2012 Project #1: Tripple T

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hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
Tripple T, please post:

What your project will be
How/where you will research this

Any other relevant information or questions you feel the judges will need to know or answer. Any posts that don't come from judges or entrants will be deleted.
 
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#2
Alright! I'm really looking forward to this science fair! I still haven't narrowed my project down to one idea yet but I am getting close.
 
#4
Yep I am choosing between 2 options right now. I have the setup to do a flat out growth comparison ( eliminating all variables other than the lights) between led and t5 and metal halide. This would be simple but has been done by others The other option I am considering is a behavioral experiment attempting to determine more clearly the intelligence of a species ( to be named later) of saltwater fish. This would involve a picture system as well as a reward system. More details coming soon from me.... Judges what experiment would you guys like to see more?
 
#5
Well for me, the heads up LED vs. T5 even would be a neat experiment...even if it's already been done, one of my personal concerns right now is that while I'm getting some really nice growth from my LEDs, the coloration I'm seeing is truly different (i.e. my Sour Apple Birdsnest is not green and orange, but is lavender).

Such a test is relatively easy to set up (2 linked aquariums, lit independently, links water volume and thus all chemistry).

The pitfalls I see might include how you pick only fixtures to compare. I.e. what you'd really want to find is either a) fixtures that consume the same wattage (so you can look at this from an efficiency standpoint) or b) fixtures that output the same measured PAR levels, so you can look at this from a "everything is the same, yet the differences are dramatic/not dramatic" standpoint. Time could also be a factor - do you have enough time to get the growth and measurements and results you'd need to make any definitive answers.

Obviously, the meaning of the results would be limited to a comparison between two individual lighting models. I.e. I don't think you could go so far as to say "definitively, LEDS are not as good" since you're only testing a single unit against a single unit (assuming that's how you set up the experiment).

The development of a fish IQ test? Interesting and a lot of work has been done in that realm before...but I'd want to know a lot more here...
 
#6
Great advice! I think I would be most interested in the significance of spectrum on growth. I have a par meter and have 2 systems linked. I also have an led fixture that I can swap out the led to get what ever spectrum I want. Thus after I do a little more research I could potentially tweak this experiment (on the led side) however I wanted. There has recently been a huge dispute on the role of uv in coloration and growth. I could potentially divide the tank with the led in half and give half if it uv and not the other half. I would then get several results to compare. I would have led w/o uv vs metal halide growth. Led with uv vs metal halide growth. And led vs led with uv comparison of growth. Of course I would do a linear regression with the results and calculate a p value to see if they were significant. I guess coral coloration under the lights would be self explanatory, although it would be fascinating if I could somehow figure out what color of lighting changed what color of zooxanthellae pigments to what other specific color of pigment.
 
#7
Tripple T;135476 said:
I could potentially divide the tank with the led in half and give half if it uv and not the other half. I would then get several results to compare. I would have led w/o uv vs metal halide growth. Led with uv vs metal halide growth. And led vs led with uv comparison of growth.
I think there in itself you have a fine question to address. I see a tendency for people to try to answer too many, or too broad, a question. Spectrum, I see as difficult for you to accurately gauge and report on. However, and I'm just throwing this out there - 2 LED tanks, heck, 10 gallons would be fine, and the second one is the same as the first but with UV supplementation, would be a great question to address. Using multiple frags of the same type, and then multiple types, could really create some interesting results (i.e. picking 4 types of corals, 4 frags in each tank of each type, laid out in the same fashion, you can really start to address color). Keep refining the question, and perhaps try to make it a point to really have only one question and one variable to test, and focus on increasing sample size.
 
#8
Agreed. My son did a project like the fish intellignece one last year--determining whether fish learn by doing (ie self-reward) or can learn by watching others. There was data showing that octopus babies still in their eggs learn about food types by watching the mother eat. Interesting topic, not too difficult to manage, but the lighting one is less time-consuming.
 
