Well the theme of this week so far is summed up in the title here. Because we know these coral ponds were going to be set up next week we ordered all of our kits and probes with expedited shipping… and they’ve been trickling in over a long period since. We’ve been doing some initial experimentation with the measurements, but I’ll leave that story for the students.
Today we received colometric scanners that measure nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphorus, and dissolved oxygen. Only it turns out that it’s really only the scanners… they don’t actually come with the reagents required to use them. Sort of like how the pH meter came on Monday with with instructions for activating and calibrating the electrode but none of those solutions either.
Any of course the day before Thanksgiving is clearly the best time to be putting in rush orders of reagents. Not to mention the various things that still haven’t arrived and are about to get eaten by the holiday.
So… assuming everything gets here by early next week, and that we can get it all to work properly, and that we even have the right equipment to measure the levels we’ll encounter in the first place, we should be all set.
Jonathan Eisen's Lab 