For these past three months we have been observing and changing tank 9(A1) while beginning our red mangrove project. Everyday daily observations and notes are written about our tank 9(A1) and recorded in a black binder, located next to the tank. Over the course of November and December our tank was exploding with red algae. We tried doing several water changes to remove the red algae, but the red algae still over grew throughout the tank. Chemical water tests were also taken to see if the chemical and nutritional balance of the tank might have caused the red algae bloom, yet nothing unusual was appearing from our water tests. Eventually we removed the red algae along with the halameda it was growing on top of. This removal solution finally solved our red algae problem. Later in January, new fish and aquatic plants arrived and were distributed among different tanks. Our tank received one brittle star, some shaving brush algae, new halameda, three peppermint shrimp, one emerald crab, and some more snails. These new additions have made our tank more aesthetically pleasing and exciting. Finally having something new to make daily observations on was great.
Aside from daily observations we also started our red mangrove project, as it is described in our Proposal. We started by taking our four reaming baby mangroves and carefully removing them from the sump tank were they had been stationed before. After removing the baby red mangroves we placed them into a bucked that had been filled with large live rocks, to give the baby mangroves roots a place to attach. We placed the mangroves inside the bucked and filled the bucked with the water from the sump by using the pitcher. The salinity of the water was 1.022 and the temperature was 77 degrees. From here we will let the red mangroves grow for a week and then use new buckets with different ecosystems and different water salinities to observe in which enviroment baby red mangroves thrive the most. Overall our project has just begun, yet it will progress very quickly throughout the remainder of the school year.
Aside from daily observations we also started our red mangrove project, as it is described in our Proposal. We started by taking our four reaming baby mangroves and carefully removing them from the sump tank were they had been stationed before. After removing the baby red mangroves we placed them into a bucked that had been filled with large live rocks, to give the baby mangroves roots a place to attach. We placed the mangroves inside the bucked and filled the bucked with the water from the sump by using the pitcher. The salinity of the water was 1.022 and the temperature was 77 degrees. From here we will let the red mangroves grow for a week and then use new buckets with different ecosystems and different water salinities to observe in which enviroment baby red mangroves thrive the most. Overall our project has just begun, yet it will progress very quickly throughout the remainder of the school year.