About the project

Proposal:

For our project, we are going to conduct an experiment. We plan to have two aquarium tanks of seawater. One will contain just seawater, and the other will have seawater mixed with ash made from burned wood. We are using this ash instead of toxic ones from our fire for safety reasons. Each tank will then contain a piece of soft coral, both identical to the other. We will observe the changes in these coral pieces over the course of about a month. Proceeding that we plan to write a short paper, detailing our results and spreading awareness. After our experiment has concluded, we expect to see a sizable difference between the two corals. Visibly, we expect to see one piece of coral, the control, relatively untouched, still bright and thriving. However, the other piece, we expect to be dead, or close to death. We predict some minor coral bleaching, malnutrition, and a big difference in the water's color. We will look for polyp changes in the coral, seeing if they are out and feeding, or retracted. Will also observe growth, this means size and weight, ash sedimentation, and how quickly, if at all, ash settles.

Project Questions: 

We researched many different species of coral to find the best coral to do our experiment with. In an aquarium tank, soft corals such as leather royals, green star polyps, LPS, bubble corals, and candy corals would work best. In just a bucket, corals with the best chance of survival are definitely soft coral, and some small polyp stony corals. We haven’t made an official decision on which coral we’re gonna use, as this depends on availability when we purchase it. To help coral best live in a bucket or a fish tank it's crucial to provide proper water conditions, temperature, and aeration. This means providing the bucket or tank with natural salt water or sea water. Fish tanks have filtration systems that remove waste products and maintain water clarity, which is crucial for coral health. By replicating their natural environment as closely as possible, we can give coral the best chance to thrive, even in artificial settings like buckets or fish tanks. Knowing this, obviously a fish tank is our best choice, but with budget it’s a bit of a struggle.