Choose where you want to enter the project

Your Slice of a Living Rainforest in the Making

This project is built around a future 24/7 livestream from a handcrafted , created to bring the feeling of a tropical rainforest into everyday life. It is meant as a place you can return to whenever you need a calmer moment, a fresh focus, or simple wonder. Behind that atmosphere is a real process: careful design choices, practical build steps, and transparent project decisions that shape the ecosystem over time. As you continue, you can follow the path that matches your curiosity and discover the project from different angles, from immersive mood to deeper system insight.

Now: You can explore the first project structure, public baseline, and channel pathways. Next: Launching the first YouTube videos to showcase the project and document its build progress.

Illustration of a blue poison dart frog on a dew-covered leaf in a sunlit rainforest

The Experience

The Nature Experience

Immersion & Observation

Step away from the noise. I am building this ecosystem from an empty glass enclosure, slowly enough to let each layer become stable before animals enter. The aim is a calm, cinematic 24/7 view of a living rainforest, but animal welfare sets the pace.

Illustration of a microchip on a golden circuit board surrounded by workbench tools

The Blueprint

The Engineering Blueprint

Architecture & Automation

Behind the calm scene is an engineering problem: climate, water, power, sensors, and automation all have to work together. I document what I build, what I test, what fails, and what the measurements actually show.

Illustration of a camera, microphone, and coffee mug on a desk by a plant-filled window

The Operator

The Person Behind MPB

Decisions · Gear · Real-Life Balance

I explain the principles behind my decisions, show the production setup I actually use, and share how I keep MPB moving alongside a full-time job while making room for fitness and recovery. It is to show the real choices, limits, and responsibility behind the build.

Public build journal

Weekly Build Notes

A curated overview of how the project becomes more real, stable, and understandable over time.

Week 41 / Ready For Real Work

The New Machine Takes Over, And The Weather Gets A Say

A few weeks ago, test footage stuttered on the old laptop even with lightweight preview copies switched on. The same clips now play smoothly on the hand-built editing machine without any help, and a finished 4K file comes out in seconds instead of around a quarter of an hour. Before it got there, the machine had to run under sustained full load without slowing down or overheating, and it passed. Since this week the project work runs on it, and the old laptop stays on standby as a fallback. One last drive and the backup routine are still being set up.
With a quiet machine in the room, the real source of noise turned out to be outside: passing cars, and they are loudest on a wet road. So anything with a voice, whether speaking to the camera or narrating over pictures, is now planned for dry, quiet hours. Shots without sound can happen in any weather.
Week 38 said automatic translation stays switched off until its quality can really be checked. That question has been reopened. The videos stay in English, but automatically dubbed versions in several other languages, German included, are now planned, and each language track gets listened to before it goes out. Whether everything needed for this is actually available only becomes clear at the first upload, so for now this is a plan, not a promise.

Week 40 / Chosen For The Place

Plants Picked For The Climate, And A New Machine That Runs

Most people know the plant that looked wonderful in the shop and gave up on the windowsill within weeks. The planting plan for the first biotope was reworked to avoid exactly that. Every candidate was checked against the climate it will actually live in: warm and humid, day and night. Orchids that need cool nights and plants that rot in constant damp came off the list, however beautiful they are.
The plan now also starts from what the animals need. A new water zone gets floating leaves where the small poison dart frogs can rest, and dense planting that fish cannot get into, so tadpoles, shrimp and young fish have somewhere safe. Broad leaves hanging over the stream moved to the top of the list, because glass frogs lay their eggs on leaves above water. All of this is still a plan: nothing has been bought or planted yet, and the list stays open until the biotope is actually running.
The hand-built editing machine from last week now has its cooling and graphics card, came through its first start without complaint, and spent a full night under a memory test before anything was installed on it. The system is set up and the working files have moved across, checked one by one. One drive is still missing and the first real edit is still ahead, so the old laptop keeps running alongside it for now.

Week 39 / Built By Hand

A New Machine Takes Shape, One Checked Step At A Time

The last parts arrived for the new workstation for video editing that's being built, piece by piece. Before anything was plugged in, the plan was checked once more against reality instead of assumption — twice, in fact, and both times that carefulness caught a real mistake early enough to fix it before it turned into a real problem.
With the checking done, actual assembly began: the case now holds a real machine taking shape rather than a pile of parts. Cooling, the graphics card and one storage drive still have to go in, so it isn't finished yet — but for the first time, it looks like the computer it's going to be.

