8/23/2023

This is my first year in W.I.S.R.D. and I think I should list the things I want to do over the year. I want to start a bug collection for studying, I would also like to help work on the autonomous tanks, I would like to examine some mushrooms and find out how they help sustain other plants around them in their symbiotic relationship(Maybe grow some plants with mushrooms and some without) I also want to study some more marine biology and study more birds and go bird watching while keeping count of the different types of birds I see.

8/24/2023

Today I decided that I wanted to work with mushrooms. I want to get 3 or 4 potato plants and different types of mushrooms for each and see what happens if they all are in the same environment and water in the same amount. I will still bird-watch and work on my bug collection.

8/29/2023

Today I dissected 3 owl pellets. I found lots of mice bones and a massive skull I have not identified the skull yet but I let them soak in water to get all of the hair out. I will post an update when I have identified them.

8/31/2023

Today I cleaned off the bones and found owl pellets. I am leaving them overnight to soak before we organize them. I started a new project with Brian that tested how light and humidity affect mushrooms. The things we are testing are one mushroom that will be in more direct sunlight another that is in less direct sunlight one is in a completely dark box with no light and the other one is in a mushroom growing humidity chamber that is optimal for growth. They are all getting the same amount of water, I am doing these tests to get good at growing mushrooms which leads to the next part of this project which is going to be growing microgreens and parrying them with different types of mushrooms to see how it affects the plant’s growth. I will go into more detail about what this other project entails when it is time to grow everything.

8/31/2023

Today I cleaned off the bones and found owl pellets. I am leaving them overnight to soak before we organize them. I started a new project with Brian that tested how light and humidity affect mushrooms. The things we are testing are one mushroom that will be in more direct sunlight another that is in less direct sunlight one is in a completely dark box with no light and the other one is in a mushroom growing humidity chamber that is optimal for growth. They are all getting the same amount of water, I am doing these tests to get good at growing mushrooms which leads to the next part of this project which is going to be growing microgreens and parrying them with different types of mushrooms to see how it affects the plants growth. I will go into more detail about what this other project entails when it is time to grow everything.

9/5/2023

Today Brian and I started by checking on the mushrooms. The mushroom block inside of the growing chamber grew substantially while the other ones stayed pretty small. Then we went on to set up the brine shrimp tank. It did not come with the heater or the airline so we had to buy them ourselves. We already had an airline so we installed that now all we need is a heater so that our brine shrimp will hatch. I am setting up the brine shrimp hatchery for the fish so that they can have food when they come. My next project will be growing microgreens.

9/7/2023

This class we got the heater for the brine shrimp tank. We set it to 85F (which is what brine shrimp hatch at ) and dumped in two scoops of brine shrimp eggs. Our mushrooms also grew a lot more. The one in the mushroom growing tank might be a little starved of oxygen. I wonder if that’s why it is only growing one way. The one with no light has barely grown at all and the one in direct sunlight has not grown either. But the ones in the shade are. When my micro greens and soil come I will cut off a piece of the mushrooms and put it in the dirt and see what happens. I hope my fish come soon.

9/14/2023

Today Brian found almost all of our brine shrimp dead. We think they died because there were too many of them and there was a bunch of junk at the bottom of the tank. We restarted the population with less shrimp and more water. Tomorrow the new fish come so the brine shrimp need to be ready to feed them. Brian and I have started a new project because we finished putting the mouse skeleton back together. So we started a new project where we will see how global warming affects mole crabs. We will do this by making small tanks and making each of them different temperatures to see if it affects how the sand crabs move around and how deep they tunnel. It won’t be very hot so they won’t get hurt but it will be enough to cause some amount of change.

10/2/2023

For the past two weeks, we have focused on our plants and seeing how much shrooms affect them. I was sick for a week so I missed a bunch of the plants growing. Our brine shrimp all died again. I think that it is because of the fish food going bad at the bottom. We plan on getting some touch tank animals and restarting the brine shrimp.

10/3/2023

Brian and I today reset the brine shrimp population we checked up on our plants and I took time laps of the tanks. I fed the fish and we watched the snail move across the whole saltwater tank! We are researching more about the tough tank we have already found one of the animals for it.

10/23/2023

Over the past 3 weeks, we have done a few things. We have set up a mushroom grow tank and a tomato plant that we will add to once they are ready to be potted. We got a bunch of new fish and found out what type of food brine shrimps need to eat.

