May 24-Graph

The only steep rise we had in nitrate was between 4/18 and 4/22 when one of our fish died. Then at the end it rose to 80 ppm. The ammonia rose to 1.00 ppm but we added pondzyme and fixed the problem.

May 23-Changes Over Time

Our ecosystem has changed over time because when we started the tank was fairly dirty, and the rocks on the bottom needed to be cleaned, and the water was a little cloudy. After we conducted a partial water change, cleaned the sides of the tank with a sponge, and siphoned the rocks, the water quality was better. In four days, after one of our fish died, the nitrate level rose from 5 ppm to 160 ppm, so we had to do another partial water change which fixed that problem quickly. Our nitrate rose and fell, but never again went to an uncontrollable unhealthy level for the fish. The ammonia did rise to a bad level at one point, but we added some pondzyme and it went back down to 0 ppm. Our plants stayed the same throughout the time we had the aquarium, and the baby mollies grew throughout.

May 22-Things I have learned

Things I have learned:
1. Nitrate can be deadly to fish if not controlled.
2. It is better to feed fish every other day instead of every day so they are not overfed.
3. Nitrate levels will go up alot when fish die.
4. Partial water changes should be done regularly to keep fish healthy.
5. Water has to be dechlorinated before the fish are put in or it will be deadly to the fish.

For next year, I don't think anything about the project needs to be changed. I think it was good that it was an interactive project that lasted a lot of the year, and we did all of the different tests and learned many different things.

May 21st-Aquarium Update

The aquarium is going well. The nitrate level did go up this week to 80 ppm which is above the acceptable level, so we are going to have to do a water change on Friday to fix it. These higher levels of nitrate might be affecting the fish, as they have been sluggish lately and a little less excited and active than they normally are. The temperature of the water stayed at 69 degrees Fahrenheit and 21 degrees Celsius which is good, and the ammonia was at .25 ppm which was also a good level, so we will not have to make any changes for that.

May 20th-Invasive Plants

Invasive plants are plants that can completely take over an ecosystem in a harmful way.

Floating: Water Lettuce

Water lettuce is makes a rosette of gray-green leaves. It can impede navigation and affect habitat.

Emergent: Aligatorweed

The aligatorweed is an aggressive, mat forming perennial with a white flower on a stem. It can impede navigation and displace native vegetation.

Submergent: Eurasian Watermilfoil

The Eurasian Watermilfoil has a red stem when it is actively growing and just has a stem with leafy strands. It can impede navigation and shade out native vegetation.

In native areas these plants are controlled by native organisms that will feed on them and control their levels.

May 17th-Water Quality in Aquarium

In our aquarium nitrate has definitely been the hardest part of water quality to control, because with a fish death that spiked up the nitrogen a lot, and the levels have been fluctuating since then. The hardest part about controlling the nitrate is that the only way to effectively make a quick change if the levels are very severe is a water change, which requires a lot of work if done properly. Our ammonia has stayed at a good level for the most part, and if it was bad it was an easy fix to just add in some pondzyme to get it back to a good level. The temperature of our water has stayed fairly constant, and our dissolved oxygen was good.

May 16th-Aquarium Update

The aquarium is still going well. We have not had another fish die. Our fish still seem very excited when we feed them, and the goldfish is always swimming around biting at rocks at the bottom or bubbles at the surface of the aquarium. Our nitrate level went down from 20 ppm to 5 ppm which is good, and our ammonia went from .25 ppm to 0 ppm which is good. Both of those levels have been fairly constant and at acceptable levels so we have not had to make any changes to our water to fix either of those levels.