Trials

Design "Infiniquarium": a planted aquarium that never needs cleaning. It's a self-sustaining biome that runs for years. The owner only trims now and then, and can feed it if they like.

Build it as a single HTML file with everything inline: no other files, images, libraries or web fonts, so it runs offline. The look is yours; think of a lush tank left running on a spare screen, with soft light, caustics and plants swaying in the current.

Make it real. Model a low-tech, Walstad-style tank of a size you choose, stocked with real, compatible species (common and scientific names) at a believable density: fish, shrimp, snails, micro-life and plants. Behavior, lifespans, breeding and growth follow real life. The nitrogen cycle, oxygen and CO2 drive the balance; snails graze the glass, detritivores recycle what falls, and the auto-top-off refills water as it evaporates. Offspring carry real variation, so the population slowly drifts over generations. Populations can swell and shrink, but at any speed, over years, the tank never crashes, runs away or goes static.

It's not a game: there are no goals or ways to lose. Interactions are nudges the tank absorbs:
– Trim overgrown plants, and light reaches what's beneath.
– Feed it, and some populations boom and nitrate climbs until the plants pull it back down.
– Click any organism for its name, role, age and generation.
– Toggle a view of the invisible cycle, with live water readings.
– Speed up time (by default, the day follows your clock).
– Read a quiet log of births, molts, feedings and top-offs.

It fits any screen, the controls can hide for ambient viewing, and it remembers its state between visits, quickly catching up on the time you were away. It stays smooth when left open for days. Beyond this, the design decisions are yours.