10/31/2023

Today I noticed baby fish in the back of the freshwater tank. I can not tell yet who their parents are but I have a guess. I think it’s the two albino fish because the babies have similar coloring.

11/6/2023

We are kind of finishing off our two first projects because the fish tank is self-sustaining and the plants only require water once a day. So we are starting our new project which is taxidermy. We are going to start practicing on some animal puppets and then we will go on to do real animal fur that is humanely sourced. We have ordered the supplies to perform the taxidermy now all we have to do is practice before we try it on real pelts. The one without the mushroom might have died today.

11/6/2023

We are kind of finishing off our two first projects because the fish tank is self-sustaining and the plants only require water once a day. So we are starting our new project which is taxidermy. We are going to start practicing on some animal puppets and then we will go on to do real animal fur that is humanely sourced. We have ordered the supplies to perform the taxidermy now all we have to do is practice before we try it on real pelts. The one without the mushroom might have died today.

Owl pellets:

We took apart owl pellets and saw if we could construct a whole rat skeleton. We found a lot of the bigger bones but lost a few to the sink drain. If we ever do it again we should put a strainer to catch the bigger bones. We used super glue to glue down the bones. Next time we should use hot glue because the fumes from the super glue made our clear container not clear. Over this project turned out pretty good. I we ever do it again I want to make it more accurate.

Mushrooms and plants:

Our goal for this project was to see if mushrooms had an effect on plants and how fast they would grow. They all had the same amount of sun and water. We saw that the one that had the mushroom in it grew much bigger and faster than the one without it. We still can’t be sure that that’s why they grew so much faster but I am pretty confident that is why. When we took out the mushroom the one that had one in it stopped growing and started dying a bit. We will continue to water them but that only takes 5 minutes which is why we need a new project to spend our time on. We also had a mushroom that was eating sponges. We tried to see if we could get it to eat plastic but it died before we could start experimenting see Figure 5. We might take this project up again later in the year to make sure that our mushrooms affect how the plants grow. Next time we need to get a better watering method.

Mushrooms and plants:

Our goal for this project was to see if mushrooms had an effect on plants and how fast they would grow. They all had the same amount of sun and water. We saw that the one that had the mushroom in it grew much bigger and faster than the one without it. We still can’t be sure that that’s why they grew so much faster but I am pretty confident that is why. When we took out the mushroom the one that had one in it stopped growing and started dying a bit. We will continue to water them but that only takes 5 minutes which is why we need a new project to spend our time on. We also had a mushroom that was eating sponges. We tried to see if we could get it to eat plastic but it died before we could start experimenting see Figure 5. We might take this project up again later in the year to make sure that our mushrooms affect how the plants grow. Next time we need to get a better watering method.

Mushrooms and plants:

Our goal for this project was to see if mushrooms had an effect on plants and how fast they would grow. They all had the same amount of sun and water. We saw that the one that had the mushroom in it grew much bigger and faster than the one without it. We still can’t be sure that that’s why they grew so much faster but I am pretty confident that is why. When we took out the mushroom the one that had one in it stopped growing and started dying a bit. We will continue to water them but that only takes 5 minutes which is why we need a new project to spend our time on. We also had a mushroom that was eating sponges. We tried to see if we could get it to eat plastic but it died before we could start experimenting see Figure 5. We might take this project up again later in the year to make sure that our mushrooms affect how the plants grow. Next time we need to get a better watering method.

12/12/2023

For the past month, we have been making our poster and watering the microgreens. We did come up with some new experiments to do next see on our poster. Next semester we are going to do a lot of experiments about mushrooms.

12/14/2023

Today I worked on setting up a webcam for the freshwater fish tank. I am going to use a heat-shifting plastic to make the webcam water proof. I took some mushroom water to do experiments on.

1/2/2024

To start our first class of the new year we decided to start up our new mushroom and brine shrimp. We cut the new mushrooms into 8 different size pieces each. We put them in water to let them grow overnight and collected the mushroom spoor juice from the pink oyster mushroom. Our next steps will be to plant all of the plants and put mushrooms in 6 of the 8 planters we will be making. also test how the mushroom spore water affects asparagus ferns and philodendrons. The mushroom asparagus gets watered with 35ml of mushroom water and the other one gets 35ml of water. The philodendron gets 55ml of mushroom water and the other gets 55ml of water.

