Wednesday 15 May 2013

When I got my plant it was healthy, I took it out of the soil and planted it in a jar. This jar had no soil in it, it only consisted out of water. I made use of a sponge to support the weight of the plant. I did my regular water changes weekly (changes the water once a week). After a while the health and growth condition of my plant increased/changes drastically. The plant was even more healthier than before; this made me feel very proud about myself and the plants improvement as well. As I already mentioned in my previous blogs, that the plant like to much direct sunlight. My plant grew so much and his leaves was so big that I had to replace my jar with a bigger jar. Firstly the plant was living in a peanut butter jar, but because of his growth I had to swap the peanut butter jar for a mayonnaise jar. At first I thought this was a good plan but after a while I notice that my plant improvement was not that good. I thought this was so because it got to much sunlight. I than placed it in a different angle as before; but still the condition of my plant did not improve. This was very sad to me, so I decided to changes the water more often. I changed the water twice a week instead of once, but still no changes it only got worst. I then came to the conclusion that it could be because of the jars swap that the condition of my plant decreased. By realizing that I almost caused the death of my plant, I made some changes again.

I took my plant out of the jar, changed I changed the water like I always did. This kept on going for a few weeks until I decided that the only way to improve the health condition of my plant was by cleansing its roots as well (or that's what I thought). For a number of weeks I did that in hoping my plants condition will improve and it would be as healthy as it was before; but sadly nothing happened. I lost all hope of saving little UNombuyiselo. I tried everything even take him out of the sunlight but still nothing.

Likely for me, Little UNombuyiselo is a fighter and is still alive although her condition is not so good as before. I think I must take her out of the mayonnaise jar and place her in her old jar again, maybe she liked it better I'll  never know. Her life long dream was to be part of nature and that is what I was planning to do next, plant her amounts the various other plants in my garden.

 

Betta fish and plant

It has been discovered that my plant and Betta fish is showing positive growth.Plant has increased its size and also allowed new shoots to be produced.More signs of growth was detected in the large amount of root production.Simultaneously the Fish is livimg is a safe natural habit Its food dosage is correct, in the sense of no ammonia found in the water.This was found in the results conducted each week. The waste materials of the fish is working well with the water and plant

Tuesday 14 May 2013

my plant at home is growing slowly the roots length has increased and color change from red to more green like
My Plant

My plant has been growing very well and is looking very healthy from my viewing. The plants leaves are still very green and new shoots are continually growing which shows good progress. However the leaves at the bottom of the flower seem to be dying but I would think that this is due to the lack of sun that the leaves get. The stalks are beginning to stretch outwards and the plants seems to be getting alot bigger from my viewing. Water is still very clean, this is also important as it is giving the plant fresh water and not dirty polluted water. However as the weeks have gone on, I have noticed a decline in the plants growth and numerous leaves have died

Monday 13 May 2013

Plant Vs Fish

The plant at home seems to be growin well. It as an average of about 5 new shoots per day and about 6 leaves dying per day.
It took m a number of days to love y plant, but now i have given it a name and its name is Frnkie. Frankie has been showing signs of positive growth as it has been growing upwards and having green leaves. There are also some new shoots which are that the plant is now having green leaves mostly, but there are alsosome dying leaves. the water is decreasing, the other thing i noticed is that there are some pink leaves and brown ones but the dominating colour is green. The brown leaves indicate that the leaves are dying, all in all the experiment has also helped me to take of nature and i hope this will be a good stepping stone to seeing good results of my plant. The plant has adoted nicely to the environment

Friday 10 May 2013

pictures of my plant

my plant grew up to this far. its a pity i could not find the pictures i took the very first time to show some changes. the water colour has changed to green with algae at the bottom as shown on the first picture of the plant, the second picture shows the plant my the horizontal view of the plant. luckily the roots remain the same. but maybe if i used an open bottle than this one some roots would have fallen away.  this plant is 20inch tall. i took the last picture last week and the picture on the bottom yesterday, i think it has reached the final height because the are no changes in the plant.

university of the western cape nature reserve::




Our enviroment has to be taken care of everytime.I hope the nature reserve is fully recovering from the fire damage that has taken place.The fauna and flora deserve not be harmed at all.This puts us on edge that at all times we should take good care of the place we living in,carelessness does not profit us in any good at all.

This also encourages our reserve manager to keep on doing her work with much more confidence at all ttimes.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!

hey would like to say thanks for the love and perspectives that we have shared among each other during the past few weeks ever since the blogs were imposed to us. take care of yourselves all of u and don't you dare throw away your take home plants. give them to your girlfriends, boyfriends or your grandparents. thanks a million.