Week 38 / The Value Of A Clear No

Not Everything That Almost Works Gets Used

For two days the editing software was tested being driven by the computer itself, and the temptation was real: screenshots, single clicks and page changes all worked. Dragging things and reaching into nested menus did not. Almost reliable is not reliable, so the route was not approved — the machine keeps the parts it has actually proven, the rest stays in human hands. The pending version update of the same software got the same treatment: reports from other users showed a scattering of small problems rather than one clear fault, which is exactly the situation in which waiting for the next patch costs nothing.
Test footage shot on a phone was taken all the way through — import, edit, export — and came out as a clean finished file. The honest answer is: usable, but in a narrow role. Fast camera moves break apart at the frame rate the project films at, so the phone keeps the slow, incidental shots while the main camera carries anything that matters. The same test showed where the ageing laptop gives up. It can still hold a preview, but it slows everything down, so a dedicated editing machine was settled on. It will be built by hand rather than bought ready-made, and the first parts are on their way.
One decision points straight at anyone reading this: the videos will be in English. Automatic translation into other languages stays switched off for now, because the automatic German version cannot be corrected by hand, and a translation nobody can check is worse than none. That gets looked at again once more languages are covered and the quality can really be controlled.

Week 37 / Repeatable, Not Lucky

A Shot Only Counts If It Can Be Explained

A test shot with the new flash came back so bright it was unusable, and that is only worth anything if you find out why. It was not the flash. A single sensitivity setting had been left far too high, and once that was clear, the rest of the controls made sense too. Which light shaper actually looks best is a different question, and that comparison is still ahead.
Every take now carries a short identity of its own — date, scene, take number and the test it belongs to — written on the slate and kept with the file. That looks like bookkeeping until a clip surfaces months later and the only useful question is what the conditions were. The same care went into the shooting plan: the moments that happen only once are scheduled first, because a build step that is already finished cannot be filmed again, and nothing is wiped from a card before the material has been checked somewhere safe.
A longer-term plan had quietly turned into one specific camera model. It was rewritten into what such a camera would have to do instead — a large sensor, raw recording, and data that can later prove a picture is the original and not a fake. The model itself was deliberately left open until the choice is really due, years from now. What looks impressive today is a poor guide to what will be right then.

Week 36 / Light, And What Counts As Proof

New Light Arrives, Nothing Is Declared Finished

Anyone who has tried to photograph a room in the evening knows that the light decides almost everything. Several new lighting pieces are on their way for exactly that reason — and none of them counts as part of the setup yet. The angles, distances and brightness values written down while planning are treated as things to try, not as settled truth. They earn their place once they have worked in the real room.
Taking stock gave an honest answer: no further expensive main light is needed. What is already here carries the job, and the additions are there to shape the light, set accents and add atmosphere. Anything that ends up hanging above a working area, and any haze in the room, is checked first for load, stability, free escape routes and ventilation — before it is ever used for a shot.
Away from the equipment, the written rules the project runs on were read through end to end and sharpened where they had stayed vague. The one that matters most was deliberately kept strict: nothing that acts on the habitat by itself may run unattended before it has been tested under real conditions. Those tests are still ahead.

Week 35 / Trusting What You See

Getting The Colours To Tell The Truth

Everyone knows the moment: the same photo looks warm on the phone and cold on the laptop. Which one is right? This week the guessing stopped. The screens the footage is judged on were properly measured, and the better one now has the final say — an honest working screen, not a broadcast reference monitor, but no longer an unknown.
The same question, turned towards the cameras. Strong sunshine used to overpower the settings the project keeps fixed; dimming the light before it reaches the lens fixes that, and it held up outdoors. A printed colour card comes next, so two different cameras can be brought to agree on what grey and green really are. That part hasn’t met real footage yet.

Week 34 / Tests And A Wider Audience

Real Conditions Correct The Setup, And A New Audience Is Settled

The camera tests moved outdoors for the first time, and everyday daylight immediately pushed back: even under a cloudy sky the picture came out brighter than the settings the project wants to keep fixed. Rather than rewriting the scene around the problem, the answer is to cut the incoming light optically — and that piece is still waiting for its practical test.
Indoors, the first still photos and stationary sound takes were recorded and reviewed. The sound side holds up: microphones, levels and signal paths behave as intended. The lighting side did not: a single continuous lamp is not enough for quick, varied indoor photos, so the photo baseline stays deliberately unconfirmed until the missing piece has been tried in practice instead of assumed.
Away from the equipment, a new audience was thought through and settled: children, with their parents alongside. It stays a quiet, unhurried strand, and it only begins once there are real animals to film. The aim is simple — that wonder at one small living world grows outward into a love of nature itself, and into the quiet instinct to protect it and the animals living in it.

