So by now we hope that some of you have checked out the trout cam (Montgomery School Trout Cam).  Today was a great day for our trout.  We lowered the breeding net and our swim-up fry have swam out.  We estimated that about 1/4 of our trout have gone into the big tank. Along with our perfectly healthy fish we have some oddities like our trout with a head growing out of its stomach, Slingshot the Two trouts attached at the tail, and spinner - the trout who can only swim in circles. Still we are celebrating how well our trout are doing!  

  The water in the trout tank is starting to show signs of changing chemistry. The Nitrate level has increased slightly from 5ppm to 7 ppm.  This is expected as the trout are starting to eat the powdered fish food.  The combination of left over food, and waste from the trout, are adding Ammonia to the water.  The ammonia is processed by Nitrosomonas bacteria and turned into Nitrite (a lethal form of nitrogen to trout).  The Nitrite is converted by Nitrobacters into Nitrate, a less harmful nitrogen compound that is normally absorbed by plants.  This year we added a new component, a Hydro-sponge, to our tank to help process the waste faster.  Last year, as the trout grew, the water became excessively cloudy.  The Hydro-sponge creates additional shelter for nitrogen-fixing bacteria as water is pulled through the sponge to aid in the processing of waste.  We are hoping that this will help keep the Ammonia and Nitrite levels lower than we experienced last year.  Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to keep checking in for new news about our trout at http://montgomeryschooltrout.wikispaces.com/.

- MS Trout Team