1/3/2024

Today we decided to put the soil in. We used 1500ml of Mother Earth and 1200ml of potting soil

1/25/2024

In the past weeks, we have continued our mushroom studies and worked on our inquiry pitch. We restarted the mushroom grow chamber with pink oyster mushrooms and pearl oyster mushrooms. The pink oyster mushrooms have not grown at all over the 3 weeks we have been doing it. We decided that the mushroom water was hurting the plants more than helping so we decided to stop that. After the rain a few days ago one of the mushrooms has started to grow through the burlap and they have mycelium in the soil. See the picture below to see our progress.

1/29/2023

The tomato plant has developed some fungi on its leaves. I think this happens because after the rain the leaves were wet so fungi from the air developed on them. It is supposed to rain again this week so we will see what happens with the fungi.

2/6/2024

Today our new project is making a completely self-sustaining ecosystem. We will use some sort of glass container. We will find the right type of plants and bugs. We will also use mushrooms to help the animals grow and the plants too.

2/21/2024

I have decided to get back into taxidermy. I have done this because I met with Tim Bovard the leader of taxidermy at the Natural History Museum. He gave me the tips and resources to get back into it and learn how. I am going in sometime in July to meet with him and craft a squirrel taxidermy. Right now I am working on the skeletal structures of sparrows.

3/5/2024

The new projects that we want to do after this are…

leafcutter ant colony (With a viewing area and U.V lights to shine on fungi)

Mushroom maze

Self-sustaining eco system.

3/12/2024

In our newest experiment, we are measuring if and how dirty water affects plant growth. we have 3 different species of plants one in dirty water and one in clean. In 2 months this experiment will end.

Day 1:

With dirty water:

Plant type 1 (Asparagus Fern): 100.6mm

Plant type 2 (Spider Plant): 83.5

Plant type 3 (Tradescantia Spathacea): 141.1mm

Clean water:

Plant type 1 (Asparagus Fern): 98.9mm

Plant type 2 (Spider Plant): 21.1mm

Plant type 3 (Tradescantia Spathacea): 190.4mm

3/13/2024

Day 2:

With dirty water:

Plant type 1 (Asparagus Fern): 106.7mm

Plant type 2 (Spider Plant): 100.6mm

Plant type 3 (Tradescantia Spathacea): 154.1mm

Clean water:

Plant type 1 (Asparagus Fern): 98.9mm

Plant type 2 (Spider Plant): 25.5mm

Plant type 3 (Tradescantia Spathacea): 174.5mm (Got smaller because I broke the plant)

5/9/2024

Today we decided to start the self-sustaining terrarium. In this terrarium, there will be pill bugs, moss(for food), plants for oxygen, and light to evaporate the water. the next step is getting the plants and figuring out how much water and what type of light we need to evaporate the water

5/13/2024

Today I added a fern to the self-sustaining Eco-system. I also want to add a light system into the tank so that the water evaporates faster. A seal will also be added next year so that when we add the bugs inside the tank.

5/21/2024

Today I decided to redo the tank. To start I removed all of the soil that we had added. Then I added ceramic beads to soak up the water. Mesh was then added on top of that to make sure that the substrair did not get drained into the drainage layer. I did a bunch of reaserch on youtube to figure this out.

8/22/2024: Today was the second day of class, and I had a lot of housekeeping to do. I have changed the water in the small black fish to be our shrimp tank. I am also restoring the terrarium. I added a bunch more topsoil and researched what plants I wanted to purchase for it. I have decided that cushion moss, ferns, springtails, and pillbugs will populate the terrarium. Additionally, I want to make a small spring tale breeding tank. Link to ferns https://www.gardenia.net/plant/adiantum-raddianum-delta-maidenhair-fern

8.26.24

Today Joe joined the wild lab. We are working on making an Amphopod container to hold the adults safely while still letting the younger ones get eaten. I also transferred one shrimp to the blank tank to see if the water was safe for the rest of the shrimp. I added a heater set to 77 degrees. Next class I want to start buying some amphipods to test our cage. I also would like to buy some boiled driftwood to level out PH.

9/3/2024

Today our moss came so we added the moss to the terrarium and the "ant tank". We have decided that the ant tank will become a mushroom study to see how mycelium affects plants. We are researching to see what fish eats duckweed because we are having issues with it. We found that besides goldfish silver dollars and Buenos tardes. In the next class, we want to make the mister for the mushroom tank.

