# 5th Grade Science Fair Project Ideas?



## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

If you have a good camera, spawn Zebra Danios and show the embryo development over a couple of weeks.


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## Twimbo (Oct 10, 2009)

Any ideas involving snail reproduction??? MTS or pond snails?


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

I would do if snail eggs would develop better in water with salt or something like that or planted tanks?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Snail herbivory might be kind of interesting too. You could have a tank with a barrier impermeable to snails down the middle and with snails on one side but absent form the other side. Of course, the snails would evnetually get across the barrier but you could see some interesting effects in a few weeks.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I think you can find blue, red rams horn snails. You can do experiments on inheritance.

Same with guppies.


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## Twimbo (Oct 10, 2009)

Any ideas on what we could do with guppies (can't harm them) or plants that we could do in about three weeks? 

Elena (daughter)


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

Three weeks?
The only thing in any of the posts above, that you could accomplish in three weeks, is the amount of algae in two different "identical" tanks using vastly different light sources. 

Or the amount of algae growing in two different tanks under the same light but with vastly different water conditions. A blackwater tank and a freshwater tank for instance. Put the tanks long side by long side and use a 24" strip light. 

Good luck.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

At the California State Fair every year the 4H kids bring in sows to give birth to their babies during the fair. People get to watch the whole process for the two weeks of the fair. I have found that my grandchildren always love to see that part of the fair. And, that suggests to me that a simple experiment with a couple of guppy females and a male one, in a 10 gallon tank, with a few plants, to show the difference would be a hit. The females should deliver at least 10 babies apiece, so the demonstration would show how live bearing fish do their thing.


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## Twimbo (Oct 10, 2009)

From Elena (5th Grader)
---------------------------

I was thinking about something like 'do fish effect the groth of plants' what we think we will do is have two 5 gallon aquarium's put plants in both. and add fish (small guppies) into one. we need to know if you guys think that would work (remember: 3 weeks) if so what plant would grow the fastest?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

That would work if you get a shop light and mount it above the two end to end tanks, so both tanks get the same light, and keep that light on 8 hours a day. Add the same amount of pool filter sand to each tank. Plant both with equal numbers of plants, and equal sized plants. Vals might work, or stem plants like Ludwigia repens, or a mix of the two. Keep the tanks set up in a heated room with the temperature controlled to at least 70F. Add about 10 guppies to one tank and none to the other. Feed the guppies every other day, or 3 days a week, and only as much as they eat in one minute, dropping one flake at a time while doing that. (Otherwise the excess food would also act as a fertilizer for the plants.) In 3 weeks my bet is the the one with fish has twice the growth as the one without.


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## mszabo (Nov 30, 2009)

It might be interesting to compare emersed vs submersed growth rates of the same plant. Or perhaps just documenting the transition from emersed form (buy some four-leaf clover that usually comes emersed and put it under water and watch all the old leaves die and new ones with a different shape grow out).


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Twimbo said:


> From Elena (5th Grader)
> ---------------------------
> 
> I was thinking about something like 'do fish effect the groth of plants' what we think we will do is have two 5 gallon aquarium's put plants in both. and add fish (small guppies) into one. we need to know if you guys think that would work (remember: 3 weeks) if so what plant would grow the fastest?





Hoppy said:


> That would work if you get a shop light and mount it above the two end to end tanks, so both tanks get the same light, and keep that light on 8 hours a day. Add the same amount of pool filter sand to each tank. Plant both with equal numbers of plants, and equal sized plants. Vals might work, or stem plants like Ludwigia repens, or a mix of the two. Keep the tanks set up in a heated room with the temperature controlled to at least 70F. Add about 10 guppies to one tank and none to the other. Feed the guppies every other day, or 3 days a week, and only as much as they eat in one minute, dropping one flake at a time while doing that. (Otherwise the excess food would also act as a fertilizer for the plants.) In 3 weeks my bet is the the one with fish has twice the growth as the one without.


I think this could definitely work! Like Hoppy said, you just have to make sure they have as close to the exact same parameters as you can get, for example 1 long light that spans the 2 tanks, the same filter on each tank, etc. Sunset hygro, hygro difformis (water wisteria) and "foxtail" are all good fast growers, or even a floating plant could work, just put like 5 pieces of duck weed or red root floater / pistia in each tank and see what happens.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

I think thats a good idea. One really good thing to do would be to weigh the plants before you put them in, to make sure you get as close to the same plant weight starting off, and you could weigh the plants at the end of the 3 weeks to give you some good quantitative data.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Solid said:


> I think thats a good idea. One really good thing to do would be to weigh the plants before you put them in, to make sure you get as close to the same plant weight starting off, and you could weigh the plants at the end of the 3 weeks to give you some good quantitative data.


