Water Chemistry

Water Chemistry Table: BWI1

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4 (new strip introduced)	Week 5	Week 6
NO³ (mg/l)	NO³ (mg/l)	NO³ (mg/l)	NO³ (mg/l)	NO³ (mg/l)	NO³ (mg/l)
25	0	0	10	10	0 – 10
NO² (mg/l)	NO² (mg/l)	NO² (mg/l)	NO² (mg/l)	NO² (mg/l)	NO² (mg/l)
0	0	0	0	0	0
GH < 3	GH < 3	GH < 3	GH 0	GH 0	GH 0
KH 3	KH 3 – 6	KH 3 – 6	KH 3 – 6	KH 3 – 6	KH 3 – 6
PH <6.4	PH <6.4	PH <6.4	PH 6.4	PH 6.4	PH 6.4

This is the table representing my water chemistry/quality over the duration of the past 6 weeks. From the data collected, the nitrate level of the water only seemed to be normal during weeks 2, 3 and 6.  I think the reason for this happening that the ammonia from that the fish produced was pretty high and therefore affected the nitrate level.  The nitrite level of the water has stayed constant throughout and so too did general hardness up until week 4 when a new test strip was introduced. There have been two water changes per week throughout the course of the six weeks except in the last two weeks of the experiment in which there was only 1 water change for the two weeks.  This has resulted in a build-up in algae levels but to my surprise, it did not affect the water quality at all. I found that to be very odd. On this last day of visiting my fish and plant I found that my fish seemed to be stressed out and was not swimming close to the bubble nest but rather returned to the middle of the jar.

Comparison of plant at home to plant in lab:

Firstly as said before, my plant in the lab is growing much better than my plant at home and this is as a result of the fish producing nutrients for the plant to have constant growth. My plant at home on the other hand has been producing more shoots than the one in the lab and does not show signs of having any algae. Because my plant at home is exposed to a little more sunlight than the one in the lab, the edges of the leaves have turned brown and more leaves have died. Because my plant is exposed to more sunlight, I have to top my water levels up at least twice a week. After the experiment is over, I will be planting my plant in the garden and will then continue to monitor its growth and see what happens from there.