Taking a Look at Trickling Filters

Nitrate reduction was tested for by inoculating a nitrate broth with the unknown gram (-) culture, and allowing growth to take place. Adding 2 drops of both sulfanilic acid and α-napththylamine to the medium if the first test to see if nitrite is present. If nitrite is present, the medium turns red, indicating a positive test. However, if the medium does not change, a second test is performed to see if nitrite was further reduced. In this second test, zinc powder is added to the broth to catalyze the reduction of any nitrate present to nitrite. If nitrate is present when the zinc is added the reduction of this compound will cause the medium to turn red, from the previously added reagents. Red medium on the second addition indicates nitrate was not reduced and a negative test result. However, if the medium does not change after the addition of the zinc, the unknown is positive for nitrate reduction, as the nitrite has just been further reduced, preventing its detection. The result that yielded was positive on the first step.

The purpose of this is experiment is to more closely understand the effects of nutrient enrichment on samples of water from Encanto Park Lake and the Rio Salado River. More specifically the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and nitrogen and phosphorus together were altered and the effects this had upon algal growth were then observed. The results indicated that an increase in nitrogen concentration showed minimal

For the first procedure the student put 5ml of distilled water in to a test tube then picked up one filter paper and placed it in a dish. The 5ml of distilled water was then dropped on to the filter paper. The student then grabbed alcohol for its habitat solution, and placed 5 ml of alcohol in to another test tube, and placed a new filter paper in to another clean dish. The 5ml of alcohol was then dropped on to the filter paper. Once both filter papers were submersed in the proper liquid then they were taken out of the dish and out in to individual chambers that had a connection. On the left hand side was the water filter paper and on the right hand side the alcohol filter paper. The second procedure was to grab ten pill bugs and gently place them in to the alcohol and water chamber.

Overall, the more macroinvertebrates in the water, the healthier the stream. pH is a measure of how acidic or basic water is. It is measured on a scale from 0-14. 0 is the most acidic, 14 is the most basic, and 7 is neutral. It is the measure of the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxide ions in the water. Acidic water has more hydrogen ions, and basic water has more hydroxide ions. When water’s pH is around neutral (7), that is a suitable and healthy living environment for fish, and indicates a healthy stream. If the water is too acidic or too basic, it can be harmful to the aquatic life. Dissolved oxygen is a measure of how much oxygen is dissolved in the water. As the amount of dissolved oxygen drops below normal levels in water bodies, the water quality is harmed and creatures begin to die off as a result of eutrophication. The higher the level of dissolved oxygen, the healthier the stream. When there is a lot of dissolved oxygen present it makes for a safe environment for fish to live and reproduce. Having all this healthy fish can provide us with food, so overall the more dissolved oxygen, the better. Nitrates are a compound found in fertilizers that is used to help plants grow. It is what is given off as a result of the use of nitrogen in water. The organisms in the soil eat the nitrates and it helps the metabolism and the health of organisms. Plants, such as Algae use nitrates as a source

Humans regularly destroy natural landscapes on daily basis. Humans will contribute to destroying an ecosystem without even knowing it, by littering or using aerosols. The only way that these organisms can keep up is through being better taken care of. It’s known that water, sunlight, and soil is needed for a plant to thrive. There have been many studies on types of soil and levels of sunlight to determine which is best. There are studies on the amounts of water a plant needs to survive, this is great for farmers to be economically efficient but what about the casual gardeners? The average gardener likely doesn’t have top class soil, water, or optimal sunlight levels. Our research will focus specifically on water that’s readily available to the Perkins household and see which would be best for the household when taking care of their plantlife. Through this research, we hope to find information that is of use for any of the casual gardener population. The hypothesis is that the tap or untreated water, will be best for the plants thus retaining the most color. This is what’s typically used. In addition, soft water will be used. This water is thought to do well in taking color in our experiment. Healthwise, not better than the untreated water, but not as bad as the reverse osmosis. Lastly, the reverse osmosis is going to do the worst. The flower may wilt and the color won’t take

Ammonium is the form of nitrogen taken up most readily by phytoplankton because nitrate must first be reduced to ammonia before it is assimilated as amino acids in organisms (Geoscience Australia, 2013). The excessive level of certain nutrients in waterways is often linked to human activities.

