Monday, August 9, 2010

Day 21 - Grow, algae, grow!


The algae starter cultures aren't growing! The water in the two bottles looks as clear as it did on Friday. Julie hypothesized that it might be because they were grown in tap water. I sterilized some spring water and made two more starter cultures with the double the amount of F/2 nutrient medium. I put the new cultures under the UV lamps, so hopefully they will grow more quickly. Today I also set up the air pumps and cut tubing for 15 airlines. I hope to be able to put the algae into the PPCP solutions soon. I hope to see green tomorrow!

Cole and I lugged around water quality testing tools, a Sea Perch, a massive heavy battery, and a camera to the sailing pavilion (which we found closed) and then to the public access dock. When we got everything set up in the stifling heat, we found that the camera had run out of battery, so had to run back to Sea Grant and switch cameras. We finally managed to film a dramatic scene of the Sea Perch (my Kraken) being lowered into the depths far below and a hero scientist saving the Sea Perch from the hungry Giant Squid. Once I hauled in the Kraken and collected a water sample, we demonstrated use of a refractometer. Tomorrow we will be filming other water quality tests, such as the ammonia and nitrate/nitrite.


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