VARIABLES and STANDARDIZATION

[MDPinUSA]

All those qualifed that sent their information by March 10, 2007 will receive enough BIO-SEA Marinemix to perform enough water changes to bring their aquarium to 100% BIO-SEA within 6-8 weeks.

Additional BIO-SEA will be sent to keep these marine displays at 100% BIO-SEA for an additional 4-6 weeks.

Guidelines and a survey will be provided so each participant can have similar systems by the end of the project.

The only differences will be: lighting, filtration, diet.

OSB, I just returned from the Sandwich Islands. One of my tasks was to collect seawater on an incoming tide.

This is being compared to NSW collected off the coast of California some months ago.

Another research assistant will be collecting NSW from the third coast of the USA.

I am hoping I can secure a few samples of NSW from the RED SEA and Persian Gulf this May.

This along coupled with this project should provide useful information for those interested.

Cheers.

[RonnieM]

Holy smokes!!!! Sounds like it is going to be one heck of a study. Can't wait!!!

[ReefSilly]

I guess i'm to late March 10th has already gone

[olsaltybastard]

So, this would be a good time to confirm that you received all of my information!!

Sammich Islands eh? Research.... no doubt that some folks will demand that you provide some of this information free of charge (you know those types!) I'm still interested in what this Bio-Sea experiment is all about. Excited to be a part of it as well.

[phlounder]

Hey MDP, you need a sample from the Louisiana gulf coast? I assure you it will be your muddiest sample.

[MDPinUSA]

phlounder, if you can get two quart bottles of clean, clear NSW from your area please do so.

Use bottles that contained drinking water. Clean each bottle out with water being collected a few times.

Avoid collecting samples from any known places of contamination. Oil (hydrocarbons, etc).

Avoid collecting samples from any fresh water outlets into the bay.

Collect samples as far off shore as possible. Collect on an incoming tide.

Collect one sample bottle for yourself. I will advise what you should test for.

Anyone else that lives in a coastal region, please do the same.

If some people can do this, please advise and I will send an address for you to send the samples to. We will send you a check for your shipping costs.

Cheers. MDP

[phlounder]

Hmmm. The terms "clean" and "clear" water from my region is going to be tough. The Gulf is very muddy here. Also there are a lot of oil rigs all over the place, even further out.

Since the hurricane, there is probably no telling what got dragged back offshore when the tidal surge subsided. Lots of large tanks full of various hazardous materials ended up strewn throughout the marsh and leaked in the wildlife reserve and no doubt many of these floated back offshore and sank close in.

If I can find someone going offshore I will definitely see if I can get them to collect some water once they hit green water (which is a number of miles out). I am only about 50 miles from the coast, but it sounds like that would not be the best place to collect a sample. I will work on it.

[RonnieM]

My brother in-law is a diver in the GOM. I could get him to collect a few samples if needed. Would there be any value to collecting samples from different depths or would surface samples be fine?

[phlounder]

Ronnie, that would be a lot better than me falling off the jetties in Cameron. I think the area that I usually frequent is just too industrial and the samples wouldn't be what MDP is really looking for.

[MDPinUSA]

Ronnie, if you can get a couple of quart bottles of NSW as described, advise.

phl good thinking to avoid colecting NSW with any conaminant concerns.