Although sewage systems are able to provide a great deal of sanitation to water before it is released back into a source, the risk of raw sewage overflowing into water sources poses several issues. Not only can raw sewage contain harmful bacteria such as E. coli, it can also negatively affect aquatic life. Human waste typically contains high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients that are useful for people but can cause many issues in an aquatic environment (Burkholder et. al., 2011). Much of these elements are removed during wastewater treatment, but if they are sent directly to a water source due to flooding, they can cause algae blooms and harm

The test subjects, O. rusticus crayfish, were collected from the White River.. Body length and body weight were measured with the use of a measuring tape and a gram scale. The rate of oxygen consumption was studied by the use of intermittent closed respirometry with a Q-box AQUA device. This was conducted by measuring the amount of dissolved oxygen present in the water chamber without removing the organism from the container so as to demonstrate the amount of oxygen consumed by the crayfish over a given set of time. By periodically measuring the amount of oxygen present in the water at an interval of twice per second, the rate of oxygen consumption can be

High amounts of nitrate from agricultural field watershed contaminate the groundwater, creating a consumption hazard. A nitrate level greater than 10 mg/L causes negative health effects for the local population and aquatic organisms.

Although our water flow was successful in the end, we had multiple errors before we achieved a self-sustaining nitrogen cycle. One major issue that we came across was our holes were bigger than our tubes. This created several different leaks which caused the water

. As seen in the video, an oyster’s ability to filter feed gives them the helpful ability to clear up murky waters. In the experiment, the oysters started reducing the turbidity of the water within minutes of being placed in the tank. Although these result would most likely not occur this quickly on the large scale, in is indisputable that the oysters would reduce the turbidity of the water; allowing the plants to photosynthesize once again.

The way we meet that need is we have an air pump that pumps air into the water 24/7. The water in the aquarium where any kind of brook trout lve needs to have very clean water. There can be no pollution and we make sure there is no pollution by using a water filter made of charcoal and it filters out the bad bacteria and lets the good bacteria through because the fish need the good bacteria. The PH level in the water is very important because there is a small window to have a perfect PH level and that is between 6.5-7.5 and the perfect level is 7. We have to test the PH level at least 3 times a week and during that we have to add chemicals to balance everything out. Like every other living animal on earth brook trout need to be fed once a day with dried brine shrimp. In the aquarium there aren't many things that can hurt the brook trout but there are other brook trout that eat each other and if a trout gets caught bullying another trout it will be put in its own area until it changes its behavior and doesn't eat the other fish. I know that when people think of bacteria they think it's albed but there is good bacteria and the good bacteria is what the brook trout need to

In Lake Erie, there is out-of-control algae growth that created dead zones. The problem has become critical in the western Lake because of harmful chemicals. Contaminants in fish certainly are causing health problems. At present, the solution is to make

In the schoolyard assessment conducted of Glenelg, it was discovered that the offsite river that collects the schools pollutants had had excess phosphate, nitrates, and nitrites. These chemicals aren’t harmful in healthy amounts but the 0.25 ppm of phosphate, 10 ppm of nitrate, and 1 ppm nitrite is past the natural norm. When the amounts of phosphate and nitrates increase, so does the growth of plankton and algae. These aquatic plants use up a lot of oxygen and block sunlight, stealing needed resources from other aquatic life. Excess nitrites, when consumed, can alter the hemoglobin in blood to methemoglobin, which reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Adding more no mow areas would also help solve this problem, as well as not using and fertilizer or pesticides and cleaning up the schools property, (“What is Water Pollution”, 2017). The results of the Schoolyard Assessment show that the Glenelg water is not the best that it could be, but improving the vegetative cover, lessening the pollution in the area, and improving the water quality is necessary for the overall improvement of the

Once water has been allowed to flow through this membrane, purer water can be collected from the output of the filter. Once enough of this water is collected, the hobbyist can fill the aquarium and begin to plan on his or her next step, the salt content.