycol experiment - squid - 3169 - © Copyright Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2008

Both ethanol and formalin cannot be used in large volumes in public galleries because of the hazardous nature of the chemicals. So in order to display our colossal squid we will be using a glycol solution with an antimicrobial preservative to prevent microbial growth. We have been experimenting with smaller specimens in jars. Initial results indicate the system will work quite well – although there has been some discoloration, replacing the mix with a second fresh glycol solution does not result in more leaching of the colour, so our plan to replace the glycol before the specimen goes on display should work! Specimens have been preserved for months or years in glycol, but nobody has tried preserving such a large (495 kg) specimen in glycol before, so this is quite a learning curve for us!

The glycol will be diluted to between 20-30% with water. To prevent the growth of microorganisms (which could happen as the mixture contains sufficient water to support microbes) we will add a small quantity of Dowanol preservative. This will allow us to have 5,000 litres of liquid in the public galleries, while meeting safety and health requirements.

Another concern is that if the soultion becomes acidic the hooks and sucker rings will be dissolved – to prevent this happening we will ‘buffer’ the solution with limestone chips to keep the pH neutral. Although glycol has been used successfully for long term storage of specimens on a small scale, the use of large quantities for the colossal squid is in many ways experimental, and one reason why we will be monitoring the specimen constantly while it is on display.

By chrispaulin | Posted in Colossal squid | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 282 other followers