Unit+One+-+Aqueous+Systems

The Purpose of this Unit:
To develop contextual understanding of both freshwater ecology and sustainability. This Extended Experimental Investigation will run over a 12 week trial period. The students will be required to set-up an Ecotank, to monitor and to maintain the tank over the trial period.

The students will then be required to compare and contract their artifical ecosystem to another ecosystem in the Wide Bay region with respect to its general health and sustainability.

What is an Eco-tank?
An Eco-tank is a freshwater aquarium that is maintained without artifically feeding fish, without using aerators/air pumps or filtering systems. The Eco-tank uses the basic laws of nature and the cycles of nutrients together with careful monitoring of both biotic and abiotic factors.

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 * Ecosystem** is defined as a functional unit consisting of all the living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) in a given area, and all the non-living physical and chemical factors of their environment, linked together through nutrient cycling and energy flow. An ecosystem can be of any size-a log, pond, field, forest, or the earth's biosphere-but it always functions as a whole unit. ...

http://www.umpqua-watersheds.org/glossary/gloss_s.html
 * Sustainability** is defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes and functions, biological diversity and productivity over time.

Sustainability Venn Diagram http://www.ciria.org/complianceplus/images/sustainability2.gif

A law stating that the abundance or distribution of an organism can be controlled by certain factors (e.g. the climatic, topographic, and biological requirements of plants and animals) where levels of these exceed the maximum or minimum limits of tolerance of that organism. © A Dictionary of Zoology 1999
 * Shelford's Law of Tolerance** states:

Process by which cells containing chlorophyll in green plants convert incident light to chemical energy and synthesize organic compounds from inorganic compounds, especially carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water, accompanied by the simultaneous release of oxygen. [|amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/browse]
 * Photosynthesis**

Cellular respiration is, in its broadest definition, the process in which the chemical bonds of energy-rich molecules such as glucose are converted into energy usable for life processes. Oxidation of organic material—in a bonfire, for example—is an exothermic reaction that releases a large amount of energy rather quickly. [|en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_respiration] Biofiltration
 * Cellular Respiration**

Ammonia is created by urea and decomposition. Ammonia is turned into nitites by nitrosomonas bacteria. Nitrites are less harmful than bacteria, but still pose a threat. Nitrites are converted to nitrates by nitrobacter. Nitrates are much less toxic and is used as fertilizer for live plants. It is harmful in great quantities, however, and should be avoided in the reef tank. There are special denitrifying filters which convert nitrates to nitrogen gas, which is explosive in high quantities.[|www.aqualink.com/basic/zglossa.html]
 * The Role of the Nitrogen Cycle**

(from potential of Hydrogen) the logarithm of the reciprocal of hydrogen-ion concentration in gram atoms per liter; provides a measure on a scale from 0 to 14 of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution (where 7 is neutral and greater than 7 is more basic and less than 7 is more acidic) [|wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn]
 * pH**

Key Eco-tank Species:
Fish Rainbow Fish - http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Contents.htm http://www.members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Contents.htm Swordtail - Xiphophorus hellerii - http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/14085.html

http://www.e-aquarium.com.au/swordtail.htm media type="custom" key="180001" Snails media type="custom" key="179997"

Freshwater Shrimp http://www.bugsurvey.nsw.gov.au/html/popups/bpedia_15_tol_fr-sh.html media type="custom" key="179999"

Water Plants - http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Plantdir/plantdir.htm http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-list.html Elodea - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elodea

Water Changes - http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/wchanges.htm Nitrogen Cycling - http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/cycling.htm pH - http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/ph.htm Oxygen in the Aquarium - http://www.algone.com/oxygen.php Carbon Dioxide - http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Carbon.htm Oxygen - http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/manage/overview-of-florida-waters/water-quality/dissolved-oxygen
 * Water Quality in Freshwater Aquariums**


 * Effects of Salinity on Freshwater Ecosystems**

Water Quality - http://www.wqonline.info/Documents/Report_WQ06_Review_reduced.pdf http://www.southwestnrm.org.au/sites/default/files/uploads/ihub/nielsen-dl-et-al-2003-effects-increasing-salinity-freshwater-ecosystems-australia.pdf http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=BT02117

Setting Up Your Tank -
 * Resources:**

Cover Sheet for Ecotank EEI -

Excel Spreadsheet Resource -

Example assignments





Resource Pictures using www.bubbleshare.com media type="custom" key="181465" Problem Solving Tasks: Bioremediation of nitrates in underground water - a good EEI task - http://csip.cornell.edu/curriculum_resources/CSIP/Sills/Sills_Bioremediation.asp