Project Reservoir s S.T.A.X Teamstaxprojectreservoir.weebly.com/uploads/2/9/7/9/... · We began by creating a model Tilapia Chinampa, which is a floating garden that contains aeration,

Project Reservoir S.T.A.X. Proposal Page 1

Christa McAuliffe School, P.S. # 28 167 Hancock Ave., Jersey City, NJ, 07307

201.714.4360

Request for Permit by

Project Reservoir’s S.T.A.X Team

Laila Durrani Miquel Peralta Nataly Oaxaca

Mentors: Robert O’Donnell

Joel Naatus Malissa Yabut


Objective

To receive a New Jersey State permit for the “captive release” of our aqua cultured tilapia as a

method of reducing algae in our local isolated body of water, Reservoir #3 in Jersey City, NJ.

Introduction

We are a group of eighth graders who have developed a solution to assist in the battle of algae

at Reservoir #3 in Jersey City, NJ. Our project is based on algae reduction in a body of water

using safe, natural ways instead of harmful chemicals. We are a three member group composed

of Laila Durrani, Miguel Peralta and Nataly Oaxaca. We thought of using a safe way to reduce

algae so we came up with the idea of using tilapia. We received 20+ Tilapia from one of our

contacts, David F. Haase who is a breeder and distributor of tilapia. From the point we received

them we started feeding them small bits of algae and then more as they grew. We’ve learned

that tilapia will eat anything, especially algae and duckweed that we found to be a problem in

our Reservoir and worldwide through our research. For example, this past July a young toddler

at the age of 2 years old drowned in Prospect Park Lake in New York City. Due to poor

visibility, the child could have been saved if it wasn't for the amount of duckweed blocking the

view of the water below. We hope to fix problems like this in the world using tilapia and our

containment technology.


Environmental Issue

The environmental issue we hope to solve is the massive presence of algae and duckweed in our

Reservoir and other freshwater bodies of water in New Jersey. Through our research we have

found that this problem is not only around our area but in other states and countries too. When a

person is canoeing, fishing, or swimming algae disrupts them. Some algae blooms are harmful;

they are called toxic cyanobacteria, which causes mammals, fish, or other organism in the water

to potentially die and toxic blooms can also cause human illnesses as well. We explore this

issue further on our website on a page called “Tilapia Talk” and it explains more about other

places that have algae problems that could benefit from our biological solution for algae control.

The link to “Tilapia Talk” is http://staxprojectreservoir.weebly.com/tilapia-talk.html.

Below are pictures of algae blooms.

http://staxprojectreservoir.weebly.com/tilapia-talk.html


Our Solution

Through our research, we learned of a study by Diana Spriggs, a pond owner in Bradner Ohio.

Ms. Spriggs used tilapia for algae reduction and we knew that if it worked in Ohio, it could also

work in New Jersey. We found this in the Blade newspaper where it states, “For the third

straight year, Spriggs will use blue tilapia, a finned friend with a robust appetite for devouring

the green scourge that haunts pond owners, as a natural control mechanism for the algae bloom

that is certain to come with warmer weather.” The success story of tilapia in Ohio inspired us to

take action to get rid of our algae in Reservoir #3 with the use of tilapia.

In the State of Ohio the tilapia are released directly into freshwater bodies. Here in the

Reservoir, in an effort to limit loss of tilapia and to generate better data, our plan will be to

release a small number of tilapia into a floating habitat that will support their population. We

expect algae will accumulate on the netting of the fish containment system, and we will collect

and feed the tilapia weekly by dumping the accumulated algae into the system to feed the fish.

At the conclusion of the summer months and into early fall our tilapia will be collected from the

system and moved back into our school’s aquaculture lab for the winter months. We termed

our fish containment system the Tilapia Chinampa.

Our Tilapia

Here you will see the growth of the tilapia ever since we had received them as babies.



Our Containment System

We began by creating a model Tilapia Chinampa, which is a floating garden that contains

aeration, a containment system, and a hydroponic garden. We made the model out of PVC

pipes, nylon netting, plastic floats, and a solar panel to power the water pump. We were

successful in isolated three, two inch tilapia within the system for over a month. It was an error

made by us that caused them to escape into our 2000 gallon pool.

