Hi to one and all at Reef Central,
I am a grade 12 high school student who is going to be doing a major project in Biology worth 15 percent of my grade. My father is planning a reef aquarium and our discussions made me think that topics within reef aquariums could be a source of ideas for my major project.
I will be doing the biology project over the course of the upcoming five month semester. Because of cost only one tank is feasible (budget for start up cost is $400 but my dad will use what I buy for a quarantine or refugium tank when done) but I could compare:
Different methods of filtration over time, lighting each half of the tank with different bulbs, and as well as varying the temperature of the tank and measuring how the chemistry changes.
My thought is to have a smaller tank (possibly 20 gallons) mostly because of cost. I realize the systems will be more unstable, but I will be monitoring the tank daily anyways to have reliable data.
I do not have any experience with salt water aquariums, but my neighbor has over 600g of tanks and will be a great resource. The aquariums will not be abandoned after the project is completed because my father has been wanting to switch over to salt water aquariums for several months now and will be more than happy to have them.
The first stage of the project is research to create a detailed plan for the experiment. So if there is any links which would be a good resource please comment them.
Does anyone have any suggestions for possible experiment setups? I realize I do not have any experience with salt water tanks and you all would have a much better I idea about what I could test. Any suggestions at all would greatly be appreciated.
I am a grade 12 high school student who is going to be doing a major project in Biology worth 15 percent of my grade. My father is planning a reef aquarium and our discussions made me think that topics within reef aquariums could be a source of ideas for my major project.
I will be doing the biology project over the course of the upcoming five month semester. Because of cost only one tank is feasible (budget for start up cost is $400 but my dad will use what I buy for a quarantine or refugium tank when done) but I could compare:
Different methods of filtration over time, lighting each half of the tank with different bulbs, and as well as varying the temperature of the tank and measuring how the chemistry changes.
My thought is to have a smaller tank (possibly 20 gallons) mostly because of cost. I realize the systems will be more unstable, but I will be monitoring the tank daily anyways to have reliable data.
I do not have any experience with salt water aquariums, but my neighbor has over 600g of tanks and will be a great resource. The aquariums will not be abandoned after the project is completed because my father has been wanting to switch over to salt water aquariums for several months now and will be more than happy to have them.
The first stage of the project is research to create a detailed plan for the experiment. So if there is any links which would be a good resource please comment them.
Does anyone have any suggestions for possible experiment setups? I realize I do not have any experience with salt water tanks and you all would have a much better I idea about what I could test. Any suggestions at all would greatly be appreciated.