Ammonia/Nitrate Level

October 18—Create a line graph for your ammonia and nitrate data.  Label the x axis “days” and the y axis “parts per million” and number appropriately.  Use a different color line for each test and provide a key.  Interpret your data.  

I didn't keep up with all of my ammonia and nitrate data, the days we tested it, I lost my chart that we originally created because it wasn't ever turned back into me with the journal check.. 
Heres an example of how it should be though I guess. 

Changes Observed

October 17—What changes have you observed in your ecosystem over time?  This includes water quality, plant and algae growth, fish and other organisms.  Be sure to include a picture of your ecosystem.

Over the time of having my fish tank, I have observed a lot of changes. The water quality has gone back and forth on the nitrate, from testing perfectly, to testing very badly, but all of the fish seemed to waver through and all were very healthy. The plants grew very well, had a few leaves that needed to be pruned off, but overall stayed a very bright green color and became longer. The fish grew bigger bellies, feeding well, all worked together, no aggression or territorial problems, worked well as a community together and all ate the same types of food, they grew in size a little bit over the time that I kept them. I didn't really notice any growth of algae anywhere. The AquaCheck was similar the second time, to the very first time we checked it when the tank was set up. Besides that, no other notable changes were really made.

What Have I learned?

October 16—What have you learned from the aquarium project?  List at least five educational things that you learned.  BE SPECIFIC. How would you change this project for next year?
 
I have learned from the aquarium project:
- The importance of keeping track of everyday changes in a tank
- The importance of nitrate and ammonia levels and the roles they play on the fish
- How the nitrogen cycle works in an aquarium and how easily it can be disrupted
- The role each plant, animal and bacteria plays in the nitrogen cycle and the importance of each role being fulfilled.
- The types of plants that are appropriate for aquariums, what type of fish can live together safely
- Adding bacterial supplements in, instead of just a dechlorinator alone
- Tracking progression of plant growth and fish behavior

Next year, I would be more strict about getting a fish on time, some people took halfway through the class to even add a fish to their tank. I would not allow the super small tanks, each tank should have a filter or bubbler of some sort and be able to actually watch and track more than just a small tank allows. I would allow other aquatic animals other than fish, more turtles, frogs, salamanders, toads, newts, crabs, interesting things like that so that people can experience more than just fish, but besides that, It is a very great project and allows people to learn more about raising a fish tank for people who don't really know what goes into it. 

Aquarium Update

October 15— Update me on your bottle/aquarium.  Refer to your observations and BE SPECIFIC.  What were your water quality test results?  What do these results mean?  What changes have you made to your aquarium as a result? 

 

The only thing new with the aquarium is that the nitrate has raised significantly, ammonia still proceeds to be pretty fine. Just adding in a bacterial supplement every other week, or as needed seems to control the nitrate from rising too high. No other changes have been made, no water changes at all, just refills when necessary. This is the last update of my aquarium, it will be taken down as of 10/21/13 and taking all of my fish and frogs home, plants as well. I contribute the nitrate levels to the plants needed to have the dead ends pruned, and possibly the frogs if I do more research into it. I also believe the frogs make the ammonia waver back and forth. Everything else is well. No guppy babies yet, frogs are very full, fat and happy, very active. Fish are still eating very well. Hopefully they will be okay with moving to a new habitat.

Nitrate was at a 40~

Ammonia was at a 0~

Temperature was at a 76 degrees Fahrenheit 

Invasive Species

October 14—What make a plant “invasive?”  Choose one emergent, one submergent and one floating plant that are considered invasive in Texas.  Provide a picture, brief physical description, and explanation of the problems caused by each.  Why aren’t these plants a concern in their native areas?

Characteristics of an "invasive" plant -

• Produce abundant viable seeds. 
• Produce seeds that germinate and leaves that leaf out early in the spring, and they keep their leaves late into the fall, allowing them to photosynthesize earlier and later than native plants. 
• Have few pests or diseases. 
• May produce chemicals that make it difficult for other plants to grow nearby.
• Invade a wide variety of soil types, moisture regimes and light conditions. Invasives are typically generalists and can be difficult to kill.
• Often produce monocultures over large areas so few other species can reproduce and grow.

Reproduce both sexually and asexually, making it easier for them to spread far and wide.

Common Water Hyacinth 

• Aquatic plant that floats on water
• Thick, shiny, bright green, kidney-shaped 
• leaves; 1-5” in width

Water Hyacinth can double its biomass within a month at optimum temperatures. The combination of floating mats and rapid growth of Water Hyacinth can clog waterways, reduce water flow, impede boat traffic, interfere with hydroelectric power generation, and outcompete native plant communities.

