Hi! Over these past few weeks, our group realized something very important as to why our water was cloudy. We were overfeeding our fish! The amount of fish food that we put into our tank was an over amount, that was causing the fish not to eat it, for the food to float down to the bottom of the tank, and cause algae to form in the tank from all the leftover food. Crazy right?
As for everything else, we've had a shocking discovery. The aquaponics plants are just.. not growing as well as we thought they would. They ARE growing, however, the tap water plants have seen significant amounts of growth in a shorter time period (1-2 weeks) than the aquaponics group. Nothing has changed about our tank, besides the amount of food being given, and the loss of only one fish. I'm surprised about the results and hopefully we can determine and conclude our hypothesis in just a few short weeks! Katie, Coralie, Marie FISH COUNT- 3/17 Alive- 6 Dead- 1 :)))
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On 2/15/17, we have lost our first fish, not Charlie, but as we'll call him... Fish #1. May he rest in peace. Now, how did this happen? Here's why:
Our ammonia levels went down to a stress level (roughly a 3.0), however, our nitrate levels soared to a dangerous level, and thus killed our first fish. As this happened, all of our group realized that we needed to clean the water tank, and quickly before the other fish died. So, we spent part of our class period and cleaned their tank, putting in fresh water (de-chlorinated of course), and made sure they were content with the system the fish live in. Please check our updates page if you would look to see the "In Memory Of" for our first fish, and the other ones who die during this experiment. Also, when you read these blog posts, you may notice that the oldest blog does not appear first. Our blogs go from most recent to least recent, so if you are looking for our older blogs, scroll down on this page and you will find them. Anyways, enjoy looking at our system so far and we'll post next week, so stay tuned! - Katie, Coralie, Marie FISH COUNT- 2/17/19 Dead- 1 Alive- 6 :()))) So over the past few days, our nitrate and nitrite levels have been between stress and normal levels (1.0-3.0). However, it's starting to increase, and very rapidly at that. What is going to happen to our fish? Will they die? Will they survive. Honestly, we have no answer at this point. Our ammonia levels have been relatively steady (at 5.0, which we know isn't great). We have a small air pump that is constantly putting air into the tank (we mean a 24/7 basis), and it has not run into a lot of problems, except when the air tube bent and stopped putting in air. We're not sure what;s going to happen these next few weeks with our project. So far, our aquaponics group has not been growing as well as the control group has, which is very unexpected. We thought that the fish would produce enough waste to provide great growth nutrients for our plants, but so far, it looks like we're wrong.
Our fish seem to be doing.. actually great! Charlie is well and healthy, and all of his fish buddies are also doing well. Let's hope this keeps up... We really hope so. -Katie, Coralie, Marie 2/09- FISH COUNT Alive- 7 Dead- 0 Yes, yes; you read the title right! We still have 7 fish (somehow)! Charlie is alive and well, as are all the others. However, our chemical levels are still relatively high. Our ammonia levels are still at a harmful to danger level, which is about 3.0 to 6.0. Nitrate, nitrite, pH have remained at consistent level throughout this experiment, which might be a good sign? I'm not sure yet. Our water has become slightly murky, probably because of the fish waste. The fish don't seem to mind that they're swimming in their own poop.
This week, we installed an air pump! The air pump circulates water in our tank to make sure that the water is clean enough for the fish to survive in. And so far, it seems to be doing its job! Thank goodness. Our goal is to keep all fish alive to the end of March/ beginning of April, once the experiment ends. Our plants also haven't been growing as quickly as we thought they would. In fact, they have barely sprouted. The good news is, we know that they aren't dead since we have seen little sprouts starting to come up from the little pots they grow in. Our group is hoping that these plants might be good enough to eat once the experiment is done. Also, Charlie is the only named fish. We've decided only him since he is a very special fish, and if Charlie does end up perishing before the experiment has ended, we will not be naming another fish Charlie after the deceased. Charlie is the runt, he is very, very special. Our plants also haven't been growing as quickly as we thought they would. We will post weekly pictures of our aquaponics system, so stay tuned! Katie, Coralie, Marie 2/02- FISH COUNT Alive- 7 Dead- 0 :)) Hello, hello! It's us again. How have you been? It's been okay for us.
Good news: no fish are dead! How great is that?! Bad news: Our project had to be re-set up. :( Here's what happened. We couldn't find the right tubing, and our plants from not being watered actually started to grow mold on them. I'm not exactly sure how that happens, but it happened. So, we have 0 plants up right now, which is a super bummer. However, one of our lovely group members has kindly gone back and helped us fix all of our problems; the tupperware, the plants, the drainage, and mainly everything that has to do with plant growth was fixed by her. (Just a shoutout to her 'cause she is super awesome :)). Another thing. Our pH, our nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels.. Not good. In fact, they aren't good at all. Probably because we haven't been circulating water. Oops. But hey, the fish are alive; I think that's what counts. Next week, we'll post a picture of our complete set up. It'll look awesome, I can guarantee it. I think that's all for now. See you next week! (Check out the charts below for our levels initially and currently)! -Katie, Coralie, Marie 1/27- FISH COUNT Alive- 7 Dead- 0 :))) Hi everyone! Our group is Charlie the Fish, and we are super excited to be doing this experiment. Already however, we've noticed massive problems with our aquaponics system like how to set it up right and how to keep our lovely seven fish from dying. It's a scary thing, you know, caring for animals that could die pretty easily. On this blog, we will keep a fish counter to count how many fish have survived and died each week (and hopefully not a lot will die). SO, with that being said, this is just a starting blog, so be on the look out from our group!
-Katie, Marie, Coralie 1/19- FISH COUNT Alive: 7 Dead: 0 :))))))) |
AuthorsCoralie Bergeron, Katie Hamilton, Marie Perivier |