Holly Monroe (UR) -Testing Water Samples!

Last week I mentioned the different key components of what a crab trap must have, but this week I am going to speak upon how to take water samples and what they could mean. The kit I am going to use for testing is the LaMotte Green Low- Cost Estuary Monitoring Kit (1). This kit is a nonhazardous way to test the salinity of brackish waters found in an estuary. Brackish waters consist of waters that have a high salinity, but not as high as the ocean. Brackish water may also cause salt water and fresh waters to mix, forming an estuary. The oceans salinity level is usually around 35ppt (parts per thousand).

Spruce Creek Brackish Water

Testing Kit

Included in the kit:
1) Manual with diagrammed instructions.
2) Laminated color chart.
3) Apparatus.
4) TesTab reagents.

Tests Included in the Kit:
1) Coliform bacteria (2 test samples).
2) Salinity.
3) Dissolved Oxygen.
4) Nitrate.
5) pH.
6) Phosphate.
7) Temperature.
8) Turbidity.

As mentioned in previous posts I have mentioned testing the salinity the most. The importance to testing the salinity between my two locations could have a strong impact of the crabs preferred locations. Through research I have found that adult male blue crabs prefer low-salinity waters up-stream versus their female counter part that likes higher-salinity closer to an estuary mouth (2).  The dissolved Oxygen test will provide me with how much Oxygen is in my two locations. As for Nitrate it is composed of Oxygen and Nitrogen. Nitrogen is an important component of plant life, but to much Nitrogen can cause issues. The pH test will indicate if the water is Acidic, Alkaline, or neutral on a scale of 0-14, as seen below.

pH scale (3)

For Phosphate, much like Nitrate it is important for plant life but to much can cause issues. Temperature is another important test because certain crabs may like certain temperatures.
Turbidity tests how cloudy the water maybe. Recently in lab I had taken a sample from Spruce Creek to test the turbidity and salinity, both came out with surprising results. I had made an error previously when testing turbidity which could have caused my end result. As for salinity my result came out to 11ppt. This was shockingly low for it to be estuary water, but it could have rained previously before i collected my sample, skewing my result. Which both of these will be taken into consideration when testing in the field.

Sources:
(Fisher Scientific).Retrieved from https://www.fishersci.com/shop/products/green-low-cost-estuary-monitoring-kit/s65403#?keyword=591120 

(2020). Adaptions of Blue Crabs. Retrieved from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/estuaries/media/supp_estuar07b_crab.html

Tara, L. [TaraLee]. (2019, January 2). How to raise and lower pH level of cosmetics l I TaraLee [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMVg4n4u7uU