Model Tilapia Chinampa


Based on the success of our model system we built a life size replica which we have in

Reservoir #3. It also includes hydroponics and an aerator built within it. Miguel and Laila

caught and relocated about 15 blue gilled sunnies into our chinampa to use as test subjects to

determine if fish can survive in our containment system. We were able to successfully contain

the blue gill sunny fish for three weeks before we had an issue with our technology which

caused the fish to escape back into the Reservoir.

Tilapia Chinampa (located in Reservoir #3)

We have learned from both

errors that caused the release of

fish from our Tilapia Chinampa

and have modified our

technology to prevent this from

occurring again.


Blue gilled sunnies within our Tilapia Chinampa as it floats in

Reservoir #3!


Feeding Trials

Since we received the tilapia as babies we saw it as a perfect opportunity to get them used

to eating algae and duckweed at a young age. To get them accustomed to this new way of

eating, we initially hand fed them. Now we feed them regular algae. We also made algae

patties we created during our summer school program. Below, you will see how much & what

we feed our tilapia.

FEEDING TRIAL #1

Day 1

Description:

Today is the first day we are putting tilapia in a separate tank. Now we will put 2 tilapia and

start our testing to see how they react with algae. There is about 2.8 grams of algae in that tank.


This picture is the same image below, just with a clear viewing of the algae.

Day 2

Description:

Today is the second day of testing and most of the algae are gone. There is a massive difference

in the amount of algae from the first day.


Day 3

Description:

Today there are barely any algae left in the tank.

FEEDING TRIAL #2

Day 1

Description:

Today we placed a new type of algae into the tank and when we arrived back to the room all of

it was gone. It was around 8AM when we put the algae in & it was 4PM when we realize all

was consumed.

Feeding Trials: Continued

Below we have links to feeding trials like Java Moss and trials in Reservoir #3 as well when we

had the blue-gilled sunnies inside the chinampa we built. They show that our tilapia eat almost

everything we give them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW_aFDAa-PU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FNAd1sre-A






Community and Education Outreach

Over the summer we had the opportunity to get work done faster and teach kids about

nature as well as learning things about Project Reservoir. They made solar ovens and used the

ovens to cook algae that we collected from the Reservoir the weekend before. We turned them

into algae patties. We keep the algae stored in the freezer and will used it weekly during the

winter when wild algae cannot be caught in our area. It was a great learning experience for us

and the kids!


SOLAR OVENS


These pictures show our Saturday

and summer classes where we

conducted lessons for students and

showed them what we are doing for

our Project. We also showed over

100 students how to make their

own solar ovens and create algae

patties.


Rutgers Students with Advanced Solar Panel President, Dr. Lyle Rawlings. Here they are viewing our tilapia chinampa model and discussing the solar panel we used.

Full article for the news event is here: http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2014/10/supporters_of_solar_energy_end.html



Community and Educational Outreach: Continued

We also have been reported on a newspaper many times thanks to the connections of our

mentors Mr. O’Donnell, Mr. Naatus, and Mrs. Yabut. We have also been featured in the

American Graduate National program where we had two brief views of how Project Reservoir

is and how our teachers are using a STEM based approach to learning.

The two video links are listed below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_1pgBfWLU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnozawtL0No

We also were featured in Underwriters Laboratory’s (UL) National Commercial to

represent STEAM. This also shows how we are a dedicated group of kids and teachers trying to

help the environment and reservoir through STEAM projects. The link for that video is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PbU8qMu3tk&feature=player_embedded

We have also had the privilege to be invited to many events around the community.

Recently we went to Washington Park and had the opportunity to share our project with our

community. We show them our websites and explain what we do.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PbU8qMu3tk&feature=player_embedded


Conclusion

We sincerely thank you and your office for considering our proposal for

contained tilapia release within Reservoir #3 in Jersey City, NJ. We have spent a

considerable amount of time caring for and proving that tilapia can be an excellent

addition to any freshwater system that has algae or duckweed issues. We look

forward to hearing from your office and developing a solid partnership with the

New Jersey State Division of Fish & Wildlife.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: Homepage: http://staxprojectreservoir.weebly.com/ Twitter: PR_stax Email: [email protected] YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkAc2wIQpFEVMBjKfSM1RTg Project Reservoir: http://projectreservoir.weebly.com/

http://staxprojectreservoir.weebly.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://projectreservoir.weebly.com/

Documents

Project Reservoir s S.T.A.X Teamstaxprojectreservoir.weebly.com/uploads/2/9/7/9/... · We began by creating a model Tilapia Chinampa, which is a floating garden that contains aeration,