Visual Obituary of the fish

Conclusion: Interactions of Abiotic Factors

The aboitic factors that were within our three leveled eco column were:

• The dcomosing material within the decomp chamber.
• The rocks within the fish habitat.
• The soil within both the decomp and top soil chambers.

These abiotic factors within the eco column are essential to the flow of nutrients, therefore they would affect the data. Several trends were noticed in the data:

• As the decomp chamber decomposed, the pH of the water also rose. This could be attributed to dead flies that could decompose and fall into the fish chamber.
• Turbidity would be affected by the bits that fall down through the holes in the bottom of the decomp chamber, Turbidity did go from 0 to 41.3 in just 7 days.

Conclusion- comparioson to...

We compared ours to Sarah Metz's. Ours, I think overall did better. At first they had no grass growing because they made mud instead of soil and the grass only grew like 1 or 2 blades after a couple days ours grew much more. And our fish lived longer. I think some of the contributing factors would be the fish itself. Ours was much larger and seemed healthier than theirs when first transferred. also there is tank size and feeding, we definitely feed ours more. As for the grass when they first got the soil they way over watered it so it took the grass a week to grow. although for ours it was the opposite at times we found our soil very dry but it regardless grew more than theirs. as for the decomp. chamber I think ours did better because we had many fruit flies but also a flourishing spider that kept decomposition going by killing flies.

What we would do different if we had the chance to do it again.

If we could redo our eco-collum then we would make each section a little bit taller. Then we would have improved our decomp chamber by putting in some decomposting fruit along with one or two more spiders. Then we would put a cover over our grass chamber so water that evaperates get trapped and drop back down as water. A green house, per say. Then the last thing we would do, would be to increase the holes that the water uses to flow in between each chamber.

What is the most important thing we learned from this experiement

That we can not sustain life in an eco-column. But being serious, we learned that with the right quantitys and qualitys, life is possible to sustain in a self preserving eco-column. Along with a little added food here and there. We also learned how an ecosystem works at a much smaller scale.

problems/ errors, unexpected observations, and modifications

Now while doing this experiment we found that we never had problems or errors with our data and with conducting the tests. Now we did find a very peculiar, clear, substance floating on the entire surface of our aquerium chamber. We did not modify anything throughout our experiment.

Watering Patterns

Data Graph

Conclusion- Interactions

The interactions of the 3 different chambers observed were interesting. The uppermost chamber, the one with grass in it, seemed to exist all it's own as its health didn't seem to be affected at all with any changing conditions in the other 2 chambers. this could be because it is on the top and not much can leak up, besides gases and those didn't do any damage. It seemed only affected when it didn't get watered. The middle chamber, the decomposition chamber seemed to both help and hinder the bottom aquarium chamber because when the chamber would drip into the one below it it gave much needed bacteria that was needed to help decompose waste but later it became waste when there became too much bacteria in the water and it started to pollute the water. the grass helped to absorb gases given off by biotic processes.

Conclusion-biotic factors

The 2 biotic factors in the bottom level, the aquarium, were 2 aquatic plants and a goldfish. As the experiment was conducted it was obvious that the health of the fish and plants were declining. Based on the observations made of the browning and falling of of the plants' leaves and steams, also yellowing water and declining water quality based on Ammonium Nitrate and turbidity testing. This was confirmed when the fish itself died and the plants fully fell apart. Although another theory is that maybe the fish's death was caused by starvation, not getting feed for 4-5 days can do that to a fish. then the increased bacteria level due to the decaying fish could have caused further plant death and worsening water quality. The decomposition chamber however seemed to have flourished. With an immense increase in Fruit flies the small spider we put in the chamber, Mr.Chuckles, seemed to grow bigger, flourishing, and on the last day it looked like it had even layed a sack of eggs on the side of the chamber, although it had to be destroyed when the chamber was cleaned out. On the top level the grass itself did well. It was not super thick and abundant but it got very tall and grew very fast, when watered. At the end though, when we hadn't watered it for several days, the soil became dry and the grass appeared droopy. So overall it seems in order of worst to best the health of the Eco-column's biotic factors saw the aquarium chamber as the worst off, with the grass next, and the decomposition chamber as doing the best.

Quantative Data Table

Summary of First and last Day Readings.

Ont he first we started (5-18-10), when we took our first water quality tests the results were scarily suprising. Our Ammonium Nitrate test was so bad that all we could put for a reading was >2.5. Unfortunatly it has remained so all the wat to the last test and we have zero guesses as to why. Luckily, and shockingly, our pH level faired much better. Staying consistently around 7, the first day read 7.1 and only increased by .8 to 7.90. Again no guess as to why this is. The Dissolved Oxygen level of the first day was 3.5 mg/L with a big drop to .7mg/L on the latest test. Probably due to increased bacteria levels in the water. Our next test was turbidity. with a first reading of 0 we were happy about the overall water quality. But with a second reading of 33.4, that was obvious just by looking at the water, it was no question that the water was no longer sutible for a fish. This was probably due to the decomposing fish and plants in the water. temperature remained relativley the same with a first reading of 21.4 degrees C. and a last reading of 20.6 degrees C. Low Range Nitrate testing stayed low with a begining reading of .176 mg/L and a decreased last reading of 0. with these tests it's not hard to see that no fish would be able to live in the hostile enviroment that we set up, especially if it was on a larger scale.

6/8/2010, sadness on the day of destruction.

Today I have sad news. Tillamock has...(sob)(hiccup)(sob)...DIED! Date of death unknown, as we came in today to find our beloved goldfish dead, floating at the bottom of the tank.The water itself has developed a filmy substance coating the surface of the water. And it smells like a sewer. Plants gone along with the fish. My guess is death by starvation. We did just get out of a 3 day weekend and even I know that no fish can survive that long with no food and decreasing water quality. Good news on the Decomposition front, Mr.Chuckles LIVES! The Decomp. section has been attacked with a swarm of fruit flies but he still fights bravely and it appears that an egg sack has developed on the side of the chamber as a call for reinforcements. I am proud of Mr.Chuckles it appears he has grown with the healthy gorging of fruit flies. The grass is still growing although at a rate slower than before and not enough watering appears to have rendered the grass, in absence of a better word, depressed. It appears the overall health has decreased. But fear not for today the Eco-columns get disassembled. Forever Saddened.