may 24th

May 23rd

Over time i have realized that our ecosystem can gather and collect bacteria in a matter of weeks very easily. The algae on the tank glass on the side started out little and then after a while it became bigger. I also noticed that sometimes the fish can have different attitudes and act differently then they have the day before. Its almost like they might have 'clicks'. Some day they would be swimming at the top of the tank and then others they would all be grouped up in one of the corners or they even all would sometimes swim at the bottom with a few stragglers swimming at the top. The plants i also noticed over time had grow and filled up the aquarium a lot more then it was in the beginning. I remember at first the ship that is in the back of the tank was really noticeable and was in plain view. Now the front aquatic plants are covering it for being in the view just by looking straight on.

May 22nd

During this project i learned that there is a lot more work into owning an aquarium then i thought. Many things i learned by experience start off with the water quality checks. I had no idea that there were things you had to test for in an aquarium in order to keep the fish alive. The ammonia and nitrate test were something i didn't understand at first but after a while i understood the process and what it was for. I also understood the process of changing the water and having to use the cyphon. In the water change i also realized after several times of doing water changes and not seeing the nitrate go down that sometimes it is needed to pick up the rocks because the food and fish waste can get under there and never get clean. I also realized that when doing a water change in a big tank to make sure that the water level for the filter at the bottom is filled up also to a certain line so the tank is not running dry. Next year i think the students that get assigned the bigger tanks should be allowed more time to clean out the tank because i found that this year with all the amount of work that the tanks needs to be done we didn't have enough time to change the water as much as we needed to.

may 21st

Our aquarium has remained constant through out our project. At the beggining the nitrate and ammonia was high but we fixed by changing the water. Our water quality was really good for a while because we were given more time to take care of our tank while everyone was setting up. As we continued the project we became busier and class and werent able to do as many water changes so the nitrate levels were starting to rise so we tried to do more water changes.Our fishes behavior also changed i could tell, kind of like humans. Some days they would be really energetic and other days they would be more mellow and linger around the bottom of the tank. The shrimp always lingered at the bottom and always seemed to mind there own business.

May 20th

An invasive plant is a plant that is not native to area it lives in now. Usually is from another country and creates problems in the area it was accidently introduced to. An Emergent plant that was introuduced in texas is Alligator weed. Its orgin was South America and its problem for us is that it is aggresive and mat forming. It also impedes navigationa and displaces native vegitation. Its stems are thick and green and has a white flower bud at the stop of the stem.


A free floating invasive plant is Giant Salvania which also orginitated from South America. The most common description for this weed is that it looks like lettuce. Hinting from the nickname "plant from hell" Giant salvania creates a lot of problems. It reduces the oxygen level, negatively affects water quality and habitat and they are impossible to remove from the pond.


Hydrilla is a completely submersed weed that is tall and can grow under 1% light. They can also double overnight and can grown more than an inch a day. They aalso shades out desirable native vegetation and impade naviagtion.

May 17th

Water quality has been a big part of our aquarium project this semester. When we first started i had no idea what water quality test involved or what procedures to do. Then my teachers explained the steps about the nitrate and amonnia tests. Then told us to do the basics which include temperature. At the beggining the test results were horrible so we realized we had to change the water so the nitrate level would go down. Then after the water was changed the water quality continued to get better. Until after a while the nitrate level went back up and there was another need for a water changed. I realized that haveing a big tank takes a lot of water changes and a lot of work.

May 16th

In my aquarium the test results for water quality have remained constant for the past few weeks. The results have been pretty decent although our nitrate level could do better.  Our ammonia level stayed at 0 and the temperature also remained the same at 25 degree celcius and 78 degree farenheit. The fish in our tank are also doing really well. Most of the time the fish will be swimming at the top and space out. Then other days the fish will all be swimming towards the bottom of the tank. Sometimes it will look like the fish have groups because the same fish will hangout together. 

May 15th

If there is a self sustaining ecosystem it will be an ecosystem that has all features of life. There needs to be producers, decomposers and  consumers.  Also everything in this ecosystem is able to live off each other and can live commonly in one place. The best thing about a self sustaining ecosystem is having a good nitrogen cycle. Our aquariums aren't self sustaining because we have to clean the tank and we also have motorized filters that help to also clean the tank. And we also feed them with fish food unlike in the wild.

May 14th

The nitrogen cycle is when the plants photosynthesize during the day and produce oxygen that then the fish breathe producing carbon dioxide for the plants to repeat the same process. During the night the carbon dioxide levels are high because the plants aren't able to photosynthesize because the sun is not out so the fish are using up all the oxygen and leaving carbon dioxide. Then there is bacteria that helps to. If we did not have all the components to the nitrogen cycle it would not work the same and eventually the fish and plant population would decrease.

May 13th

The water quality for my tank in class compared to a lake is defiantly a lot better. In a lake there is so much more bacteria and much more organisms that. In my tank the water is from the tap which has been filtered out and most of the bacteria has all been removed. The same thing for a river although it is going to have less bacteria then the lake it still will have more then my tank. The oxygen level will defiantly be higher though because it is moving water.