#9
Ok. I agree and am going to do a lighting experiment. I am going to refine my methods and procedure today and will post soon on what they are. I may still do a side experiment using metal halide and t5 just because I think a good number of people would like to see the results ( I wouldn't include this in my experiment, but would release the results on masc and R2R). I have 2 of the same LED light, thus I can easily do my experiment to show results for 1) blue + white led. 2) blue + white + UV. 3)blue + white + UV + green + red. One other thing is that my UV doesn't peak at 375 nm which is what is traditionally thought of as UV. Mine, rather, peaks at 402 nm which is a very faint violet. It still has plenty of light in that 375 nm range though. I think this would mean that I would essentially not only be testing the effects of UV on growth and color, but the effects of other parts of the spectrum as well ( red and green). I think this would answer 2 questions, 1) How important is UV light in coral growth and color. 2) does a more complete spectrum have an effect on growth and color. This type of testing has not been well documented and I think it could really answer some important questions for many people on what led setup to buy.
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
I've had multiple people ask me about timelines for their projects. Here is the timeline copied from the original science fair thread. All project need to be finished by the meeting that takes place in June. This gives the judges a few weeks to collaborate on who they think will be the winner, plus gives the sponsors time to book everything for the winner. I will copy this in all of the science fair project threads.
TIMELINE!

1. There would be a 2 month period for people to submit to the judges what their experiment will be about. This will also include a detailed report about how they plan on researching and doing the experiment. This should end at the end of January.

------------------The judges would then give them ideas/comments on what they are presented with, at the end of the period. Basically, to guide/coach them to do things that will make their projects successfull. This is probably the biggest and best change. Last year, the special judges were not there to help coach you along the process, and thus were not able to give a concise opinion about what they were looking for. This process would immediately began after #1 and would take about 1 month. This should take us to the end of February

2. There would then be another 4 month period for you to actually get the experiment done. This would also give you the opportunity to create your formal project, as well as your formal project packet, including pictures, reports, etc. This should take us to the end of June.

------------------The judges would then judge all of the final projects and pick the winner. The winner will NOT be announced until all of the RHM and MACNA details are worked out.
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
The end of February signifies the end of the judges "coaching" process. Please do not wait until then to get your experiments going. SO, what this means is if you have any question, or comments about your project that you would like to get an opinion on from the judges, it needs to be soon! The judges have asked a lot of questions, hopefully you all are answering them, and taking their opinions/comments into consideration as they ultimately will be sending you to MACNA 2012 with $500 CASH in your hand!!

I also have had a few requests from the judges so I'm her to oblige.

Please come up with an "elevator pitch" for your project. Basically what that means is that they would like to see 1-3 sentences on what your project is, and why (nice idea Rich :) ). Short and sweet.

Also let's try and see if you can get started on your official format.

Objective
Hypothesis
Experiment
Variable
Results
Conclusion

I understand that some of those things won't be able to be filled out until the conclusion of the project, but it may be nice to fill it out with what you do have at the moment. (thanks Christine :) )
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
The end of February signifies the end of the judges "coaching" process. Please do not wait until then to get your experiments going. SO, what this means is if you have any question, or comments about your project that you would like to get an opinion on from the judges, it needs to be soon! The judges have asked a lot of questions, hopefully you all are answering them, and taking their opinions/comments into consideration as they ultimately will be sending you to MACNA 2012 with $500 CASH in your hand!!

I also have had a few requests from the judges so I'm her to oblige.

Please come up with an "elevator pitch" for your project. Basically what that means is that they would like to see 1-3 sentences on what your project is, and why (nice idea Rich :) ). Short and sweet.

Also let's try and see if you can get started on your official format.

Objective
Hypothesis
Experiment
Variable
Results
Conclusion

I understand that some of those things won't be able to be filled out until the conclusion of the project, but it may be nice to fill it out with what you do have at the moment. (thanks Christine :) )
 

hurrafreak

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
Unfortunately there have been some unexpected things come up in Tripple T's life. This means that he will have to bow out of the competition. This thread has been closed.
 
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