Observations for 5/18/2010

Mr. Hanson claims that the quality of our water is very good. D'Rhal was a happy little camper and he swam merrily about his aquarium. Our grass was growing well and there was a great deal of condensation clinging to the plastic in out terrestrial layer. There were some fruit flies in there as well that were buzzing about in our column. There wasn't much of a visible difference in the so far apperance of the decomposing material. Overal, looking like we're doing a good job with our aquarium.

5/27 D'Rhal dies... =,(

I know it's late to post, but on the morning of May 27th, 2010, we found D'Rhal to be dead. Sadly, at the time, we did not have the opportunity to mourn his loss, as we were taking a very important test at school. It was not until the 8th of June that we were actually able to take care of his remains. Though he is gone, we know that his death was not without purpose. D'Rhal died in the name of Science and the experiment must go on(even though it's over now...).

Procedure

1. Cut bottles according to diagram.

2. Using the Heated needle, poke about 4 holes in each bottle cap.

3. Fill each of the tiers with their respective materials ( the lowest with the pebbles, aquatic plant, water and fish. the middle with the material to be decomposed, worm and perhaps a spider included. In the uppermost tier, include the soil and grass seed)

4. Construct the eco column according to the diagram and include "doors" to open and feed your fish and to perform tests on the water. The string is used to pull the doors open.

5. Tape all of the peices together to ensure that water will not leak out and that fruit flies cannot get in. this will also make it much easier to carry, although I doubt you'd be taking it many places.

6. With the eco column completed, you need to feed the fish and every 2 days or so

7. Test the water for temperature, pH, DO, Turbidity, Nitrate and Ammonium levels about once a week.

8. After testing, add about the same amount of water that you took back into the ecosystem to water your plants and refill your aquarium. Pour the water into the opening at the top. It will reach your fish eventually.

Materials

Four 2-liter, clear, plastic bottles with caps
Grass Seeds
Decomposition material (spider, ferns, leaves, etc.)
Soil
2/3 liter H2O
Aquarium Gravel
Clear Packing Tape
String
1 Goldfish
Fishfood
Aquatic plant
Coffee filters, two
Razor blade
scissors
heated needle

Purpose

II. Purpose:

The purpose is to create three ecosystems in one column and monitor each of the factors that keep the system alive. We'd also like to be able to keep our fish alive long enough to be able to take it home.

Testing

To keep track of the health of our ecosystem, we will be measuring:

Turbidity
Temperature
pH
Nitrates
Ammonia
Dissolved Oxygen

Introduction

I. Introduction:


The 3-tiered Eco-column is designed to simulate an environment where creatures live. It is a controlled system which we have created in order to attempt to keep a fish, D'Rhal, alive. We have basically 3 layers on our column, not counting the uppermost tier which is used only to regulate the amount of water that is allowed in. In the 2nd tier we have a terrestrial layer which contains a layer of soil and hopefully soon, a good amount of grass growth. The 3rd tier will be used as a decomposition layer. In it we have some soil, dead leaves and grass clippings. The only living creature is, hopefully, a worm who will help speed up the decomposition process. Finally, in our lowest tier we have D'Rhal, the fish. In his little aquatic environment we've included pebbles at the bottom which have hopefully accumulated enough bacteria to help clean D'Rhal's water to ensure his survival. There is also an aquatic plant with D'Rhal to provide him with oxygen and to take away the carbon dioxide that D'Rhal breathes out. And, of course, there is the fish. Thus is our aquarium layer and the completed eco-column.


What we're trying to get out of doing this project is to learn how the natural filtering system works in an actual ecosystem. We didn't use a hypothesis for this project because it's not exactly an expirament, but a study of life. At the end of our project we expect our grass to be grown very tall, probably filling the entire tier it's on. I don't expect the decomp layer to be greatly changed. If anything, it'll start to look more like soil. And we're hoping not to have a dead fish but's a possibility, in some somewhat cloudy water.