Aquarium Microcosms

Making My Aquarium Microcosm

Ingredients

• 500 ml soil near a stream
• 1000 ml stream water
• 2 aquatic plants
• 1 rock

Procedure

1. Gathered all my ingredients at a slow moving stream near my house. I used a zip-loc for the plants and another zip-loc for the rock, and I used two 1 gallon milk jugs for the water and one 1 gallon milk jug for the soil(I used the rest for another experiment).
2. I put 500 ml of soil in a jar. Then I inserted the plants and the rock in the jar. Lastly I put 1000 ml of water gently in the jar.
3. I placed the jar in a sunlit room but not in direct sunlight.

Observations of My Aquarium Microcosm

Day 1 

The water is slightly brown. The surface of the water has many bubbles. The plants seem to be surviving well. I have already seen at least 1 organism visible to the naked eye. It look like it was some kind of shrimp or plankton.

(Days 2-3 are not included because I had activities and could not make my observations)

Day4

Everything seems normal. The plants are fine, they are green and show no signs of dying. The shrimp/plankton thing seems more active today, maybe it is more accustomed to its environment. I can also see little shells of possibly water snails.

Day 17

Every thing seems to have died except for the plant, although I can see some sort of algae on the surface of the water.