9/4/2024

Today Joe and I decided to start setting up the lighting for the terrarium. Next, we tried to move more tanks to make space but it ended up spilling so we spent a lot of class cleaning it up. We still need our springtails to arrive. I was thinking that we could as a side project produce and sell some duckweed through WIE. We have so much and could easily grow it.

9/9/2024

Today we had a lab meeting where we talked about what we want to get done this week. I want to print some skulls, write an inquiry pitch, stabilize all the tanks, and start research on the mushroom maze.

9/10/2024

Today I made a wild ideas document to document our ideas and outlines. I added the shrimp cage but have yet to see a shrimp go in it... I found a massive black and gold-rimmed shrimp that I think is one of King Shrimp's offspring. I want to do a genetics study because of our shrimp.

9/13/2024

Today during our CI period Brian and I went in to check on the fish. They were doing well so we added about 6 shrimp and the shrimp house. We also added a bunch of plants and the pea puffers. The temperature is stable at 77 which is what every tank is set to.

9/16/2024

Today Joe and I did a lot of troubleshooting. We had to clean the small black filters because they were getting clogged by plants. Every week we are going to clean them. Next, we are researching how we could tag the shrimp to see the generations and how they mutate. So far we have decided that we need to cut up tiny pieces of colored plastic and tie them to the back of the shrimp tail. We don't want it to hurt the shrimp though so we are definitely to have to research how to do it safely and successfully.

9/16/2024

Today Joe and I cleaned out the filters, and organized our things. We decided to put a double filter on the small shrimp tank.

9/19/2024

Today Joe and I worked on our tanks. I collected more specimens to preserve for later research (used some of it today to find a way to tag shrimp). Our dual-wield filters are working great in the new tank. For the shrimp, we are thinking of using braces and rubber bands.

9/23/2024

Today Joe and I cleaned tanks, watered all the plants, did a water test, and cleaned up our links and Google Docs. I want to finish up the plants and start growing the mushrooms. I also would like to start tagging the shrimp (using tiny rubber bands). We are going to sedate them in clove oil and then tag their tails.

9/24/2024

Today we took care of the tanks. In addition, we discovered that the yellow mushrooms in our tank are called Leucocoprinus Birnbaum fungi.

9/30/2024

Today Joe and I worked on our new tank (see in wisrd ideas). The study will show what environment different animals prefer. Joe made a lid and a plug for the hole in the back of the tank so the substrate would not spill over. We fed everything and worked on our Dark Matter Day project (drawing skulls and matching them to real animals).

10/14/2024

Over the past weeks, we have not done too much. We have been working on our inquiries a lot which takes up most of our time. We have been keeping all of the animals alive (besides the loach that killed himself). We worked on our dark-matter day posters and games. After dark matter day and the inquirer, we will resume our work.

9/15/2024

Today was a big clean-up day where we organized cables, organized our desks, and threw away extra slides. We have decided that tomorrow is the day we are going to scrap the terrarium and finally make the fully self-sustaining tank. We need to find a filter for it that doesn’t need to be replaced and then we are good. I am very excited for this tank to thrive.

10/29/2024

Over the past month, we have been doing a lot of exciting things. We worked on dark matter day and finished our inquiries. We just started to get back into our research with the self-sustaining tank. We found the filter we will need. We have been working on the shopping list for everything we need. Our next step is setting up the tank and testing it rigorously over a few weeks to ensure it will be safe for animals. Outside of school, I would like to start volunteering with the taxidermy expert at the NHM (Natural History Museum) and I want to volunteer 6 hours at the aquarium (Heal the Bay).

11/4/2024

Today Joe and I researched and put more things for our big fresh water tank on our shopping list. We are also wondering what would eat the purple algae that is infecting the saltwater tank. Our next steps are to set up and rigorously test our new tank to make sure it’s safe as well as finish the planters and start growing more mushrooms.

11/7/2024

Over the past 2 days Joe, Ronan, and I have been setting up the new tank. We have all of the rocks plants filter set up, but we still need to get the lighting and heat we ordered. We will ensure it is safe for the animals before we put them in.

11/11/2024

Today we set up the new tank with a bunch of plants. The pothos in the filters seem to be doing very well. We did a water test on the tank, and it has perfect quality, proving that our filter is working so far. The only thing we need to get is our heater and light which are coming tomorrow.

12/2/2024

Today was the first day back since Thanksgiving break. Nothing died in any of the tanks so I would consider it a win. We revised our shopping list and decided to take many things that weren’t necessary. I found owl pellets over break and decided to take them into wisrd to see If we could fully reconstruct a mouse body. Or see if we could even identify the bones.

