Quest

2003:
7/13/03
7/08/03
6/21/03
6/13/03
5/19/03
5/06/03
4/20/03
3/25/03
3/23/03
2/18/03
1/5/03

2002:
11/11/02
10/11/02
10/03/02
9/1/02
8/10/02
7/14/02
7/2/02
6/4/02
4/6/02
3/14/02

2001:
6/28/01
5/31/01
4/26/01
3/29/01

2000:
11/30/00
10/24/00
9/28/00
8/21/00
7/27/00
6/22/00
5/25/00
4/20/00
3/10/00
2/24/00

Q U E S T Newsletter of the Madison Aquatic Gardeners Club
8/10/02 From: John Glaeser 233-5182

MEETING CALENDAR: September 26, October 24, November 21. (Hard to pin down dates that work for everyone). Folks with scheduling conflicts, please understand.

PLANS: This past Tuesday evening Dave Stalowski, Mark Adams, Linda Horvath, Gordon Hartman and I did some brainstorming. Starting with the Thursday, September 26 meeting, the club will be structuring a controlled experiment with eight 5 1/2 gallon planted aquaria involving variables of substrate, water hardness and lighting.

Mark Adams says: "The design which we are using is referred to as a two level three factor experiment. Water hardness, light type, and substrate composition are our three factors. "Two level" refers to the two variations or states that each factor may adapt. This design is sometimes written as 2^3 or two raised to the third power. Later we may as a group wish to attempt to quantify our results from this experiment. There are numerical analysis which we could perform to determine the significance of any factor and their interactions provided we can first quantify each factor (provided my notes and memory are sufficient to remember the details). Later I can show you how we were taught to create a cube plot and use that plot to find the "hidden replications" or interactions between the factors”.

Configurations: Set (A)… 4 tanks under cool white twin tube fixture: 1. Soil base with gravel topping in soft water. 2. Gravel only in soft water. 3. Soil base with gravel topping in hard water. 4. Gravel only in hard water. Set (B)… 4 tanks under so called "plant growing" bulb: 1. Soil base with gravel topping in soft water. 2. Gravel only in soft water. 3. Soil base with gravel topping in hard water. 4. Gravel only in hard water.

Plants: Anubias barteri v. “Nana”, Cryprocoryne wendtii, Eleocharis aciculais “Dwarf Hairgrass”, Microsorium pteropus, “Java Fern”, Sagittaria subulata and the floating plants Salvinia minima and Azolla caroliniana. Each tank will have the same number and varieties, damp weighed and trimmed to help assure an equivalent collection for each tank. Eight folks will become “Tank Masters” in charge of creating a pleasing aquascape.

During subsequent days, I’ll do maintenance and data collection. At the October and November meetings we’ll check things out.…….Sound like fun?