Science fair...

[elitesrock]

MY QUESTION: Will an Amazon sword filter the water and keep chemical levels down better then a Rotala, if both tanks have 3 tetras in them?
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DAY 1: I went to the pet store today. I picked up a healthy looking Rotala and a healthy looking Amazon Sword. I picked up 6 healthy Neon Tetra's, all of the same size.

I filled both of the aquariums with pre filtered water, and added the plants. i added the tetra's about 2 hours later after floating them.

DAY 3: The tank with the amazon sword looked clearer. The fish with the amazon swords looked more healthy as well, there colorings were brighter. Also a tetra in with the Rotala died. It looked (pregnant)?

DAY 5: Testing water for ammonia:

RESULTS: TANK WITH AMAZON SWORD HAD SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER AMMONIA, EVEN THOUGH IT HAD 1 MORE FISH.

[bmlbytes]

Unless you immediately pulled out the dead tetra, a dead animal will produce a large amount of ammonia. Also, were both tanks brand new and unused and uncycled before this experiment?

If so, those are interesting results.

[emc7]

Do you have time to repeat the experiment? Switch the tanks, refill with clean. Do it 3 times with the same result and you will have a good evidence.

[iheartfish:)]

Damn it, why don't we ever we have science fairs???

[nagonokami]

Every tank we run is essentially a science project. So in effect we have an ongoing science fair whenever we compare our results on, say, this forum.
But on a serious note, repeat the experiment again, and again, and again. until you are satisfied with the results. That is science, repetition.

[bmlbytes]

[emc7]

Thanks for reminding me to catch up on xkcd,

Next step, weighing the plants to the thousandth of a gram and plotting ammonia level vs. plant weight for each type of plant The only thing better than repeatability is trends.

Any aquarist learns a lot by trial and error. The ones who take good notes and make logs learn faster.

[elitesrock]

Thanks guys, I am doing everything you guys are recommending, or at least trying!

[Osiris]

science fair, i really can't wait until my kids start these! So many cool ideas, though mine include space :/ like outerspace experiments hmm.