What Would You Like to See Researched?

[mojoreef]

Sounds cool, I think we just would have to try and dial it in a bit. Bacteria populations on going to be based on the amount of Carbon, P and N mostly so the water that has more of those should have more bacterial counts. I dont know if you have tried to isolate bacteria prior but its not a fun job, lol Specially if your a blind old man like me, hehehe

I think it would be cool to do the experiment you have listed but to concentrate on a time frame type of thing?? Say X amount of aerobic bacteria take X amount of time to reduce X amount of N/P and use X amount of Carbon?? then replicate for anaerobic? Maybe see if Facultive work better the Obligated?? or combos work better?? SO on and so forth?

This would give folks the info required to say of if I have X bioload I know X amount of this and that type of bacteria can either do it or not or how much can they do or not?? Just a thought.

I tell you what since you are a member and a student RF will do a bit of sponsoring for ya. Put something together on what and how you would to do your experiment and Rf will see what they can do to help you put it together??


Mike

 

[Lbrewer34]

That sounds awesome, I figured that isolating specific bacteria would be a pain, I was going to ask my micro teacher what the best method to accomplish this was. I was thinking that by staining and determining wether they are positive or negative, then taking their shape and growth rate into consideration I might be able to classify them as anaerobes, aerobes or facultative. I haven't tried this method before so it is probably much more complicated that what I was thinking. Your idea of taking known bacteria populations and seeing their effect on water quality based on the amount of C,N,and P made available will be much more feasible and accurate, as well as giving an idea of which types/combinations of bacteria promote better water quality. I could also do a follow on experiment and combine the different types of bacteria that are most successful to see what combinations yield the best results. Thanks for the sponsor offer, i will definitely ask for some help in planning, designing and setting up the project. I definitely love the input and ideas suggested, and even if I can't expand on some, I might be able to use the suggestions to help others design their research project.
As far as the timeline, I know that next semester I will start "senior seminar" where I think I design and put everything down on paper. The following semester is "senior research project" where I think I actually perform the experiment. As I get more clarification I'll keep everyone posted. Until then, I have between now and this summer to get a good idea of what to do, so definitely keep the suggestions coming!! This is going to be a fun project.

 

[jrgilles]

I have never tried isolating bacteria from my fish tank, but it is actually very simple to do (theoretically.) You would have to know what the bacteria will grow on, but for a lot of things just an LB-Agar plate will work.

I can try an experiment for you if you want. I can put a bit of tank water (maybe 200 ul) onto a plate and spread it and see if it grows. If it does, you would then do a streak plate if needed to get isolation (or you may be able to get them off the plate if they aren't too many colonies.)

I could also try breaking off a piece of live rock and streaking that on a plate to see what grows. May have to break it in half to get any anaerobes out. If the bacteria we have in our tanks don't grow on LB-agar, some research would have to be done to figure out what they grow on. (I would suspect you would then spike the LB-agar with ammonia, nitrites, phosphates, etc. to keep whatever bacteria separate.)

Although doing a gram stain would give you some info, as to cell mambrane type, shape (cocci, bacillus, rods, etc.), I don't think you will be able to tell anything about their function from it. If you actually wanted to ID the bacteria, you would want to use something called a 'dichotomous key' where you would do many different tests, each with a yes or no answer, to narrow down what the bacteria are. Your bio teacher should be able to provide you with a dichotomous key, or the interweb. It probably wouldn't be too hard to isolate and grow the different bacterias if you decided that would be helpful to your experiment. They are happy at tank temperature, so they should grow in a warm room if on a solid media plate, if you wanted to grow a lot, you would have to do it in liquid culture, and would need some extra equipment that your high school bio lab may or may not have

 

[Lbrewer34]

Luck for me, the bio program at the college I'm going to is pretty well established, so I'm not too worried about the equipment, but I'll still have to check about liquid cultures. Finding and culturing the anaerobes is part I was worried about, but I was thinking that they may be in the biofilm, or as you suggested inside the live rock. I was also thinking about down in the sand bed, but isolating an area like that without exposing it to oxygen seems like it would be difficult, but I'm wiling to bet that between the micro teacher and the ecology teacher they might know of a good way to get at the anaerobes.

