Dear Jimoh,

Fist – What are you looking for? Pond Characterizations? Environmental sustainability? Environmental impact over pond? Which is your focus of attention in this case?

I had been work with fishponds water quality for 10 years, and I used Plankton Primary Productivity (oxygen method), Plankton Chlorophyll and plankton (count method – Zoo and Fhyto).

Justification

1 - I think, for you, the methods to get “Primary Productivity” can be useful and help you in your research. The light bottle and dark bottle method of measuring the synthetic rate of phytoplankton is suitable for eutrophic waters. Precise analysis of small changes in oxygen concentration. This method compares the oxygen changes that occur in plankton communities contained in a clear bottles with those occurring in a dark bottles during determinate ours period in your study (2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hour or 24 hours). In the light bottles, oxygen is envolved during photosynthesis and consumed by plant and animal respiration. In the dark-bottle only respiration occurs.  

2 - The response is fast, safe and cheap:  a) with fish production, b) with pond’s enrichments from effects of man, and you can make a relationship and a connection between the situations of pond and manage of the adjacent terrestrial environment.

If you choose Primary productivity, choose oxygen method. See:

a) Lind, O. T. Handbook of common methods in Limnology. 1985. 2nd ed. Kendall /Hunt Publishing Company. Dubuque. IA.

b)  Kohler, J. Measurement of photosynthetic oxygen production.  Rostock Meeresbiolo. Beitr (1998), 6, pg. 17-21

Linkhttp://www.biologie.uni-rostock.de/oekologie/literature/RMB/Heft%2006/RMB-06-K%F6hler-017.pdf

d) Mandal, B., Some, S. and Banerjee, B.  Comparative studies on primary productivity of sewage fed freshwater fishpond in relation to production efficiency of phytoplankton. I.J.S.N., VOL. 1(1): 89-94. Link: http://scienceandnature.org/First_IJSN_Upload/IJSN-19.pdf

Thank you very much Eler,  for your response. I am working with a pilot scale HRAP that treats wastewater, I'm trying to measure the amount of biomass in the pond. I think the method m using is not gud enough. i'll try and check the references you gave. Thanks

Dear Jimoh,

Simple biomass measurement

1) for algae cell concentration, u may use spectrophotometer at certain wavelength

2) dry weight determination, dry biomass gL-1 per amount of sample (mL), from here, you may proceed to productivity and specific growth rate..

Amar

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