12/11/2024

For the last 8 days, our lab worked on our scientific poster for poster session. Today we finished our poster so we made lids for the new tank as well as our grow tank for scud. We have 6 tiny neon tetras that seem to be working in the tank. Our next step is to turn down the filter and then stain the lid we made and see if our idea works.

1/13/2024

Today Joe and I had a lot of cleanup to do. We made a plan for the next weeks that consists of cleaning for the first two days and then working on mushrooms and keeping the tanks alive. Tomorrow we need to water test the tanks. We are talking to Ronan and Brian about our plan for this semester but one thing is for sure… we are going to make and publish a paper.

12/14/2024

Today was another day of cleaning and maintenance. The water in three of the tanks was bad so a water change was utilized to keep the pH and gh at bay. The plan for the next class is to start research on the mushroom studies as well as find the grow chamber.

1/16/2025

Research on slime mold and how to take care of it was done. Videos of the experiment on the Tokoyes subway system were viewed to help inspire the group. It was found that the pea puffer fish as well as corry catfish were eating shrimp sheds as their source of protein making it completely renewable because the shrimp eat the poop and plants while the fish eat sheds, scud, and some of the plants.

1/21/2025

Today was the last day of spring cleaning the wild lab group will be doing this semester. They organized all of the tanks and are now preparing to start their mushroom studies.

1/22/2025

Water tests were performed on tanks to see how well the crushed-up shells did to help the self-sustaining tank. They helped with the gh but corral will have to be used to raise ph.

1/28/2025

Today one of the tube worms died. I decided to carefully take it out and dissect it. I found a whole little ecosystem inside of it full of tiny biodegrades. This shows how good the ecosystem in the saltwater tank is. We also were interviewed for the wisrd Instagram which is pretty cool.

2/5/2025

Today, I updated the journal as well, I also stained some java moss (found in fw) and made one more set of stains. An urchin died today, so I preserved it. I am starting my research on how we will use the slime mold and how to keep it alive.

2/6/2025

Today, I had to leave early for a doctor's appointment, but I set up the new brine tower and examined/cleaned the tanks before I left.

2/10/2025

Tanks were tested today and it was found that. The amphipod tank had a high Ph. Most of the amphipods had died because of this but the group used a siv screen to capture them. They were then put into the big freshwater tank. One of the fish in the tank has a spinal issue going on but it is being monitored.

2/11/2025

Today, we dealt with the brine shrimp. We found that Ronan had set them up wrong, so we reset them, and hopefully, they will now hatch. We cleaned up the table, and I set up the mushroom grower and the plate that will be used for mapping the L.A. metro study.

2/19/2025

A water change was made on the t freshwater biocube tank today. A plant had died causing an oily film to appear on the top of the tank. A new terrarium was made to be sealed up. A drainage layer made of clay is at the bottom and a layer of coconut husk is put on top. Moss was used to provide oxygen as well as some pothos plants that have been lying around. Springtails were put in and now all it needs is some isopods to eat dead plant matter.

2/24/2025

Today, the feedback for the labs was released. After receiving feedback, work was done on the lab research question. The W.I.L.D. lab website is being updated to clarify the research questions and lab branches.

2/25/2025

Today, the website was worked on. Additionally, the preserved loach was examined under a microscope to compare it to the loach right after death and three months after.

3/3/2025

The filter on the self-sustaining tank broke today. Joe fixed it shortly after. It turns out that the axle inside the motor is free-floating, so it became dislodged. A film was found in the big fresh water tank so a piece of paper towel was used to absorb the oil (it worked surprisingly well).

3/4/2025

The lab was extremely efficient today. The big FW tank was cleaned (lots of moss and hornwort removed). The group tried. To visited the advanced bio teacher (to get slime mold for the maze) but they were not in their class. A new lid that has been worked on is almost done, which is great because the water in the FW self-sustaining tank evaporates much slower.

3/5/2025

Today, water tests were conducted on each tank. The saltwater tank's GH and pH levels were found to be too high. The heights of plants in Brian's planters were measured, revealing that the ones with mushrooms tended to be bigger and healthier. Due to a shot, I will not be in class tomorrow, which has postponed the maze idea. Hopefully, the test will be conducted next week.

