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    Gernald's Avatar
    Gernald Posts: 901, Reputation: 93
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    #1

    Apr 9, 2008, 07:14 AM
    Sinking wafers.fish food
    I'm doing a science project and was wondering if there is a way to make the sinking wafers that you feed fish, disolve in to the water?

    It's not going to kill anything, just dirty up a beaker so we can observe it with snails.

    Any help greatly appreciated!
    templelane's Avatar
    templelane Posts: 1,177, Reputation: 227
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    #2

    Apr 9, 2008, 09:35 AM
    I'd crush them to increase the surface area. If stirring them in didn't work then I would heat up the solution.

    Use a stirring bar and leave it for a couple of hours before resorting to heating the solution.

    Depending on what is in the fish flakes maybe not all of it can be dissolved but I doubt that.

    Good luck :)
    jem02081's Avatar
    jem02081 Posts: 65, Reputation: 19
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    #3

    Apr 9, 2008, 06:17 PM
    Is the idea that you want to create a fine particle suspension that will settle onto the bottom of a container creating a film of particles which you see the movement of snails?

    Do you have a blender? You could blend the food in water. Then let the particles settle for some time & pour off (decant) the fine particles that didn’t settle. Finally resuspend the particles in the volume you need.

    If you don’t have a blender available you could grind the dry particles with a mortar & pestle (kitchen or lab) or perhaps in a coffee bean grinder (just don’t tell the coffee drinkers what you have done! ;)
    Gernald's Avatar
    Gernald Posts: 901, Reputation: 93
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    #4

    Apr 10, 2008, 06:00 PM
    Thanks for all your help, we were measuring the percent transmission of the water using a spectrophometer to see if the snails actually helped clean it up or made it worse... so far all they've done is made it messier.
    We ended up doing almost all of your suggestions, stirring it with a stir bar, heating it, cooling it, crushing them with glass rods, and finally decanting the darn thing. In the end we got what we wanted cloudy water.

    So, thanks for all of your suggestions... back to the lab.
    templelane's Avatar
    templelane Posts: 1,177, Reputation: 227
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    #5

    Apr 11, 2008, 01:11 AM
    Cheers for the update!

    Something just won't dissolve...

    That's one thing about science, it rarely works as expected.
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