 

[TheKraken]

If you can stop by UW we have quite a library. If you PM an email address I have a link to a journal that covers the some methods for culturing marine bacteria. I also have some access to an electron microscope. If I can use the sample and images for education (diatoms are neat) I could try to take a look.

 

[jrgilles]

So you could break a rock, take a piece of it, then culture it in an anaerobic jar. The aerobic bacteria will not divide, and will eventually die due to there not being any oxygen. What you have left will be the anaerobes. You can then streak these and isolate a colony.

TheKraken has a good point. I also have access through UW to a ton of articles. I could do a search on culturing marine bacteria, and maybe grab some PDF's. I also have some stain I could part with (probably many different kinds) once you figure out what you need. Also various light microscopes, but you probably have those at the college lab you have referred to.

 

[TheKraken]

Specifically:
Culturing marine bacteria – an essential prerequisite for biodiscovery.

The "single cell encapsulation in gel micro-droplets" looks promising. My understanding is that a lot of things from the ocean culture poorly so there is always a chance of discovery and really being the first to do something...

I just want to know how live rock works.

 

[jrgilles]

That looks awesome. I just did a pubmed search, but either my search criteria were bad, or pubmed isn't giving me the papers I want (prob mostly medical stuff, but there was some stuff on nitrogen fixing cyano, etc.) All really way to in depth on some specific topic.

What you found looks like a great survey. Is there a library in the oceanography building?

 

[Lbrewer34]

So I ran the idea of testing the effects of P and N on obliterates and facultative bacteria by my bio teacher and he definitely liked it. I brought up the problem with isolating and culturing the anaerobes, and lucky for me, his doctorate is actually in the isolation of anaerobes. As the schedule looks now, I can actually start the research project in the fall. This summer I will be taking a microbial ecology course with him, (along with o-chem) then microbiology in the fall. The research suggestions are still open, but I think I'd like to keep it focused on bacteria or microbiological aspects of reef environments. Either way, I will need to separate environments for the specific bacteria. I was thinking of a segregated tank, like you would see in a fish store, but I don't think that would effectively separate the different environments. My other idea was to just set up different tanks, maybe even fish bowls. I'm going to be starting from scratch, so suggestions and considerations are more than welcome.
Thanks,
Lee

 

[jrgilles]

I have a few spare tanks around. a 5 gallon (pretty sure it holds water) and a 10 gallon (definately holds water.)

You could also do it in some tupperware containers or something like that, or small plastic storage bins, mini garbage cans, or whatever...

I have some anaerobe culturing contrainers that I could let you borrow if you promise not to damage them. You can let your teacher know that I have some, and see if he thinks they will be useful. He sounds like the expert here on anaerobes. Once you guys figure out how you are going to do it, let me know. I also could also help out with some consumable culturing materials if you end up needing them.

 

[Lbrewer34]

Thanks, I'll let you know if I need anything. I know the school has a lot of stuff, as it gets closer I'll have a good idea of what I'll need outside of what they have. I would think the school should have anaerobe culturing containers, but if not, I might take you up on your offer, thanks. Ill run some thoughts through my head and see what I come up with, but I was wondering how big a role light was going to play. Should I look at just standard light bulbs that cover the daylight spectrum or look for lighting similar to what is set up on typical reef tanks. I know the corals need the higher intensity lighting, but I'm not sure if the bacteria need or benefit from it. Any thoughts?

 

[mwebber28]

Research why women are so controlling over finances in a marriage

Oh wrong topic!! . I like the options given so far. Mojo has some great ideas.



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Laughed so hard beer came out my nose...