Ecojar Experiments

I collected the substrate and water for this first jar from a local pond. Since it's still cold, there was no plant life in the water to collect (assuming that there normally is plant life in the water at this pond when its warmer, it was my first time there so I don't really know). I considered waiting until things warmed up to collect my samples so that I could have some plant life sewn in, but decided I'd rather see if anything happens with a jar of early spring pond water rather than go home with nothing.

The pond was nice. There were lots of birds! Notabley some candian geese, some malards, and a huge swan! The swan was sitting on the ground and lifted its head to look at me as I passed by. I didn't realize how huge they can get! Lucky for me both the swan and the geese seemed disinterested by my courteous treading, though the geese let me know when it was time to leave. The pond seems to be next to a bakery and there was a variety of bread and baked goods broken up and strewn about. I hope they don't do that everyday.

Once I collected the sand and water, I headed back home. I hadn't really thought about how I was going to keep the jar from tipping over in my car. Its a lot of water, so I really didn't want to risk a spill of pond water on the floor. I put the jar between my legs for the ride home, careful not to hit any potholes too hard. No incidents! The jar came home in one piece. It will sit on a shelf in indirect sunlight.

The jar has been agitated, so there's far too many particles floating around to see very clearly into it. I'll give it a few days to settle. Even though its still pretty opaque, I was able to spot a little creature swimming around! My friend Vivian says its a "copepod." I suspect I'll be learning more about little creatures and plants.

Hover over image to play!

I have left the jar absolutely untouched for 100 days.

Shortly after collecting the jar, the substrate settled and I was able to more easily see little creatures swimming around inside. I was pretty shocked to see so much movement in the jar considering it was just a random scoop of water. I left the jar in indirect sunlight for most of the hundred days, though for the last few weeks it has been getting a lot less sun in an effort to keep my room cool.

After about a week, algae began to form inside the jar. A thin layer sitting at the top slowy descended down to the bottom and eventually the entire bottom was covered.The jar went from opaque to clear to opaque again. Again, I was shocked! I didn't expect animal life or plant life to show itself inside my jar. I became worried I wouldn't be able to see inside of it should a thick layer of algae coat the inside.

Unfortunately, my fears were unfounded, and the algae inside slowly began to die off. The jar waned transparent again, and I was able to check for moving creatures again. And there were plenty! The little animals were eating the algae off the sides in perfect view for me. Slowly, their numbers, like the algae, would dwindle as my view became better and better.

Shortly after, the jar turned an amber color. I have no idea why. It was facsinating to see, but was the last major change for the jar. After a few weeks, the color faded and the jar returned back to how it looked around the first few days. This coincided with me drawing my curtains more often due to the heat, so its very possible the lack of sunlight starved the plants inside. I suspect once I can open up my curtains again, the jar will have new changes.