Just remember that aquatic plants are mostly water, so you are weighing water if you don't first dry out the plants. But, if you do dry them, they weigh almost nothing, so it takes a good gram scale to measure the weight.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Hoppy said:


> Just remember that aquatic plants are mostly water, so you are weighing water if you don't first dry out the plants. But, if you do dry them, they weigh almost nothing, so it takes a good gram scale to measure the weight.


Not only would it take a good scale, but the plants won't recover from being completely dried out (i don't think) so there would be no good way to do the "before" measurement really, unfortunately. And since there's also no really a good way to account for the water, weighing may not be the best method unfortunately. 

I think making sure the plants are the same height (this you could measure) and of similar diameter (you could probably also measure this) to start will give you a good way to measure growth quantitatively though.

If you use a stem plant or a grass plant she could conceivably count how many sets of leaves there are, or how many blades. By "sets of leaves" I mean if you look at a lush stem plant it will have leaves growing in a ring around the stem every 1cm maybe, but a plant not growing as well that gets "leggy" might only have leaves growing out of the stem ever 3cm or so....does that make sense? i hope so! :hihi:


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## Twimbo (Oct 10, 2009)

This time its Twimbo:

Elena has been very happy about all the feedback and advice. She had to go to bed, so I'm posting tonight. She has read every word that you folks have posted. She calls you "my nerdy friends." (What does that make me??) I don't think I was supposed to post that. :icon_cool

Here are some of the plants that we already have and we think might work:


Hornwort
Rotala Rotundifolia
Sunset Hygro
Rotala sp. nanjenshan
Red Root Floater
Duckweed
She plans on setting up two 5.5 gallon tanks and spanning the two tanks with a single T5 25w bulb (36"). She will put the same number and length/height of stems in each tanks, but in one tank she will add about 7-8 juvenile guppies. 

Despite the concerns that we're raised. I think that I'm going to suggest that she both weigh (WET) and measure the lengths of all plants before and after experiment. I have two old HOB filters that are pretty much the same, she can put one on each tank.

She plans on feeding the guppies daily (most days). Thanks to Hoppy for the advice about feeding them slow to make sure that the fish eat everything. I think that is a good touch to the experiment.

Questions:
------------

1) Is the single 25w light enough for two 5.5g tanks? Would a stronger light help or hurt in this experiment? I could use my 2x38w T5-VHO fixture and hang it a bit higher over tank. Seems like overkill to me. Then my 38g tank would have to survive with low lights for 3 weeks.

2) Any reason not to use a extra bag of Eco-Complete in this experiment? Would it help the plants in both tanks enough to minimize the effect of the fish? Would pool sand be better, in that it would have less to offer the plants and better highlight the different between the two tanks?

I think I'm going to set her up with her own account here on the PT site, so that she can keep a journal of her project for others to watch and comment on. 

She hopes to set this all up tomorrow evening. Any final comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

I think that sounds perfect! It will be interesting to see if some plants do better in one tank over the other but some show no difference. 

to answer your question, I think 25w t5 will be more than enough for this experiment, any more and i think you'll end up with algae .

Also, I think using an inert substrate like pool filter sand will definitely illustrate the difference between the two tanks better than if you use eco complete. It eliminates another variable (i'm a scientist, i'm all about reducing the number of variables :hihi: roud


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## Amazonfish (Oct 20, 2009)

Edit: Whoops! I don't know how I missed page 2 of this thread. Looks like you're already working on the project. Good luck, and have fun!!


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I agree with Karackle about both the lighting and the substrate. Also, I would limit the plants to only two species, both of which have to be easy to grow plants. So, I suggest the Sunset Hygro and the Red Root Floater (duckweed might be better, but I think it would grow too much.) This shows the effect on plants that can get some nutrients from the substrate and plants that depend on the water alone for nutrients. Any more plant types than that will likely make it too confusing. I noticed that Tom Barr seems to do his testing with no more than a couple of species at a time, and if anyone knows how to do that he does.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Way to totally shoot down my ideas guys!! Lol!  While I agree that water weight will be hard to control, with a light drying I think you could get some relativly acurate numbers showing quantitative growth. 

I also agree that having a inert substrate will help limit variables and also help show a more dramatic differance.

This project will make a great display too! Definatley will beat out the normal poster boards with pictures that I remember. Good luck Elena!!


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## Twimbo (Oct 10, 2009)

Elena started a project journal for her project. I set her up with an account, so she can post herself.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...704-5th-grade-science-project.html#post974725


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