Eurasian Watermilfoil 

• Rooted, submersed, aquatic plant
• Grows in 3-10’ of water
• Grayish-green leaves in whorls around stem
• Feathery appearance

In nutrient-rich lakes it can form thick underwater stands of tangled stems and vast mats of vegetation at the water's surface. In shallow areas the plant can interfere with water recreation such as boating, fishing, and swimming. The plant's floating canopy can also crowd out important native water plants.  single segment of stem and leaves can take root and form a new colony. Fragments clinging to boats and trailers can spread the plant from lake to lake. The mechanical clearing of aquatic plants for beaches, docks, and landings creates thousands of new stem fragments. 

In native areas, these invasive species are not a problem because there is natural competition going on, there are either fish, bacteria, or other things that make sure that these populations do not spread and invade the other things living in the ecosystem. But when these invasive species are entered into a non-native area, there is no competition or ability to drive it away and keep it from spreading so wildly like it is designed to do, therefore it becomes an invasive species and becomes out of control is some cases. 

Water Quality Successes and Problems

October 11— What have you learned about water quality in your ecosystem?  Tell me about your problems and successes with water quality.

I have learned the testing the water quality in an aquarium's ecosystem is very important to create balance. A balanced ecosystem is critical to the health and the survival of my fish and it's a very important cycle that needs to be tracked to ensure the best results possible. Cycling can actually take 4 to 6 weeks to complete though. My problems and success with water quality, I have more problems than successes probably. I constantly have high nitrate levels, and the ammonia fluctuates here and there. I never have any problem with temperature though. My fish are very healthy and plump and active but I believe the dead plant material in the bottom and stuff creates a higher nitrate level than desired. I need to syphon out the bottom, prune my plants back and make sure that there is no decay in there and see if that fixes my problem. Or if I wanted to, just continually add bacterial supplement every week to keep a healthy cycle going, which seems to be working pretty fine. Also the filter cartridge should possibly be changed, it is very filthy! 

Aquarium Update

October 10— Update me on your bottle/aquarium.  Refer to your observations and BE SPECIFIC.  What were your water quality test results?  What do these results mean?  What changes have you made to your aquarium as a result? 

My temperature was 76 degrees, my nitrate tested at a 40, and ammonia is at a .50-1.0, I added in more bacterial supplement, added more water into the tank, The tests aren't coming out great but they are still sustainable to my fish. I still haven't decided about taking the plants out or not, they don't seem to be improving still but they don't seem to be worsening. Fish are very active, they have realized the feeding schedule and are very excited in the morning when the lid is opened. No guppy babies at all yet, still waiting. I don't notice any breeding between the sword tails. Frogs seem happy as ever and are getting plump little bellies. I have been feeding them all mostly blood worms, but I switch to regular tropical fish flakes sometimes too. They are eating every day, small amounts through the classroom period. They only have light on for about an hour and a half though instead of 8 hours like they probably should have. Nothing much really to ever report about the tank, just a back and forth battle between trying to balance out the levels. I am very pleased with how well my fish are getting along. Everything is smooth.

Self-Sustaining Ecosystems

October 9—If we say an ecosystem is self-sustaining, what do we mean?  Does this term describe your aquarium?  Explain your answer.  If it is not self-sustaining, what does it need to become independent?


This photo is of a self-sustaining ecosystem that has been kept alive for 40 years without any human intervention at all.


If an ecosystem is self-sustaining, it just means that it can take care of itself - no human intervention is needed to keep it going. An example could be a pond, river, lake, that is not regularly maintained by humans for feeding or cleaning. 

My aquarium cannot be described as self-sustaining because it is not naturally set up, the fish that I have need to be fed regularly and if the tank were to be left alone for a long time without any bacterial supplements or regular water changes and refills, the water level would become too low and the ammonia/nitrate levels would become too high to sustain any life. 

For my aquarium to become self-sustaining, it would need an automatic feeder for the fish, or something that could be a producer of food for the fish and frogs to live off of, there would also need to be an automatic water refill so that the water levels did not drain out or evaporate. 

Nitrogen Cycle

October 8—Explain in detail the nitrogen cycle and how the animals, plants and bacteria in your ecosystem participate in it.  Is it possible to have a functioning ecosystem without one of these components (plants, animals, bacteria?)  Explain.

The Nitrogen Cycle is the biological process of ammonia (NH3) being converted to nitrite (NO2), and then the nitrite is converted to nitrate (NO3).

Most living animals or fish produce waste, creating ammonia in the tank. The ammonia is turned into nitrite as it decomposes and converts to nitrates that are used by the plants to complete photosynthesis and then releases oxygen into the aquarium. It is not possible to have a functioning ecosystem without one of those components, there has to be a bacteria source to keep everything in check. Without that, the ammonia would rise too high and the fish can become sickly because the water would not be truly going through any form of cycle. 

