Science Fair Project

[SourAngelfish]

I’ve got to do a science fair project this year and I’ve been thinking on what to do. I was thinking I could do something with reef tanks since it’s a hobby of mine and I enjoy doing it. I was thinking of something like this.

Does _____ affect coral growth?

I would probably either separate a 20 long or setup 3 5 gallon nanos. I would use something hardy if I did corals like gsp or zoas. I would personally enjoy doing something with fish, but from what I’ve seen there isn’t much to do.

Any suggestions/ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Sorcha2]

It kinda depends on what your experience is with fish and saltwater as well as how much time you have. There have been some studies suggesting that certain ingredients in sunscreen can limit or damage coral growth. I'm semi certain I had some issues with creatures due to fluoride. Those would work best with multiple nanos. If your more experienced then there are plenty of fish still that have very rarely if at all been bred in captivity. You could try and simulate weather patterns and seasons to encourage the fish to breed. You'd have to choose a very small type of fish for those tank sizes. You could also do something similar with trying to determine what makes rock flower anemones breed. The biggest issue you will face is balancing cost vs having enough data to be statistically viable. Good luck! I was a 2 time ISEF finalist so I have a soft spot for science experiments.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Maybe different light spectrums?

 

[ZoWhat]

How are you growing to measure "growth" ?
As a unit of measure? like millimeters? in length and width?
As a number of increased polyps to Zoas/Palys/LPS?

For me always doing homework last minute, it would be:
Does UNREFINED BARRELED OIL SPILLED IN THE OCEAN effect coral growth?
Answer: YES

 

[SourAngelfish]

How are you growing to measure "growth" ?
As a unit of measure? like millimeters? in length and width?
As a number of increased polyps to Zoas/Palys/LPS?

For me always doing homework last minute, it would be:
Does UNREFINED BARRELED OIL SPILLED IN THE OCEAN effect coral growth?
Answer: YES

for growth I would probably do it by polyps. I was thinking water flow/lighting. Water flow would be easiest because I could divide the tank. I’ve got about a 1-2 months to do this so breeding fish is probably not able to be done, but if there are any fish you know of please let me know.

 

[SourAngelfish]

Chemical levels work too. I’ve still got to make sure I’m even able to bring coral to school, kinda just brainstorming right now and this is where I wanted to start.

 

[SourAngelfish]

I could to 3 five gallon tanks with

No variables

Medium variables

High variables

Variables as in chemical levels, lighting, water flow and such.

 

[SourAngelfish]

It would be costly, but I work at an lfs and can get a lot of the stuff cheap. I also have a bunch of tanks laying around the garage.

 

[SourAngelfish]

Would temperature work? Our teacher recommended we bring a large problem down to a smaller scale. Isn’t global warming a big thing? I could confirm whether small changes in temperature impact growth.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

It would be really interesting to measure how pH affects growth. If you could keep it stable and find a way to control it you could have a cool experiment.

 

[Matyas]

Seperate systems would greatly diminish accuracy. I would say plump the system together to remove the variable of water params. And perhaps choose a lower tolerant coral. I have had gsp and xenia grow after a power outage in texas when my temperature got to 92. Perhaps montipora or LPS?

 

[SourAngelfish]

i agree with the one system idea, it would definitely be easier to manage and there would be less variables. The problem with montipora and lps is the fact that they don’t show much noticeable growth within a month.

 

[SourAngelfish]

I think I’m going to go with temperature. It seems to be the best one to do as it will concern the problem of global warming. I decided to change the problem to coral health and not coral growth. Health will be concerning whether the coral bleaches or recedes. I’ll probably frag all of the corals from the same colony so they are of the same genetic origin. I plan on using one softy one lps and one sps. Just to cover all of the types.