Benjamin Leong, Week 3, More Greens... and a Shock!

I spent the most part of this week conducting daily tests on my algae cultures just as I had done last week. Only this time, I had to carry out testing for six algae cultures as opposed to the three that I had last time around. This is because I managed to establish three Chollera algae cultures, which is part of my main project, of tracking the growth of two different kinds of algae being grown in three different kinds of media. These include water from a tank with catfish, or simply catfish water, wastewater from reverse osmosis, or RO reject for short, and a control solution. I must say, the Chollera cultures are looking a lot better (greener) compared to the first three Spirulina algae cultures that I set up!

I did have to learn a new way of counting the Chollera cells as required of my cell count test, which gives an estimate of the concentration of cells within each algae culture, and figure out how much to dilute my Chollera test solutions in order to obtain readings during nutrient testing, but in general this past week's work has been nearly identical to the last. Even so, it was a great opportunity to reinforce the testing procedures that I have gone through so far, which in turn, helps me to carry them out with greater efficiency.

Apart from details about my project, I have also become acquainted with more students who are working in my lab and at the same time, have the chance to socialize with those whom I already got to know. I found out, unsurprisingly, some of them are students from Temasek Polytechnic, but some are also external students like myself. For instance, there is another international student from Vietnam who is working in my lab, but since he is focusing on a different area of research, I hardly see him around the lab. To be honest, my lab can get crowded at times since many research groups and classes share the lab, but on the flip side, I always have company.

Looking ahead to next week, apart from the usual routine of testing my algae cultures, I will be starting my side project of electroflocculating algae solutions of varying concentrations. Unlike my main project, I will be collaborating with Brandon, the intern/Temasek Polytechnic student whom I worked with during my first couple of days at the lab. I am looking forward to working with him again as we have not had to chance to do so for some time.