Observation 10

In the top part of our terrarium, since cutting the hole and leaving it for a week, most of the condensation that was in the bottle has left and the bottle only has a little bit is up in the corner opposite of the hole we cut. Our plant has not improved, one of it's leaves is brown and breaking down, another is getting increasingly brown and close to the point of breaking down as well. Our plant is leaning against the bottle and cannot stand up by itself. 

Are possible dead snail

The water is clear at the bottom and our elodia and algae is thriving and green, especially as always, the elodia which now occupies most of the bottom of the terrarium. Out fish is alive and healthy, swimming around in the forest of elodia. We fear our snail is dead, he is just balancing precariously on a leaf of the elodia plant. The ring of algae at the surface of the water has increased since the last observation. 

Elodia growth and guppy in the forrest

Our terrarium weighs 1.518kg

	Weight	Observations
	1.586	3
	1.574	4
	1.564	5
	1.562	6
	1.56	7
	1.554	8
	1.549	9
	1.518	10

Observation 9

In our top section the plant is still green and leaning over, the leaves are turning more brown at the center and edges and there is a lot of condensation present still. There are some white deposits of some kind in the dirt.

Our plant has browner leaves now

In the aquatic part of our terrarium the water is still very clear. Our guppy is alive and well, happily swimming (we observed it depositing waste). We discussed about what we believed the guppy was still eating because the fish food we put in the water 9 weeks ago is probably gone. We thought that the algae or the nutrients from the other plants could be keeping the guppy alive.  Our snail is also alive and moving around, still not as fast as before. Our elodia is becoming darker at the bottom but it continues to grow. Our algae which we had previously thought was dead has grown and is more green than before. There is a green lining around the top of the water's surface, like some sort of green algae that has grown around the bottle. 

There is some green residue around the top

Our terrarium weighs 1.549 kg

For this next week we are cutting a hole in the top of the bottle to see how that affects our closed system. 

Our hole at the top of our terrarium

Observation 8 

We have noticed that the leaves in general are starting to wither and some of the bigger ones are beginning to turn brown. There is still a lot of condensation in the top part of the terrarium.

Leaf showing signs of deterioration

The water in the bottom tier of the terrarium is still clearer than the initial observation and the algae is still looking sickly but it is still mostly green. Based on the position of the snail we have concluded that he is not dead but he is still not as active as he once was. Our guppy is still very much active and alive. Our elodia is bushy and very green, although at the end it is turning dark green, and at the very end a little brown. One thing we noticed that we haven't before is that the string, which used to be very long and was floating deeply in the water is now a lot shorter. It is not even touching the water's surface now.

Our terrarium now weighs 1.554kg

Our string doesn't touch the water

Our snail is alive! but less active

Observation 7
3/24/15 This week, the first difference we noticed with our terrarium was how the upper part had a lot of condensation. It was difficult to see into the bottle because of all the water droplets and mist that appeared around the inside of the bottle. Our one plant continues to grow and it’s starting to bend over because of the restraints from the top of the bottle. Our leaves are continuing to grow bigger and the plant still looks very healthy and green. 

In the aquarium part of our terrarium, the water still looks very clear and clean. It’s interesting how it is much clearer than the first observation because we predicted that it would get dirtier. The elodia is think and green and takes up most of the water. Our guppy is still swimming around happily, but our one smaller snail that is usually very active did not move.  
Next week we will see if it has moved and determine if it is still alive.  
Our terrarium weighed 1.560 kg so it is continuing to decrease.

Our water is pretty clear

Our bean plant and the condensation

our snail on the leaf

Week 6

Our water appears to be getting clearer as the weeks go on. There is still a lot of debris floating around but the water itself is less murky than before.  The elodia is continuing to grow both longer and thicker with more leaves.  There are a few new brown leaves toward the bottom of the bottle, but overall the leaves are still pretty green. The guppy seems to be a little larger and swimming around the tank.  The snail seems to be less active today than usual but is still moving slightly.  

Our one plant has grown another stem off of the main stem with 3 new small leaves! It is now reaching the top of the bottle.  It still looks very green and healthy as it continues to grow.  