3/10/2025

Today Joe and I started our slime mold research paper. We wrote the template for it out and sighted some sources. We did a bit more research but we are now ready to get the slime mold and start the experiment.

3/11/2025

Today we went into the advanced bio class to ask for some slime mold. Ann Marie told us that there was a slime mold nut. It had all been contaminated so Joe and I ordered some more. TIll. When it comes, we will be preparing it and making sure the tanks stay healthy.

3/17/2025

This week, the lab decided to take over hydroponics next year. they asked Megan for approval and she seemed on board with it. Hydroponic Food Production by Howard M. Reh was read to give a further understanding of the system. Further research into the small submersible was done. The lab is going to make a prototype shell to see how it floats and the spacing.

4/7/2025

Today, the water in each tank was tested. I want to join the wisrd board next year, so I also practiced what I wanted to say to the members. The plants in the FW bio-cube tank need to be removed because some algae have been growing (light treatment may be used). The poster has been started as well.

Board Question: Why do you think you would be fit for the board?

• What do you bring to the table

• Why do you want to be on the board

4/8/2025

Today I practiced for the board pitch today. I also saw that the self-sustaining tank looks pretty unhealthy wich gave me the idea to add a longer spigot to the filter so that it can reach the floor of the tank. I noticed that there are two new fish in the tank as well wich have a different color than the other fish. I am wondering if they are a crossbreed between two types of fish.

4/14/2025

Today, I worked on the poster. I also came up with the idea of cleaning out the circle tank and adding the shrimp and animals to the self-sustaining tank because the fish needed a new food source.

4/15/2025

Today, we added the new pothos to the self-sustaining tank. We used a mall wooden dowel to hold them up and submerged ONLY the roots into the water. We also cleaned out the circular tank and added the shrimp to it. We need to print a cave so that the shrimp and amphipods have somewhere to hide.

4/16/2025

Only a day after putting in the pothos, we have seen massive growth in the roots. We have also been working more on the shrimp, other animals, and plants.

4/21/2025

Today, Joe and I worked on the presentation for USM tomorrow. We also saw that the isopods we purchased months ago had just given birth to offspring, which look healthy and happy.

4/24/2025

Today, Joe and I discovered that the guppies in the FW tank had fallen into the “cave, “ so we retrieved two of the four that had fallen out and returned them to the tank, leaving the others in the cave to observe their evolution. We also took two cave shrimp out and put them in the FW tank to see how they would do.

4/30/2025

Today, Joe and I did a water test and made a mesh filter around the pump in the self-sustaining tank. We found that the water from the FW tanks has leveled off (probably because of the new pothos and hornwort). Over the next three weeks, we will clean up our space and complete any necessary tasks before the summer break.

5/5/2025

Today, Joe and I decided to start making the permanent pothos lids because Magan donated a lot more. The new issue is that the tank is evaporating because the heat and humidity in the air combine to draw out a lot of water. We are considering using condensation nets or a plastic bag to capture excess water.

5/12/2025

Joe and Oliver conducted water tests. They found that every tank besides the saltwater one is in healthy conditions. Next year, the lab is considering purchasing a solar panel to run the tank off of.

4/23/2026

Today, the poster was worked on, and photos were taken. The self-sustaining tank was also refilled.

4/17/2026

Over the past two classes, the WILD lab has created a new experiment and many ideas. The new test is seeing how Daphnia interacts with pothos. To do this, a 500mL beaker was filled with 350mL of treated water and 50mL of dirty tank water. Then a clean Ptothos plant was placed inside, along with around 20 daphnia. Over the next couple of days, they will be observed, and water quality will be tested. Some of the group's future ideas revolve around aquaponics, which is “a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.“ This will be implemented into the hydroponics system at the end of this year and the beginning of next year.

3/20/2026

Today, a new pump was placed inside the freshwater bio cube. The process of cleaning the hydroponics began, and the pumps were unplugged (Megan instructed).

3/19/2026

Today, animals were fed, and research into hydropincs was conducted.

3/13/2026

Today, the WILD area was cleaned and vacuumed. Water test was taken and research into pothos was conducted.

3/11/2026

Today, the tanks were cleaned. The pothos grow tank was split up to test what water pothos prefer (tank water, dirty tank water, or fertilized water). Nate cleaned out the brine blenders. The saltwater tanks have been reset and now house hermit crabs.

