Problems - Warwick Reid

My technical problems have been sorted out and I am now able to get onto the blog!

How and why will it sustain ITSELF?

We have tried to create a food chain of three trophic levels. With the research I have done I know that the spider does consume ant in the wild so I believe it will happen in the eco-Colum. Through observation I found out that the ant consumes grass and other plant materials that we have planted in the terra zone. It will also be kept going by the sun which will provide sunlight for photosynthesis

Our terra zone

Will be self sustaining because our the plants are releasing oxygen through photosynthesis. Our back up for if plants die is that we have planted grass seeds in the potting soil mixed with some sandy soil as we never had any loamy soil in the garden. We have a small aqua zone above for administering small amounts of water over a long time, this should all be enough to keep the ant and spiders going for 8 weeks.

Decomposition zone

is self sustaining even though it has no trophic levels the fruit will decompose and the fungi growing and dying will keep the decomposing going for 8 weeks. it is all decomposing in and on top of the potting soil. This has pieces of small plant material that will decompose over a longer period of time

The aqua zone

will stay self sustaining because of the water plants we put in so that it has a ready supply of oxygen so that it does not stagnate. We will find out any trophic level later under the microscope.

Annotated diagram

(ON BEHALF OF WARWICK REID)
This is our annotated diagram which describes what is in the eco-column and why it is there.

Stocking of the eco-column

(ON BEHALF OF WARWICK REID)

Terra zone

I started by pacing fish gravel until it just covered the height of the lid.

I then mixed some potting soil with sandy soil to thicken it a bit

I the trans planted a succulent and weeds with a spoon digging hole and placing the roots and sand in hoping that I one died the other would live because they enjoy different conditions 

I then sprinkled some grass seeds on the soil.

I followed it up with some more potting soil to neaten it up.

I released about 25 ants into the zone.  

This was followed by a spider that was observed eating these ants.

                              

Decomp zone

I started by pacing fish gravel until it just covered the height of the lid.

 I then mixed some potting soil with a tiny amount of sandy soil to thicken it a bit.

I then miced some torn leaves into the sand

We cut some some fruit into small amounts and placed them on top of the sand.

Aqua zone

I filled the bottle up about half way with river water.

I then placed some water plants in the water from my fish tank. 

Water for the aqua zone:

Stocked eco-column

We have finished building and now stocked our eco-column. It contains 3 zones, Terra zone, Aqua zone and a Decomposition zone. Here is a picture of the stocked eco-column, ready to sustain itself!

Introduction from Josh Smith

Hello all!
I'm Joshua Smith. I am one of the three group members participating in trying to create a self-sustaining eco-column. In the creation of the eco-column I have helped to build the actual eco-column and have taken some pictures for the blog.

Introduction from Nicholas Viljoen

Hi everyone!
I'm Nicholas Viljoen, a grade 9 student of Bishops. We are doing a project on a self-sustaining eco-column, and I am the blog administrator of the group consisting of 3 people (including myself). I will keep you updated on the latest happenings. I contributed to the group by bringing two 2l plastic bottles to help build the self-sustaining eco-column.
Enjoy the following 8 weeks!

Introduction from Warwick Reid

Hi everyone!

Warwick Reid has been having problems with his Google account, so I will be posting this on his behalf. Warwick has built the structure which the plastic bottles (containing our eco-column) was put into. He also collected plants and soil for the eco-column. He annotated the diagram which we planned on how our eco-column will look like.

Welcome!

We have officially established our self-sustaining eco-column! Our group consists of 3 members, Warwick Reid, Josh Smith and Nicholas Viljoen. We will regularly update you on the latest happenings of our project. We hope you enjoy seeing our eco-column sustaining itself in the following 8 weeks.