May 9th

When using a dichotomous key you begin at the top of the page starting at number one. While looking at the organism you are studying you compare its characteristics to the description in the first statement with two options. For example most start out asking if it will have color or if it wont have color. Then which ever one matches it will tell you the number to go to with two more options and this pattern continues until you come to a name with the exact descriptions. When creating our own key in class we started out the way most do by color. Then we classified the bacteria into two different groups and continued to narrow them down and create specific descriptions for all until it was narrowed down to the name. The only problems we had was trying to find enough differences to separate them enough to be noticed. We solved this problem by referring back to the notes we took in class about each bacteria that way we could have more detailed descriptions narrowing each one down specifically.

May 8th

When performing a water quality test there are three different tests you must perform. The first one is the nitrate test. This is where you put the aquarium water in a test tube and with the nitrate testing kit. With the first nitrate bottle you pour 8 drops into the test tube. Then with the second bottle you also put 8 drops and then slowly mix them together by swirling the test tube. After this you will compare the results of the color of the test tube to the test results on the sheet provided. You repeat these same steps with the ammonia test but instead of 8 drops you use 10 drops and wait 5 minutes after mixing both bottles to compare the test results. Then lastly you test the temperature by placing a thermometer in the tank and recording the results.

may 7th

Dissolved oxygen comes from two sources. These two sources are from plants and also from the atmosphere. The way the cycle works is during the day the plants produce oxygen so the O2 level is high and then during the night the CO2 level is high because the fish use the oxygen that the plants produced during the day and release back CO2. And since the sun is not out the palnts are unable to turn the CO2 into oxygen.

May 6th

Dissolved oxygen is the amount of dissolved or combined oxygen in a concentrated amount of water. To perform a dissolved oxygen test there is a dissolved oxygen test kit that you can buy that contains a good amount of test. The first thing to do is fill the glass test tube up with water from your tank. Then break the end off the glass test tube in the bottom of the small beaker provided. Then wait two minutes so the water can fully process and then compare the color to the levels provided in the kit. The level should not be below 3.

May 2nd

One of the fish we have in our tank is a goldfish. The goldfish we have is very bright in color and is very active. One reason most goldfish die is because the owners are not taking care of the tank properly. Then there is the lack of nutrition most people feed there goldfish a regular flake pellet but what they are lacking is feeding them protein as well. Most goldfish only live for a year because of poor maintenance but the truth is if they are capable of living up to 5 to 12 years.





Another fish we have in our tank is the ghost shrimp. Normally they should live in a tank that has 10 or more gallons of water.  The water temperature should be around 65 to 80 degrees. The shrimp can harass each other so it is recommended that there is 1 per gallon of water in the tank. Since they are scavengers they will eat mostly anything in the tank but also can eat pellet food. They are good for tanks because they clean up leftover food and help keep the tank clean.

May 3rd

The five components of an aqua check are free chlorine, total chlorine, total hardness, total alkalinity and PH. Free chlorine is the amount of chlorine available to kill algae and bacteria. Total chlorine is the total amount of chlorine in the water, that combines free chlorine and combined chlorine. Total harness is water with a large amount of minerals in the water. Total alkalinity is measuring the amount of acid in the water. Ph balance is whether the water is acidic or alkaline. Most fish can not survive in aquariums with a ph balance below 5 and above 9.

In aqua check test results my most recent tests show that free chlorine and total chlorine level is perfect because both are at 0. This i good because chlorine is not wanted in aquariums. The total hardness of my water is 250ppm which is average and the same as everyone elses in my class because we all used water from the tap. My total alkalinity is 180ppm which is pretty average so that is alright. Then there is my ph for the tank which measured to be 7.8. This is also a good test result because it is above 5 but also below 9.

May 1st

The field trip experience that we had was a lot of fun. The aquarium was alot more rainforest and environment then i was expecting there to be but there was still a lot of fish to explore. The things i learned on the field trip were that sloths can eat upside down, also there is the fish that you cant see its body and there is a little light at the front you can see. THe largest living arthropod is the Japanese spider crab. ALso the Arrau turtles live in the main rivers of the Orinico and Amazon basins during the dry season and then move to flood plains when its rainy. Lastly the electric eel is actually powerful enough to produce electric shocks. I loved also going to the speggatti warehouse with everyone. The worst part of the field trip was that a bird pooped on my head. But my over all experience was a lot of fun.

April 30th

Our aquarium in class is continuing to do awesome! When we checked for water quality the Nitrate did go up a little though which is because we need to clean out the dirt at the bottom of the tank again. We noticed that algae is starting to grow again at the bottom of the tank. The water is still very clear and  the ammonia is still at 0 ppm but we need to clean the tank so the nitrate will go down. The fish are also doing very well they eat regularly and are still very active in the tank. We will need to clean out the tank soon in order to get the nitrate level down and that will make the tank clean and perfect again.

April 29th

The purpose of the pollution index chart is to know the quality of the water we have in our lakes and other water sources. By knowing what type of pollution is in our water we are able to find the source and can then go and try to stop it to make our water better. If we dont test the organic pollution we could have alot of algae in our water that will make us sick.