Rongomai Stream Visit - Water Testing

Rongomai Stream Visit

31/03/16

Today Room 15 walked down to the Rongomai Stream to test the water.

Firstly we had Kate from Waicare who was showing Room 15 two posters, one said New Zealand’s Freshwater Fish and the other Freshwater  invertebrates.

As we were near the stream Kate asked Dontay if he could use the  thermometer to check the air temperature and it was 21.6 degrees.

Afterwards Kate Asked Altezza to check the water temperature and it was 18.8 degrees.

The next person Kate called was Israr, he was testing out Nitrite and Nitrate, both of them were 0% so that means the water is just right for the fish.

Then there was Reana who tested the dissolved oxygen and it was right level for the fish to breathe in.

It was my turn next, I had to check the phosphorous. First I had to get the exact amount of stream water in two containers. Once both of the containers were filled up me and Kate put one of the lids on one of the containers and the other one we put chemicals in. After that was finished we waited for 5 minutes and the one with the chemicals changed colour. As it changed colour I had to solve which colour matched the one with chemicals and it was 0.05.

At the end me and Fusi had to pour water into a tube. Before we screwed the lid on we put in a magnet. Me and Fusi got had to show everyone what to do, they had to look in one end and tell us when the magnet disappears, We measured the distance in centimeters and shows us the water clarity.

We thanked Kate for showing us some of the equipment they use for checking the stream. After that we came back to school. We will visit the stream again early next term.

By Salarina