3/6/2026

The daphnia population in the 5-gallon green tank crashed because of a spike in water quality due to overfeeding concentrated algae. Luckly the ones in the 500mL beakers full of FW biocube water are thriving. Their population seems to be growing, as both small and large daphnia are present throughout the beaker. New snails for the fw Biocube tank may need to be purchased because the previous ones were consumed by assassin snails.

2/25/2026

Daphnia were put into three separate 500mL beakers. The first was filled with diluted (tank water) detritus from the FW biocube, the second with pure FW biocube detritus, and the last with detritus siaphoned from the daphnia tank. It was found that they thrived best at both detritus concentrations in the FW biocube. All the daphnia died in their own detritus. In the future, green water (detritus and algae) can be used to feed the daphnia. The tank should be sanitized at least twice a week because of the results of the third beaker.

2/23/2026

Today the daphnia tank was sioponed. Three were put under the microscope and were carrying a total of 8 eggs. This means that on average, each daphnia will have 2.7 baby daphnia. It was found that a new dominant male is appearing in the FW biocube. He is changing his colors and is significantly larger than the original. This may be a sign of the orignal male becoming older.

2/13/2026

Today, the neon tetra from the FW self-sustaining tank was moved to the biocube because it was starving. The daphnia came and were set up inside the green tank.

2/12/2026

Today a pothos tank was set as a farm. Water with liquid fertilizer and two pumps were used to enhance plant growth. Light was set up on the self-sustaining tank to create more photosynthesis. A new filter was added to the water exit valve of the bio cube tank in an effort to improve water conditions.

2/11/2026

The daphnia tank was set up today. 5 gallons of treated water were added, raising the water level to 6 inches. An air tube was used to release only a couple of bubbles a second.

2/6/2026

The tank was cleaned, and the driftwood and rocks were moved around. The new snails came, so hopefully the algae problem will be fixed.

2/2/2026

Today, research was conducted to create a Daphnia culture. To do this, a tank with 6 inches of water will be made with live daphnia inside it.

1/30/2026

A vacuum was utilized to suck all the water from within the SW tank. IT also sucked up all the dirt so the tank is much cleaner.

1/29/2026

A new filter was added to the FW biocube. The tank was looking extra murky, so a piece of sponge was used to catch bigger pieces of detritus to hopefully extend the life of the filters.

1/23/2026

Today, the saltwater tank had thiosulfate added. A siphon was run from the sink into the tank to fill it up quickly and efficiently. Next, the pump was turned on, but it had trouble starting, so a file was used to start up the motor. The back of the tank has a lot of dirt that needs to be cleaned out.

1/16/2025

Today, the salt water taken was sifted. tons of ditritus was found in the back section of the tank. This may have been what caused the tank's downfall. Next, the group will use the thiosulfate that Tim gave them to kill the bleach.

1/14/2025

Today, Oli cleaned the microscope and used it to look at saltwater samples collected from the tank before it was cleaned out. There were no signs of life. Water tests were conducted on all tanks and everything was looking healthy. In the upcoming weeks, the saltwater tank will be flushed using the process referenced earlier. Additionally, the pothos test tanks will be taken down and cleaned.

1/12/2025

The saltwater tank was partly cleaned. Somehow, even with the insanely poor water quality levels, a pepper shrimp and two hermit crabs survived. Next, the tank needs to be scraped, then filled with warm water and bleach. Then the pump will be turned on to move the bleach through the system. Afterwards, thyosulfate will be utilized to kill the bleach, making it safe for animals. Lastly, a run of just water will be circulated to ensure that all the thyo is gone. (This can be harmful at high levels.

1/8/2025

Today, the area and tanks were cleared. The filter and protein skimmer got their filters replaced/cleaned.

1/7/2026

Today, the inquiry article was worked on. It is believed that it will be done by saturday.

1/6/2025

This semester in wisrd, I want to continue doing good work on our tank. Setting up a solar panel would also benefit the tanks.

11/18/2025

The group has prepared as the break gets closer. New water was added to each tank, and snails were ordered to counteract algae growth. A light should be added to the self-sustaining tank when the group returns to increase algae production and plant growth.

11/15/2025

Over the past week, not much has happened. The group presented at the poster session and learned about sunscreens. Now the next step is cleaning the saltwater tank.

11/4/2025

After getting back from break, the WILD lab found the tanks in a healthy state. The group has finished their poster and practiced presenting it. The next steps are getting ready to take over hydroponics and finish up the form and inquiry draft.

