Petsmart Supplies

We went to Petsmart today in order to get more supplies for feeding the oysters.  Since oysters are algae eaters I am going to see if this type of algae feeder wafers will work.  I am hoping to replicate what oysters eat in the wild.  I also bought some aquarium chemical test strips.  I plan on using these to see if there are any chemical changes during the experiment.  I will test the water before adding oysters to the water....then once a day.  The test strips have a scale that is used for either freshwater or saltwater.  One problem I foresee is the Chesapeake Bay is neither fresh nor salt...it is called brackish water.  Which means its part fresh water and salt water to live.  The farther north you go up the bay the less salt in the water.  The closer to the mouth of the bay the saltier.  My theory is as long as I am consistent with using the scales it should indicate if there are any changes.  However I do not expect the reading to be accurate....however it should give me data on if there is change.

Chesapeake Bay Trip II

I went to Gibson Island to get more Chesapeake Bay Water for the experiment.  I brought a 10 gallon container that my family sometimes uses for camping. I ended up bringing back over 10 gallons of water.  The weather was very cold, the wind was blowing on us on both sides of the point and the water was freezing.  I tried to use the siphon but it was not working fast enough so we dunked the containers under water and let them fill up. It was much faster but my hands were freezing afterward.

Contacted the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

I contacted Meghan Hoffman (mhoffman@cbf.org) who works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  I asked if I could tour their Oyster Restoration Project facility.   We need to set up the appointment in advance.

Oyster Tonging Video

My Dad helped me create a cool video of my brother and me tonging for oysters.  We used a program called iMovie.

St. Michaels Trip

 Today we planed a trip to St. Michael's to visit the Chesapeake Maritime Museum.  The museum is located about 90 miles away from Washington DC on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.  It was a lot of fun crossing the huge Chesapeake Bay Bridge which is over 3 miles long! It took us about an hour and a half to get there.  Before we arrived at St. Michael's we went to a Petsmart in order to find an aquarium to keep the oysters that we will try to catch. They had a fantastic exhibit on oysters.  I learned so much about oysters and took a lot of video notes with my new iPad.  Probably my favorite part of the trip was I was able to use tongs to catch my own oysters for my experiment.

Gibson Island Trip 1

I visited with my Grandparents at their home on the Chesapeake Bay (Gibson Island). I talked to them about my science project for school.  They told me to contact their friend who lives in Annapolis, Maryland that is raising oysters.  Her name is Edna Marsteller.

Science Fair Log Book & Blog

With the help from my dad I am going to set up a on-line blog for my science project which will be an online version of my log book.  I am excited about learning how to do this.  My hope is that I can share this experiment with other friends and family members who will not be able to attend the fair.  This will also help me with the actual log book as well.