In conclusion

This project was interesting to say the least but im really glad i dove into this as my science fro senior year it was a good experience in learning to work with a team!

-Sue Shells

inside our tank 9/27/12

-Rick Rocks

10/11....... Invasive Plants

Purple Loosestrife, Water Lettuce and Hydrilla are invasive plants all with similar negative effects on texas plants.Loosestrife clogs irrigation canals while shading out vegetation decreasing diversity. Water lettuce forms large mats stealing oxygen out of the water and imoeading navigation.and finally hydrilla also kills native vegetation and impeads navigation.

-Nick R

10/10..... Invasive Plants

Invasive plants cost financial and ecosystem issues to the waterbody and surrounding communities.

Alligatro weed is a invasive plant from south america it is aggressive and mat forming impairing navitgation and recreational uses. It also shades out native vegetation. It is a periennial shore line plant.

Eurasian watermilfoil is an invasive from eurasia it grows 6-9' this plant also impedes navigation and kills native vegetation ruining habitats for all the living organisms and stealing nutrients.

Giant salivina is the aquatic plant from hell spawning form south america. This plant reduces oxygen while also negatively affecting water quality and shading out native vegetation.

-Chris Chlorine

10/9...Native or Invasive

Native plants are plants that were naturally in the aquatic ecosystem while invasives are plants that were brought in from outside sources.Native plants are good for the ecosystem because they give natural nutrients food and shelter to the organisms in the waterbody.

- Nick R

october 1st ....Assessing a water body

To assess a water body first use a dichotimus key to look at a sample and use the formula to see pollution levels in the water body. If those come back with out useable results chemical panels may be needed. Although they are more expensive they are also more accurate. Cities need to know the levels in their water bodies because that is the source of water that is supporitng their community through consumable water, irrigation, and sewage. If these levels are disrupted people could get sick.

October 3rd..... Our tank

Since we st up our tank our ammonia levels have managed to even out and the plants have started fixing the nitrogen creating a stable ecosystem. The most challenging part of the project has been getting all of the levels in a healthy margin for the fish. The constant cleaning whenver the levels are too high have been bothersome, because of these reasons i would never want to have an aquarium at home. The most interesting thing for us in class has been the use of the syphon which never misses a chance in which to come apart and get us soaking wet.

-Sue Shells

9/28/12....Carbon Cycle

The carbon cycle is based on carbon dioxide (CO₂), which can be found in air in the gaseous form, and in water in dissolved form. Terrestrial plants use atmospheric carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, to generate oxygen that sustains animal life. Aquatic plants also generate oxygen, but they use carbon dioxide from water.
The process of oxygen generation is called photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, plants and other producers transfer carbon dioxide and water into complex carbohydrates, such as glucose, under the influence of sunlight. Only plants and some bacteria have the ability to conduct this process, because they possess chlorophyll; a pigment molecule in leaves that they can capture solar energy with.

 

 

Chris Cholrine

9-25-12......Algae

Algae grow in a fish tank because they thrive on the same things that aid the other living things in the tank: nutrients and light. Too much light, whether natural light, such as sunlight, or artificial light can cause algae to grow. The warmer the water -- usually heated by light, and nitrates, which form from the waste created by the inhabitants of the tank -- can cause algae to grow quickly. Although algae can be removed from the tank without removing the marine life and water, they can also be removed safely while the tank is empty. Algae are simple organisms that contain chlorophyll and normally grow in aquatic conditions. Algae are found in places like rivers, lakes and streams, but are also commonly found inside home aquariums. A little algae growth is normal and can be beneficial to the overall health of a fish tank. Large amounts of algae can have negative effects on a fish tank. Too much algae makes for an unsightly appearance and can create stress on fish living in the aquarium. Aquarium owners generally want to control algae and reduce its growth in their tanks, but at times, algae is actually a desirable plant. You may want to use a mat of algae to provide cover and security for baby fish or shy adult fish living in a community tank with more aggressive species. Getting algae to grow is not hard once you supply the proper growing conditions and materials.

 

 

 

-Rick Rocks

9-24-12....Water Levels

So lately are tank has had issues keeping its ammonia and nitrite levels at 0ppm. The first week of our project the tank stayed at the normal rate but since then it has spiked extremely high and we are having to change the water every day to balance out this issue. hopefully our aquarium will find an equilibrium soon!

-Nick R

Spetember 20th......Fish Fights

So I'm starting to think that our 4 fish deaths in one week last week was due to unrest in the tank. When the fish were first entered into the tank a hierarchy was established, then when our first fish jumped out of the tank we replaced him with another fish who turned the hierarchy on its head and started a fish tank civil war. The fighting made us lose some fish soldiers in the process.   

It might be a far fetched idea but fish don't die for no reason.

-Rick Rocks

sept 19---Carbon Dioxide-Oxygen cycle

During photosynthesis plants combine carbon dioxide with water to produce sugar and oxygen. Land plants absorb the carbon dioxide they need from the air, while aquatic plants use carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the water. The amount of carbon dioxide in aquarium water tends to be quite low, and this places a restraint on the rate at which plants can photosynthesis. By adding extra carbon dioxide aquarists can reduce this restriction and thereby allow plants to photosynthesise more quickly. The quicker plants photosynthesise, the more sugar and oxygen they produce, and the faster they will grow.