11/10/2025

Oli and Joe set up the pothos test tanks with the pothos. There is a control tank, an emergency tank, and a submerged tank. The tanks are testing the pothos' ability to live in and partially in the water. The group wants to see which environment they thrive in the best. Note to self: the heaters heat up to 160°F, so don’t touch or use them in small tanks where animals might brush up against them.

11/3/2025

Brian and Oli measured the three different tomato-growing environments and averaged them. Pictures were also taken. Oli also worked on his inquirer during the rest of class.

10/30/2025

Over the past few weeks, the WILD lab has prepared and then participated in Dark Matter Day. The lab ran their signature skull drawing game, microscopes, and a paleontology game. Candy was utilized to keep the audience engaged in the skull and microscope activities. During the paleontology dig, participants were allowed to keep one fossil that they dug up. In the future, the lab should make some slight changes to a few activities. For the paleontology dig, a bigger dish will be used to make it harder to find fossils among the sand. A tarp will also be used to keep the mess to a minimum. Over the past week, Oli has also begun his inquirer article on Troglofauna.

10/13/2025

After many days off from school, the group finally had work time to do the much-needed work. Brian and Oli water the plants upstairs, which are doing surprisingly well for how dry it's been. It was found that the tomatoes and beans containing mushrooms have been growing much faster. The group has also been preparing for Dark Matter Day by making new posters to advertise their fun games.

10/3/2025

Today, the group planted seeds upstairs. The first planter had tomato seeds with two mushrooms, the second had bean seeds with two mushrooms, the third had tomato seeds and clover, and the fourth had mushrooms. The other three acted as controls.

9/22/2025

Today, the group got a new shipment of mushrooms, so Charlie started to create a container for them (with the “help“ of Brian). Joe and Oli ran a water test on the FW tanks and decided to clean out a lot of the algae that had taken over the tanks. In theory, with the plants gone, the water quality should improve because the algae allow harmful nitrates to evade the filter.

9/18/2025

Today, a new shipment of animals arrived. Five Ammonia were added to the FW biocube, with four pink lady snails, one black devil snail, 100 daphnia, and four fw shrimp. In the self-sustaining tank, five Otocinclus Catfish were added.

9/12/2025

Today, the group had to euthanize one of the tetras and 7 assassin snails. They utilized about 5 drops of clove oil and 100 mL of tap water. Both the fish and snails were dead within 5 minutes withouts showing signs of stress.

9/8/2025

Today the group decided that they want to do elephant toothpaste for dark matter day. They are also trying it decided if they want to reset the salt water tank because of how poorly it is doing.

9/4/2025

Today the group set up two new temperature probes and heater in the FW tanks. The mushrooms have grown much more and a thriving. The salt water tank is having an algae bloom. The tank may need to be restarted.

8/28/2025

The W.I.L.D. Lab turned the salt water tank temperature down to 72F and added new filters. The Lab has decided to restart the plastic disintegration portion of the lab. The lab has created the tank for the mushrooms and will carefully monitor and control the humidity to create the perfect environment for mushrooms to grow. To start one side of the small square will be a polyurethane base while the other is just soil. The soil acts as a control and the polyurethane is an easily dissolvable plastic. Tomorrow the group will finish the tank for the mushrooms.

8/27/2025

Today the LAb syphond tanks to get ditriatus out. ofthe shrimp substrate. Nate and Joe started to set up the raspberry pi to run a video feed of the tank through the endoscope. Charlie and Oliver are working on creating a mist net to capture water in the air and condensate it.

8/25/2025

Today the pump was malfunctioning on the self sustaining tank so Nate and Oliver fixed it by cleaning it. TO start the motor tweezers were used to spin the motor. Tomorrow Nate is going to set up the underwater camera. Additionally we need to do an inventory check.

8/22/2025

Today the wild group cleaned the planters on the deck. Additionally they put a pothos plant into the FW biocube tank. The planters are going to be put into a green house to save water. It was found the the self sustaining fw tank had a GH and pH problem. The group is trying to find an answer to the problem.

8/21/2025

The WILD lab did a lot of things on the first day of class. We started by syphoning the tanks and adding new clean water. The two biocube tanks had a huge algae bloom but the self sustaining tanks looked great. We need to change temperature tomorrow and take inventory of every item we have.

Salt Water:

• Restart salt water tank.

General:

• Finish article

• Euthanize assassin snails

Daphnia:

• Test Water Quality

• Test which types of water they best survive in