Aquarium vs. Lake Water Quality

October 7— How do you think your ecosystem’s water quality compares to water quality in a lake.  Explain.  How would it compare to water quality in a river?

The water quality of the lake we tested had a temperature of 64 degrees fahrenheit, a level of 0 nitrate, 0.25 of ammonia, dissolved oxygen was an 8, total chlorine was 0, free chlorine was 0, hardness was 425, alkalinity was 120 and pH was a 6.2

My water quality test results as of 9/4/13 are:
Free Chlorine: 0
Total Chlorine: 0
Total Hardness: 7/120
Total Alkalinity: 240
pH: 8.4
Nitrate: 0ppm
Ammonia: .25ppm 
Temperature: 25 degrees Celsius, 76 Degrees Fahrenheit
Dissolved Oxygen: 8

Overall the difference of my ecosystems water quality compared to a lake, there are some very notable differences. The temperature is much warmer inside, the pH is much higher for my tank, as well as the alkalinity. The water hardness was much lower and the ammonia levels and dissolved oxygen were about the same.  

In a river I would expect the dissolved oxygen to be much greater than 8, possibly more in the 10 or 12 range, the temperature would be warmer, probably more closer to a neutral pH level, no chlorine, so almost a mixture of both my ecosystem and a lake ecosystem. 

Aquarium Update

October 4—Update me on your bottle/aquarium.  Refer to your observations and BE SPECIFIC.  What were your water quality test results?  What do these results mean?  What changes have you made to your aquarium as a result? 

As of 9/30/13, The Ammonia test was at a 0 ppm, and the Nitrates were at a 40 ppm. Temperature is at a constant 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Fish are alert and active as always, the Male guppy chases the female a little bit, but for mating, doesn't seem to be in an aggressive way. I added more bacterial supplement in to improve the nitrate levels but it could be from the dying plant material most likely, needs to be removed soon possibly. Fish are eating in small feedings, I feed them little by little over the course of first period, instead of all at once, so they have a chance to eat. Guppies have small stomachs and can't eat a lot all at once. As of 10/4, the water is running somewhat low again, needs to be added more when we return to school. Everything else seems to be going well, nothing really new to add. Very well running tank.

Dichotomous Key

October 3—Explain how to correctly use a dichotomous key.  What is its purpose?  How did you go about creating your own algae dichotomous key in class?  What problems did you encounter, and how did you solve them?

 A dichotomous key is usually a written device constructed from a series of highly organized statements arranged into couplets. A couplet consists of (typically) two descriptions which should represent mutually exclusive choices (often it is a particular combination of characteristics that determines the difference). Both choices are read and compared with the specimen to be identified. Once a decision is made, that selection directs you to another couplet (either the next in order or one further on in the key), and this process is repeated until a conclusion (successful identification) is reached.


The purpose of a dichotomous key is to take an organism and make note of its features and then look at a dichotomous key to identify what species it is based on its features. 

For creating our our dichotomous key in class, we took algaes and grouped them based on smells, colors, shapes, cell numbers, things like that.

The only problem we encountered was when there was a similar algae that had the same quality in both, we had to change it and make the feature more vague instead of so descriptive. 

Water Quality Assessment Steps

October 2—What is the first step you would take when assessing the water quality of a body of water?  In order, tell me what other steps you would take.  What are the reasons for the steps being done in this particular order?  How would organisms living on or around the water factor into your assessment?


Steps of evalutating a water body:
- Evaluate the site by observation, look for any sewer running into the water or dumping going on.
- Capture and Idetify algae and insecets
- Test the pH, ammonia, temperature, dissolved oxygen, nitrie and nitrate levels.
- Run a panel of chemical tests

The reason for doing these steps in order is to save time and money, definitive tests are very expensive and you don't want to have to call in specialists to consult a problem if it is something very simple like needed to add more bacterial supplement or add in more plants. 

Organisms living around or in the water play a role because certain algaes are indications of clean water or polluted water. Amphibians are also factors that tell you that the water is clean. 

Dissolved Oxygen Pt. 2

October 1—List two sources of dissolved oxygen.  Explain the cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide in an aquatic ecosystem.  How does time of day affect the amount of dissolved oxygen?

Dissolved oxygen comes from contact with the atmosphere and plants.
Plants and other producers use carbon dioxide in photosynthesis. They produce oxygen as a waste product. Carbon dioxide moves from the air into the leaves of plants. Oxygen moves from the 
plant into the air through the leaves. 

The amount of dissolved oxygen is dependent on the plants photosynethesis cycle, dissolved oxygen is highest during the day because the sun gives energy to the plants to complete photosynthesis and create dissolved oxygen. At night, photosynthesis is ceased and the level of dissolved oxygen decreases, and the cycle repeats.