1.562kg is the weight of our terrarium this week which is very interesting because the weight is decreasing.  We predicted that the weight would increase because we imagined that more material would build up in the water as well as the plant growing.  We are not sure why the weight is decreasing, but it could be because some of the living things have died.  

Drawing our terrarium in color was interesting! Seeing how much actual color was involved in our little ecosystem is really cool. Drawing it also helped us focus on the details involved in our terrarium that pictures don't necessarily highlight. Also we just like to color. 

Ceci's Color drawing!

Avana's color drawing!

Terrarium Weight
X-Axis: Weight in Kilograms Y-Axis: Time in weeks

Week 5 

The state of our water does not seem any more murky, and after comparing the water to our pictures from last week it even looks a little clearer.  There are still fragments of rope floating around in the water and the elodia continues to grow.  It is still a bright green with nice big leaves.  

Our guppy still seems healthy and swimming around as well as the snail who crawls all over the bottle every few minutes.  They are both very active and we hope they continue to thrive in our terrarium.  

We still have one bean plant that has grown a few centimeters from last week and has grown a few more leaves.  Only one of our three beans have grown, so we believe our prediction that the other two beans fell through to the water is true.  The hole is so small that we are still very unsure of how this happened, but there is a clear bean looking object at the bottom of our bottle with the skin of the bean also floating around.  

This week, instead of taking a picture of our terrarium we each did a drawing.  Although this seems like we are not getting as good of an image of our project, it actually encouraged us to focus much more on the terrarium and all of the details than if we took a quick snap of the picture.  We were drawing the terrarium from different angles, but we both have the same important details. Our Terrarium weighs 1.564 kg

Ceci's sketch!

Avana's sketch!

Week 4

After two weeks of no observations, the state of our water was the first thing we noticed.  It is very murky and has fragments of what appears to be the rope floating in the water.

Murky water

Guppy and Elodia

Our elodia has gown but our algae seems to be dying because it has shrunk in size.  Our smaller snail seems to be doing great as it crawls up and down the bottle, but our large snail seems to have died because it has not moved since we last saw it.  Our guppy also seems to be thriving as he swims around the water close to the surface.

Snail :)

The terrestrial section has finally grown a plant! We have one stem that reaches almost the top of the bottle.  It has three leaves and seems healthy.

Our terrarium weighs 1.574kg this week.

Our Terrarium plant has grown!

Death Toll

Second Observation:

We seem to have lost a bean to the aquatic section

After one week in the terrarium, the water in our aquatic section is a little more cloudy and a little brownish.  The elodea still looks bright green and healthy and seems to have grown another branch.

Our terrarium after one week.

Death Toll: 2 Shrimp

Both of our shrimp have died.  Instead of being the clear, white color they were when we first got them, they are bright pink and no longer moving.  Only the tail remains of one of our shrimp, which leads us to assume that one of the other organisms ate him.  

The guppy appears to be a little larger and healthy and one of the snails is very active and crawling around the bottle.  Our other snail does not appear to be moving, but we still have hope that it is alive.  

Snails

We still have no signs of growth from the beans in there terrestrial section, but we do have condensation which is a sign that the system is functioning.  

The smaller snail had begun to eat the dead shrimp while we were observing and measuring the terrariums weight. We assume that is what happened to the other shrimp. 

Our terrarium weighs 1kg and 586grams or 1.586kg. We think the weight of the terrarium will increase over time. The growth of the plants will add to the weight of the terrarium.

First Day

February 3, 2015
Goal: We created a terrarium where we hope all organisms will survive and thrive until the end of the project.  

Ceci and Avana's Terrarium

Our terrarium is made out of two plastic liter bottles that we cut up to allow a section for aquatic organisms as well as a dry area for the terrestrial section. Our aquatic section contains spring water with two ghost shrimp, 2 snails, a guppy, small piece of alge, elodia and a small piece of fish food. There are three garden bean seeds in the terrestrial section of the terrarium, and we buried a piece of string in the dirt that goes through the bottle cap and reaches the water to bring water to the beans. 

As of now, the elodea is bright green and healthy and the water is clear.  There are no visible plants at the top of the terrarium and the guppy, and ghost shrimp are swimming around at the bottom.

Our initial questions when we built our terrarium were: Will the animals stay alive? How dirty will the water get? Will the beans grow?