Building of the Micro Aquarium

Last week we began our micro aquarium term project, and during lab we built our very own micro aquariums using samples collected by Dr. McFarland. To build the aquarium itself, we did the following;
gathered the materials;
dat blue stick putty, a microquarium, a microaquarium lid, a micro aquarium base, and colored stickers to label our aquariums.
Then put them together by connecting the micro aquarium base to the microaquarium, then placed two beads of dat blue stick to the lid and placed that on top to create our very own micro aquarium!
Upon building these aquariums we made sure to include a viable soil sample, a few aquatic plants and water samples from various layers of the sample we chose. I chose to use sample 6. Once built I examined my aquarium under the microscope and didn't see very much at all. I spotted a few unknown single cell organisms swimming about and a very interesting one that spun around in circles sifting through the surrounding water. Once I removed the aquarium I also noticed a larger organism swimming around that I had not caught under the microscope. This organism was visible to the naked eye and a very light brown color. Dr. McFarland mentioned that it might be a cyclops. I hope I catch it under the microscope next time so I can see what this little critter looks like!

Also sample 6 was gathered at Dean's Woods Spring Creek. Here is a little more information on the area:

6. Spring Creek off Woodson Dr runing throught Dean's Woods Road frontage., Knox Co. Tennessee. Partial shade exposure. Tennessee River water Shed N35 55.274 W083 56.888 848 ft 10/12/2014