Conceptual Approach / Experiments / Experiment reports

Progress Report October 23, 2004
We constructed the basin. A climate in the pond has to be simulated as found in Nairobi/Kenia. Therefore it must be possible to simulate temperature, irradiance, etc at values as found there (in case that's the subject of our particular algal experiment).
This basin is now ready for testing. The below pictures show from left to right:
(Left) The pond is circular, has a 2 m. diameter and holds a 10 cm. layer of water. It is covered with thin transparant plastic sheet, hanging over a tubular steel frame that holds the electric lamps. The pond is insulated at the bottom and at the sides.
(Middle) The frame is cantilevered up by Jos. For inspection, the transparant insulation at the top of the pond (made with two circular frames that tension up a transparant plastic sheet) have to be removed.
(Right) Joost reads the temperature and can inspect the conditions in the pond. An electric heating element helps to keep the water at a constant temperature. If the type of lighting is by bulb, this will contribute to warming up the water. When the illumination is done by floricent tubes, all of the heat has to come from the submerged heating element.

Conceptual Approach / Experiments / Experiment reports