My Plant's Growth


FISH TANKS

I found out something interesting today.  Bigger fish tanks are easier to mantain than having smaller tanks, because the shear volume of water, so the more water there is the more forgiving it can be in terms of water chemistry. The only problem is that when perfoming a water change it will actually take longer to do so. Bigger tanks are also forgiving in the filter breaks. Its also easier to to maintain the temperature in bigger tanks because they heat up and cool down faster.

9 May 2013


9th May 2013
Total Root Length (mm) 610 
Straggly Mod. Dev. Good Dev. Root Mass X Root Ball 
Plant Height (mm) 198 # New Shoots 6

RRN2
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
NO3 (mg/l) 10 - 25 NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH < 6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 0
NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH <6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 
NO2 (mg/l) 
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH < 6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 0 - 10
NO2 (mg/l) 0
 GH 0 
KH 3 - 6 
pH 6.4 – 6.8
NO3 (mg/l) 0 - 10
NO2 (mg/l) 0
 GH 0 
KH 3 - 6 
pH 6.4 – 6.8
NO3 (mg/l) 0 – 10 NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH 0 
KH 3 – 6 
pH 6.4

RRN2
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
NO3 (mg/l) 10 - 25 NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH < 6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 0
NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH <6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 
NO2 (mg/l) 
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH < 6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 0 - 10
NO2 (mg/l) 0
 GH 0 
KH 3 - 6 
pH 6.4 – 6.8
NO3 (mg/l) 0 - 10
NO2 (mg/l) 0
 GH 0 
KH 3 - 6 
pH 6.4 – 6.8
NO3 (mg/l) 0 – 10 NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH 0 
KH 3 – 6 
pH 6.4

THE FINAL RESULTS OF "AQUA GREEN" MY PLANT::


>>>THE PLANT IS FAILY NOT IN GOOD CONDIOTION ,IT IS THEN NOW LACKING MOST OF ITS NUTRIENTS.THE GROWTH OF THE PLANT IS AT ITS PEAK.

THE LEAVES ARE THINNER,AND TURNING YELLOWISH

THE STEM HAS SHOWN MOST OF ITS HEIGHT INCREASE

THE ROOTS ARE PERFECT THEY HAV GROWN MUCH LONGER AND THEY ARE MORE WIDER IN SIZE.THEY ARE NO MORE CURLED UP THEY ARE STRAIGHT.

THE FLOWER HAS BLOSOMED INTO PURPLE COLOUR


thank you ESS  for this great responsible experience of plant responsibility.

survey results

Inline image 1

THE STEADY DECLINE OF MY PINKY PLANT

When i received the plant,it looked very healthy ,ith had flourishing leave that were adorably pink,it had long roots that seemed healthy:
oh how beautiful she was but this beauty steadily declined:
her leaves started wilting and her colour started fading she looked pale with little hope but she stilled hanged on even when her condition worsened:
Oh how i love my pinky she is showing signs of getting better her leaves have turned green,green is always a good sign that growth is coming along

The plant was doing well,it was showing good growth and also it would have grown in an amazing way if it had received nutrients  so the way it has grown it is because of the lack of   nutrients.This module has helped me gain knowledge about managing the environment and i have done tha well when i managed to keep the plant in a good condition for a long period of time,the fish and plant in the lab are also doing well because they are well looked .



                        i

Long Live the Bettas




My General Experience with Adaptive Management

My general experience with adaptive management has been quite a pleasant one. At first, like many, I want too keen on keeping a fish in such a “small” and “closed” environment but then as we went on I realised that it was necessary to actually do experiments such as these not only for our knowledge now but for the future as well.

As the time passed, I did grow close to my little blue Betta and visited the lab often J I started to pick up on key actions in the fish’s daily behaviour which I would not have done in the past and realised with this experiment that there is much more to a fish than just swimming around in an aquarium. Fish play a vital role in almost all water bodies as it provides nutrients for most plant aside from soil and also remove algae and can help sustain certain populations of insects. In this case, the Betta helps manage Malaria carrying mosquitoes.

During this project or module, I also realised that keeping and maintaining an aquarium system is not as easy as it may appear. I always thought that all one has to do in maintaining an aquarium is just do water changes and feed the fish. I came to the knowledge that aquariums require intensive care and constant as well as close monitoring to operate properly. All this care is quite expensive as chemicals, filtration system and all tools that are used to maintain the aquarium does not come cheap at all.
On the water chemistry side, I learned that there is a lot one has to do maintain good water quality such as regular testing as well as water changes that will ensure that pH levels and other chemical levels stay in balance for the water to remain in a good condition.

