Small Fry to Go - Week #6; A Student's Perspective; "pH, Nitrates, Hydronium Ions - Say What?"

How Do Environmental Factors Effect the Fish?

When caring for fish, as students at Temecula Preparatory School (TPS) are doing through the Small Fry to Go project, monitoring their environment is very important.

Trout, like many freshwater fish, are susceptible to sudden changes in environmental factors. The TPS students use 5 in 1 aquarium test strips, which can track many factors, which include pH, nitrate levels, ammonia levels, the general hardness, and carbonate hardness of the water. Although all of these are very important, pH is a more familiar topic.

Put simply, a pH test determines the acidity or basicity of a solution. That is, it finds out if a solution is an acid or a base, and how extreme that inclination is. There are many different ways to define an acid and a base, but the simplest and more common practice, at least at the high school level, is a measure of ions.

A solution, which has an acid, contains a certain concentration of hydronium ions. If the concentration of these ions is greater the pH reading becomes smaller. A solution, which has a base, contains concentrations of hydroxide ions. As the concentration of hydroxide ions increases, the pH reading becomes larger. If an acid and a base combine, they form water and a byproduct.

High concentrations of acids or bases tend to be corrosive and caustic when combined with organic material. Trout prefer to be in an environment with a pH of 7.0, which sits comfortably in the center of the pH scale. The students at TPS test the water every time they change it out, to ensure the trout are living comfortably in the LABitat. If the pH is on the high side, they make sure to take extra care in ensuring the tank is clean and has no excess waste, while changing out another couple gallons of water. Although a simple process, the reasoning and chemistry behind it is very fascinating.

More importantly, the students are learning how critical it is to think about the use of our environment and those things we can do to preserve it, and those things we should not do to pollute it. After all, we are all organic creatures.

Alexander Choi, Sophomore,

Temecula Preparatory School