URGENT HELP NEEDED PLS: Testing Different Fertilizers on Algal Growth
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URGENT HELP NEEDED PLS: Testing Different Fertilizers on Algal Growth
Hello, I'm in 7th grade and I just started my science fair testing and I ran into a problem. I am testing the effect of different fertilizers on algal growth similar to your project "Too Much of a Good Thing?" except I am not using different concentrations instead I decided to use different types of fertilizers. I am using granulated fertilizer and after mixing it with the water it isn't dissolving. I am nervous that I won't be able to tell the difference between the fertilizer and the algae (so I won't be able to measure the growth). Do you have any suggestions to help? Thank you so much!
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rlwilliams06
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Re: URGENT HELP NEEDED PLS: Testing Different Fertilizers on Algal Growth
Hello!
I am not 100% sure, but I would continue to record the data in a notebook and observe the growth. The algae will grow whereas the fertilizer wont, so after "x" amount of time there should be a distinct difference. Some algae may grow faster in different fertilizers, so that also may be a good way to identify which is the algae as it grows.
Hope this helps! Let us know if you need anymore help!
I am not 100% sure, but I would continue to record the data in a notebook and observe the growth. The algae will grow whereas the fertilizer wont, so after "x" amount of time there should be a distinct difference. Some algae may grow faster in different fertilizers, so that also may be a good way to identify which is the algae as it grows.
Hope this helps! Let us know if you need anymore help!
Re: URGENT HELP NEEDED PLS: Testing Different Fertilizers on Algal Growth
Thank you for your reply. I redid my project using less fertilizer in each tray and that seems to be better but after 8 days there is still hardly any algae growth. 
Only one tray has some green growth around the bottom edge. It doesn't look like I will be able to measure the growth as Science Buddies suggested in the Moss is Boss project using the grid paper because so far nothing is growing on top of the water, only around the entire bottom edge. Do you have any suggestions on how to measure the algae and what else I can measure for data analysis? I was mostly concerned with the amount of phosphates, now I am wondering if I should measure the amount of nitrogen using a kit. Any information you could add would be appreciated.
Thank you so much! Scarlet (7th grade)
Only one tray has some green growth around the bottom edge. It doesn't look like I will be able to measure the growth as Science Buddies suggested in the Moss is Boss project using the grid paper because so far nothing is growing on top of the water, only around the entire bottom edge. Do you have any suggestions on how to measure the algae and what else I can measure for data analysis? I was mostly concerned with the amount of phosphates, now I am wondering if I should measure the amount of nitrogen using a kit. Any information you could add would be appreciated.Thank you so much! Scarlet (7th grade)