Week 33 / The First Real Footage

The First Test Footage Meets Real-World Conditions

The first real test footage for the opening video was actually recorded and looked at — the first time the plan met everyday conditions instead of a checklist. The early signs are encouraging: the picture holds up and the spoken words come through clearly.
But recording something is not the same as approving it. A second, independent review confirmed the main impressions, while the final technical sign-off stays deliberately open and waits for a proper look on a calibrated screen. That part is still running, so what counts today is a promising starting point rather than a finished result.
The first scene to be filmed on location was planned as a calm, fixed shot instead of a moving one — a short, quiet moment right before the build begins. It is a small example of how the project would rather get one controlled take right than chase something rushed.

Week 32 / One Place To See Everything

The Project Gets Its Own Control Room

Everything the project has to keep track of now sits in one place: the work that is planned, the risks that are known, the workflow behind the first video, and the sketches that explain how the pieces fit together. Until now each of those lived in its own document and only made sense one at a time.
With that came a stricter rule about safeguards: putting a measure in place no longer counts as finished. It stays open until there is evidence that it actually works. On that basis every safety and risk measure carried over from the early planning was reviewed one by one — and where proof was missing, the gap stays visible instead of being quietly closed.
The camera work from last week carried on, and that part is still running: several recording profiles are saved and confirmed to survive a restart, while the rest are still being checked. None of this shows up on screen, but it decides whether the first video rests on settled ground or on guesswork.

Week 31 / From Script To Camera

The Script Is Finished And The Cameras Come Out

The script for the first video reached its finished shape — a complete run from the opening scene through planning, temperature tests, the build itself, and the wiring, to the moment the rack stands in place.
Then the equipment came off the shelf, and that part is still running. Cameras, microphones, stabiliser, and lights are being worked through one combination at a time; the shared recording standard both cameras will use is settled, while the detailed setup and the real-world tests continue. Every setting that proves itself is written down rather than rediscovered later.
For visitors this is the slow, unglamorous half of making a video, and it is where a project shows its habits: original recordings kept untouched, a verified second copy of anything worth keeping, and a rehearsal before the shots that could never be taken again. What you will eventually hear is a real voice, with subtitles where they help — no synthetic narration.

Week 30 / The First Video Takes Shape

Planning Turns Into A Real First Video

The first video became actual work: the build of a custom, living-room-friendly rack for the machines that run the project, now with an approved concept, a planned length, and a production plan behind it.
The route from idea to finished video was settled along the way — a repeatable sequence with clear checkpoints, an honest early look at whether a topic can carry a video at all, and the decision that every longer video gets a companion page here for the detail that does not fit on screen.
For visitors this is where the build starts moving from written notes towards something to watch. There is no promised release date; the video appears once the rack is built and the footage holds up.

Week 29 / Evidence Before Assumptions

A Wrong Diagnosis Becomes A Better Build

Follow-up testing overturned the original diagnosis: the small computer itself was sound, and an incompatible memory module had caused the strange failures.
With a supported module installed, the machine passed its memory, load, restart, and temperature checks and is now prepared for its future role beside the habitat.
A wider quality review also sharpened the website, media workflow, and operating safeguards, so the next public release rests on clearer decisions rather than assumptions.

Week 28 / Earning Trust

The Build Earns Its Trust The Hard Way

A brand-new computer meant to run the habitat started misbehaving in strange, on-and-off ways, so an AI assistant and I chased the symptoms down step by step until we had the culprit — the board itself, not the parts around it. It's gone back for a replacement, because nothing goes into service near living animals until it has earned that trust.
For the first time, the project looked at how the live site is actually being used, drawing only on privacy-friendly server records — no tracking scripts, no cookies, and no consent banner needed.
It also quietly tightened its own inner structure and safeguards, staying true to a simple habit: measure what is real, respect the visitor's privacy, and build in careful, controlled steps.

Week 27 / Reviewed And Refined

The Public Site Gets A Thorough Quality Pass

The whole public website went through a thorough, independent review — how fast it loads, how accessible it is, how easily it is found, and how it reads — turning a general sense of "good enough" into a clear, prioritized list of concrete improvements.
The first of those improvements were applied right away: easier keyboard navigation, larger touch targets on phones, lighter and faster images, cleaner legal text, and a leaner set of pages that feel like one coherent home.
For visitors, the site becomes smoother and more comfortable to use on any device, while keeping its steady signal: careful, measured work rather than rushed launches.