When it came to the taking care of the plant at home part, I at first showed no interest and though that this plant would die in no time at home if it was not placed in soil.  Soon I realized that there is more to a plants growth than just soil. It is as if I gained respect for the plant! To this day, I am still surprised as to how well my plant is doing and how it has adapted to just being suspended in water and exposed to very little sunlight. I am hoping to plant my plant in soil and then to see how it develops from there.


Our trip through the Cape Flats Nature Reserve also made me aware that there is more to UWC than just academics J there are many different species of fynbos in the reserve as well as many species of animals. The Cape Flats Nature Reserve is under constant monitoring and that helps to maintain the fynbos and the success on the reserve.

Lastly, I really enjoyed this module as I learned a lot that I did not know before and found it really interesting. It also encouraged me to keep an aquarium system in the future. I also am hoping to take good care of my plant and watch it grow.

Long live the Bettas!

Stay Green **      

BETTA SURVEY 2013






plant at home- final week of observations

I have no idea of what is wrong with my plant at home, during the last week of observations ive been very worried about my plant because I seem to have lost four leaves during the week. maybe it is getting to much sunlight or the water quality is just not right.

Comparing Hypoestes at home and on Campus


RRN2
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
NO3 (mg/l) 10 - 25 NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH < 6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 0
NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH <6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 
NO2 (mg/l) 
GH < 3 
KH 3 - 6 
pH < 6.4
NO3 (mg/l) 0 - 10
NO2 (mg/l) 0
 GH 0 
KH 3 - 6 
pH 6.4 – 6.8
NO3 (mg/l) 0 - 10
NO2 (mg/l) 0
 GH 0 
KH 3 - 6 
pH 6.4 – 6.8
NO3 (mg/l) 0 – 10 NO2 (mg/l) 0
GH 0 
KH 3 – 6 
pH 6.4

 

OUR RWI2 HAS THE HIGHEST PLANT GROWTH IN THE ISOLATED GROUP

Bob has really made us really proud here are some of the results we obtained for his development.His total length in mm in one month was 352,straggly and has a moderate development which is considered good.has root mass,has root ball,the plant length is 156 ,the number of new shoots is 4.these following results are from recently to be precise the 8th of may.the total root length
is 545 is still straggly,has a good growth the plant height has also improved, the number of shoots is 8,which is an increase from the previous results.

CONDITIONS OS RWN1  AND RWN2:


*OUR FISH IS DOING WELL.IT SHOWS GROWTH.ALSO THE PLANT IS DOING WEEL.THE PLANT IS IN GOOD HEALTH.

COMPARISON AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MY PLANT AND THE PLANT IN THE LAB:

*MY PLANT'S LEAVES ARE NOT AS NOURISHED AS THE LEAVES OF THE PLANT IN THE LAB.
*THEY BOTH HAVE AN INCREASE IN THE ROOTS.
*MY PLANT'S STEMS SEEM TO BE TALLER THAN THE PLANT IN THE LAB.






























































































Chart on Questionnaire.

I have chosen to chart the question "how often was the fish fed?" because I believe that based on how well the fish is doing, the plant will survive. If the fish dies it could contaminate the water and kill the plant. This also has regard to under and over nourishment of the fish towards the plant.

FACTS ABOUT BETTA  FISH:




*There are 65 classifications of betta species.
*The most common type of betta fish  sold in the United States is betta splendense,which iscalled siamese fighting fish
*Betta is originating from Thailand,formaly known as Siam.
*They are called fighting fish because males are very very territorial and if put close enough enviroment attack of another Betta is more likely to take place.
*Generally they are kept in a tank by themselves.
*Betta fish are a fresh-water tropical fish.Fresh water tank are easily maintained,which is why many peoeple choose making the fresh water tank.
*The water temperature should b kept between 78-82 degrees,this is due to the fact that they are tropical fish so they like warm.Going lower than 78 degrees your putting stress on the betta fish itself and not nto be ideal.
*The average lifespan of betta fish is 2-3 years,but they have been known to be living up to more than 4-5 years in a tankthat is maintained on ideal conditions.They live short life spans due to poorly maintaind water tanks.
*Betta fish are carnivores,the find it better to eat things like frozen brine shrimp,freeze dried  blood worms ,but they still eat things like fish flakes

THE WATER CHEMISTRY OF OUR RWI2 PLANT AND FISH













As you can see from the graph,our plant has been doing really good the level of the amount of nitrates is very low zero to be precise,this is a very good sign that the water chemistry is good.The amount of nitrites in contrast to the amount of nitrates has gone up drastically and has maintained a high standard.the amount of pH has slightly remained constant with small amounts of fluctuations.Our plant has one of the greatest growth throughout this experiement.It has been very consistant in its growth.And the fish looks really healthy.We are very happy with the results that we have gotten.