I just visited the HMNS to work on the clownfish tank. I took a sample of the tank water downstairs, where I would be able to perform multiple tests to determine the levels of different chemicals in the water. I tested for pH, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, phosphates, and carbonate hardness; I, however, was most concerned with the calcium test. This is because in the previous weeks, Christine and I have found that all of the chemical levels in the tank are normal except for the calcium, which is a little low. I found that the calcium was lower than it should be, but it was higher than it has been in the previous weeks. It was about 320ppm, which is a 20ppm increase from the 300ppm that it used to be during the past few weeks. To further increase the calcium levels, I added calcium supplement to the tank. Christine and I have been adding this calcium supplement once a day for the past couple of weeks, and the calcium levels have slowly begun to rise.
One interesting thing that I found while at my internship was that the clownfish tank had a thick layer of algae covering the bottom. This is interesting because I visited the museum two weeks ago and saw almost no algae in the tank. It was so impressive that algae could grow from barely being in the tank to coating the entire floor in just two weeks.
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