Although carbon dioxide fertilisation will benefit all planted aquaria to some degree, the value of carbon dioxide fertilisation is often misunderstood. Furthermore, the methods used to provide carbon dioxide fertilisation are varied, expensive, and in some cases potentially dangerous if not used properly. Finally, carbon dioxide fertilisation isn't a magic bullet that cures all ills; there are many situations where other problems, such as poor lighting, are restricting plant growth

-Sue Shells

september 18...lets train a fish

today we were supposed to get our turn training a fish but with a test this class edidnt get too :( but on the bright side we watched one team sucesfully get oscar the class fish through the hoop! it looks like it will take alot of patients but will be fun. I will keep you posted on when our group gets the chance!
-Nick R

The Nitrogen Cycle

The nitrogen cycle is an aquariums natural filtration of ammonia. When the fish consumes food they excrete ammonia and CO2 from oxygen conversion when they are breathing. The CO2 is absorebed instantly by the plants allowing photosynthesis to reoxygenize the water.With the addition of bacteria Nitrosomonas changes the ammonia into nitrates and the nitrites get turned into nitrobacter which finishes its evolution into nitrate which can be absorbed by plants and removed by water changes.

-Chris Chlorine



Pictures

 here are some pics you may have already seen bt this is our week recap in pics!!!

Our Dearly Beloved

This past week has been an interesting one in our tank . Our pregnant fish had her babies earlier in the week but due to their small and scrumptiopus size thother fish ate them all D: !!! Also today we have to take a chance to mourn two other of our little buddies that passed away .... One of them catapulted out of the tank and the other got pulled up the water filter of death .With all the other tragedy that has insued in our tank this week our friends are a little bit of shock. Our ammonia levels have been a little high as well as our nitrite, but with a few days of normalcy brought into their lives im sure all will go back tommorrow ....because to be honest they dont remeber the other fish anyways.....5 second memory :D !

-Sue Shells

Learning By Osmosis

This project of setting up our own aquarium has been incredibly educational already even in its short 2 week life span so far. The most useful piece of knowledge i have learned outside of the aquarium is team work. This project is being done in groups of four so working together is absolutely necessary to be sucessful. Inside of the aquarium the most useful piece of knowledge is knowing the anount of work that is required to sustaina healthy aquarium. The number of tests,chemicals, and decorations that go into creating a healthy and fun enviroment for your pets is alot of time consuming work but well worth it the reward of satisfaction.

-Sue Shells

Is your water healthy????

In order to keep your water at a healthy balance for your fish a few preliminary test have to be ran to check if all of the chemicals in the water are at a liveable level.

Ph: which is the acidity or alkalinity of the water is a major factor that needs to be checked because if water is to high in acidity it could stop the reproduction of fish or even cause death. The Ph scale works on a 1-14 scale with 1 being most acidic and 14 being the most alkaline and 7 is the level of distilled water.
When our group checked the ph of our water in gave a number of 6.2 which is a little acidic but completely liveable.

Ammonia: Ammonia is the chemical that the fish excrete as waste and to much ammonia in the water can create unliveable conditions for the fish. In an aquarium the ammonia level is safest kept at 0 ppm but no higher than .25ppm. If .25ppm is reached the tank needs to be emptied of about half of its water content and refilled....Be sure to add dechlorinator when adding new water! When we checked our ammonia levels today they were perfect a 0ppm.

Nitrite: is a chemical that is broken down, by bacteria added into the tank, into nitrogen in which the plants can use in their natural nitrogen cycle. When the nitrite levels get too high and the bacteria cant break it down it becomes hazardous to the fish. These levels, like ammonia, need to stay between 0-.25ppm. When tested ours came out to be a perfect 0ppm.

Chlorine: This chemical is used in our tap water to clean and purify but it proves hazardous to fish and will pretty much kill any aquatic life that is subject to it for too long. All chlorine levels need to be situated at zero for a healthy aquarium habitat. So anytim tap water is added DECHLORINATE!!!!!!!

I hope this info porves to be helpfule in your own tank adventures!

-Rick Rocks

Sunburst Platy

Today I thought that I would give a little insight into a type of fish our group has living in our aquarium. The fish that i want to tell you about is the Sunburst Platy. The platy is a freshwater tropical fish that lives off of a diet of flakes and grows to a maximum size of 3". It is a great fish for begging aquarist, it is a middle swimming fish that needs a 10+ gallon tank that is moderately planted with the temp sitting between 72 and 82 degrees. Platies are attractive, hardy fish that come in a variety of colorations and color patterns. Platies are an active, peaceful, schooling fish that mix well with other community fish. One of the most fascinating features of platies is that they are a livebearing species, meaning they give birth to free-swimming offspring.

It is sometimes difficult to tell when your female platy is pregnant. This is because not all female platys have a gravid spot. In the females that do have a gravid spot it tends to get larger as the fry grow larger.

Platy fry are born fully developed in approximately four weeks. There is no parental care of the fry. The parents may eat the fry and so it is best to separate the fry from the adults if you want them all to survive.

If you are unable to keep the fry separate, having lots of hornwort in your tank (both floating and planted) will help to protect the fry. I chose this fish to tell you about because it is my favortie fish in the tank because of its vibrant yellow color. I hope you found this bit of info interesting.

Thanks for reading,

Chris Chlorine

Fish Are Friends Not Food

This passed week our group set up our fish tank/habitat. After picking out our tank we washed off the rocks that would go into the bottom, and we also added a decorative log. We then filled up the tank with water adding decholrinator and bacterial suppliment to make the water safe for aquatic life. Putting the filter and the bubbler was the next step to help keep the water clean and oxygenized.In order to create a  base line for the ammonia and nitrate levels in our tank we tested those levels using a testing kit.

Now that the fish tank was set up memebers of the group were sent to retrieve fish and plants. Our teacher also provided us with pennywort a fast growing floating plant so the group can monitor its growth rate. The fish that we have present in our tank are gold fish and a black variety, we also have a sucker fish and a black and white fish that the pet store informed us was pregnant. So with the fish we are adding a capful of bacteria everyday and monitioring all or ammonia levels to keep  a healthy habitat for our friends!