Materials you will need to supply
Pole for pole sampler (6’ of 1” PVC prefered, or a broom handle with duck tape)
5L of clean water for every site visited. For every site, 1L needed for negative control, plus 4L for cleaning. If 5 sites are visited, 25L are needed.
750ml of regular household bleach (Clorox brand regular strength or equivalent)
Cooler
Ice in cooler if storing bottles for more than 20 minutes
possibly some extra clean gloves and paper towels if kit supplies run low
Ideally this would be deionized water from a research lab, poured directly into the Control sample Nalgene bottle. However, this could also be distilled water from a grocery store. If transporting water in any of your own containers, the container itself needs to be bleached and thoroughly rinsed before use. The project will still work if the water isn’t fully sterile or salt-free, but the key is: water that does not have fish DNA in
it. Consider this order of priority depending on what is available to you:
Deionized, distilled water directly from lab source into the control Nalgene bottle prior to each field visit, and used to rinse materials after bleaching at a lab sink
Distilled water from grocery store, avoiding water that contains additional minerals, transported in the original bottle (eg. 7 x 4L bottles)
Deionized, distilled water from a lab, transported in a container that has been bleached (10% bleach for 20 minutes) and thoroughly rinsed 3 times
Materials provided inside the PECO sampling kit (N = number of sites for your kit)
● Pole sampler end-piece in large Ziploc bag
● 5 x 1.5 L Nalgene Bottles (sterile, bagged)
● 5N Sterivex filters with end caps in individual Whirl-paks (bagged)
● 5N syringes (3ml) with Longmire’s buffer + end cap in individual Whirl-paks (bagged)
● 2N Acrodisc filters (bagged with buffer syringes)
● 2L (1/2 gal) pressure sprayer/pump with tubing and HEPA air filter
● N Bulkhead Caps with tubing and fittings (new in 2024)
● N large syringes (60ml, sterile, packaged)
● Bag/box of nitrile gloves (small, medium or large)
● 1 L plastic graduated beaker/jug
● Foam stand for 1.5 L bottle
● Bag of blue wipe towels
● 2N bench coats in a Ziplock bags