Week 26 / Resilient By Design

The Control Side Is Built To Keep Itself Running

The control side of the first habitat moved onto its own dedicated, silent, always-on mini-computer, kept separate from the central setup.
The build also gained a clear plan for what should happen if individual parts go offline, so the habitat's basic conditions can be held locally instead of depending on one central system staying up.
For anyone following along, this is steady, careful engineering: a setup designed for calm reliability well before the habitat goes live.

Week 25 / Honest And Measured

The Site Gets Leaner While The Build Keeps Measuring

The Operator section was streamlined: the camera, audio, and editing setup now appears as one compact, honest overview instead of a separate page.
Behind the scenes, the project decided how it will keep an eye on power use for its setup and mapped out which climate conditions it will track once the habitat is alive.
For visitors, this continues a calm pattern: fewer empty promises, more visible structure, and real measurement planned before anything goes live.

Week 24 / From Planning To Measuring

The Project Starts Measuring The Real Environment

The wireless conditions around the future habitat were measured directly over several days, turning a planning assumption into real data.
The video and stream production workflow gained a shared visual model, and the project's planning backbone became more consistent.
For visitors, this shows a calm, evidence-based approach: decisions are prepared with real measurements instead of guesswork.

Week 23 / Infrastructure Becomes Tangible

The Hidden Backbone Starts Becoming Real

Core machines and local network foundations moved from plan into verified setup.
The build now has clearer roles for media, runtime, storage, and future control.
For visitors, this makes the future rainforest stream feel credible instead of purely aspirational.

Week 22 / Runtime Map

The Home Infrastructure Plan Gets A Route

The home infrastructure review became a concrete migration path.
Network, media, stream, and safety responsibilities were separated before live operation.
The takeaway is simple: the calm scene will be supported by serious engineering.

Week 21 / Media Workflow

The Future Stream And Videos Get A Clearer Shape

The video and livestream workflow was organized into clearer production, strategy, and operating layers.
Risk, documentation, and handover rules became more deliberate.
Future updates can now point to real parts of the system instead of vague behind-the-scenes work.

Week 20 / Creator System

The Project Starts Becoming A Repeatable Story

YouTube and post-production planning were consolidated into a cleaner creator workflow.
Editing tools, channel logic, and the website role were connected into one content path.
That helps the project grow as a series, not just as occasional updates.

Week 12 / Release Hygiene

The Site Gets Quieter, Safer, And Easier To Maintain

The website went through release, cache, security, and documentation cleanup.
Publishing rules and technical checks became part of the normal workflow.
This quiet work helps visitors land on a site that feels stable, current, and carefully maintained.

Week 11 / Operator And MVP Clarity

The Website Becomes A Coherent Homebase

The website stories, tests, and operator perspective were aligned with the real project.
The pages became less like placeholders and more like a shared home for the build.
Visitors get clearer routes into nature, engineering, and the human work behind both.

Week 10 / Blueprint Shape

The Engineering Side Gets Its Public Frame

The Blueprint area gained a structure for architecture, automation, monitoring, and build references.
Visual cards made the technical side approachable without pretending the full archive is ready.
The site started showing how the system will be explained, not only that it will exist.

Week 8 / Public Safeguards

The Website Gets The Small Details Right

Privacy, security, legal access, and the Experience page were strengthened.
The live site became more reliable around navigation, cache behavior, and basic public safeguards.
These details are mostly invisible, but they make the project safer and more dependable for visitors.

Week 7 / Website Foundation

The Project Becomes A Website System

The project moved from planning artifacts into a real website foundation.
Landing structure, cluster paths, legal pages, tests, and a publishing workflow took shape.
The first public frame stayed intentionally lean so future updates can grow from real progress.

Choose Where You Want to Follow

YouTube

Long Videos, Shorts & the Future Livestream

YouTube will become the main video home of My Private Little Biotope: longer build stories, shorter observations, and later the 24/7 paludarium livestream. If you want to see how I build the system and why I make certain decisions, this is the main channel to follow.

Open YouTube

Instagram

The Visual Gallery: Curated Stills & Atmosphere

Instagram is the quieter visual side of the project: selected stills, close details, and carefully framed moments as the paludarium takes shape. Follow there if you prefer the build through images rather than long explanations.

Open Instagram

TikTok

The Pulse: Quick Impressions & Motion

TikTok is planned for short build moments, movement, and small observations that do not need a long explanation. It is the quickest view of the project, without pretending that every update is a major event.

Open TikTok

X

The Operator’s Log: Real-Time Updates & Thoughts

X is the shortest written path to the project. I use it for work-in-progress notes, quick observations, and brief thoughts about the technical and everyday decisions behind the build.

Open X