Hialeah Miami Lakes AP Environmental Science students featured on Univision

On January 10, a Univisión crew was on hand to document the results of a hydroponic experiment completed by students in Hialeah Miami Lakes (HML) Advanced Placement Environmental Science class. It was part of Univisión Channel 23 “Univisión Educación Campaign” to promote environmental awareness within the Hispanic community. The series is called “Club Planeta”.
This experiment was designed to test how green onions would grow while immersed in tap water and water with elevated levels of nitrates and phosphates provided by an aquaponics set up. The aquaponics system housed 25 African Cichlid fish and two water turtles, as well as 22 green onions.
Students hypothesized that if the green onions were grown in tap water and aquaponics water, the green onions in the aquaponics setup would grow taller and weigh more. This hypothesis was based on the fact that the aquaponics water had elevated levels of nitrates and phosphates provided by the fish and turtle waste.
After about two months, all 44 plants were measured and weighed. Students found that the green onions in the aquaponics water grew 63 percent taller and weighed 21 percent more than the green onions grown in tap water.
How can this experiment benefit the earth and/or Florida? According to HML teacher Rafael Gonzalez, “If we could recapture waste water with elevated levels of nitrates and phosphates, we could use this waste water to grow bigger and better crops. This in turn would reduce our local ecological footprint.”