Just stuff as many air tubes you can into the plastic tube and seal it with silicon sealant. Make sure you don't get silicon into the air tube passage.
Pretty crude but seem to work ok when tested in my wash basin.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
DIY Water Distribution System Version I
Cobbled together this version I from some black silicon air tubes, silicon sealant and plastic tubes.
Just stuff as many air tubes you can into the plastic tube and seal it with silicon sealant. Make sure you don't get silicon into the air tube passage.
Pretty crude but seem to work ok when tested in my wash basin.
Just stuff as many air tubes you can into the plastic tube and seal it with silicon sealant. Make sure you don't get silicon into the air tube passage.
Pretty crude but seem to work ok when tested in my wash basin.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Trial Carnivorous Plants
Got these from World Farm when I went down yesterday. Temporarily housing them in the Ikea "greenhouse" and sharing my 2ft T5HO light with my 1 feet cube tank.
A Drosera spp.
Another Drosera spp.
A pinguicula spp.
not too sure what is this weed/algae/moss?
Interesting moss. thinking of using this to cover parts of the paludarium.
A Drosera spp.
Another Drosera spp.
A pinguicula spp.
not too sure what is this weed/algae/moss?
Interesting moss. thinking of using this to cover parts of the paludarium.
Planting materials
Managed to gather most of my planting materials yesterday:
Got the dried spagnum moss from World Farm.
This looks like coco-fibre to me but World Farm labeled it as coco-peat. Oh well... so long as the texture is the same. I intends to stick this as a layer via silicone over part of the background I am creating.
Perlite which I bought sometime back from World Farm as well but did not get to use it till now. Going to add a little to the substrate to help improve drainage.
This Horti Moss is peat moss according to the package description. Not too sure how I am going to use this but probably going to add alittle to to spagnum moss with the perlite.
Various grades of inert sand and pebbles for the underwater portion.
Got the dried spagnum moss from World Farm.
This looks like coco-fibre to me but World Farm labeled it as coco-peat. Oh well... so long as the texture is the same. I intends to stick this as a layer via silicone over part of the background I am creating.
Perlite which I bought sometime back from World Farm as well but did not get to use it till now. Going to add a little to the substrate to help improve drainage.
This Horti Moss is peat moss according to the package description. Not too sure how I am going to use this but probably going to add alittle to to spagnum moss with the perlite.
Various grades of inert sand and pebbles for the underwater portion.
Monday, April 27, 2009
MH Rack II: intricacies of the design...
For this second design, I have doubled the reinforcement joints...ie. previously I was using only 1 L-bracket for each joint. Now I have doubled the it for each joint (ie doubled my joints cost):
As mentioned, I try to stabilize the whole structure by shifting the center of gravity to the middle of the structure.
As mentioned, I try to stabilize the whole structure by shifting the center of gravity to the middle of the structure.
MH Rack Version II
I decided to modify my MH Rack to unblock the view from the sides of the terrarium tank. So, today I went down to TC Aluminum again to get more joints and parts for the modification.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover a new kind of internal bracket joint which allow even more flexibility in the structural design. Now I have the option to have 2 L-bracket at the corners to strengthen such joints for heavier load bearing.
Notice that the top hanging horizontal beam is about midway between the base support. With the heavy MH pendant handing from there, the CG will be right smack in the middle of the structure.
The MH Rack II over the Terrarium. I am pretty happy with the amount of viewing space it liberated along the side of the tank! :D
Someone over at the Aquatic Quotient Forum was asking about the part I intended for hanging the MH. Is actually meant to hang glass panes but I am thinking it may just hold the pendant too....not 100% confirmed on using them yet...subject to my trial on it's load bearing capacity.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover a new kind of internal bracket joint which allow even more flexibility in the structural design. Now I have the option to have 2 L-bracket at the corners to strengthen such joints for heavier load bearing.
Notice that the top hanging horizontal beam is about midway between the base support. With the heavy MH pendant handing from there, the CG will be right smack in the middle of the structure.
The MH Rack II over the Terrarium. I am pretty happy with the amount of viewing space it liberated along the side of the tank! :D
Someone over at the Aquatic Quotient Forum was asking about the part I intended for hanging the MH. Is actually meant to hang glass panes but I am thinking it may just hold the pendant too....not 100% confirmed on using them yet...subject to my trial on it's load bearing capacity.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Water circulation and waterfall
Passed by Clementi afterwork and decided to drop into Clementi Florist to have a look around..... grabbed some more equipments for the water circulation and waterfall.
Got those black Co2 tubes to create drip lines to make sure most of the background will be moist all the time.
I was standing at the huge stack of water pumps in the shop for 1/2 an hour at least trying to decide which size and brand to get. Finally it was narrowed down to Eheim,Eden and this SICCE piece. Being the most powerful with a vertically oriented design made the SICCE the final choice. Being made in Italy helps too ;)
I decided that I should get the submersible pump early to help me allocate space for it in the overall design. Having the pump inside the tank really gives me a spatial visualization of the equipment size and field of operation to design my backdrop and waterfall.
Got those black Co2 tubes to create drip lines to make sure most of the background will be moist all the time.I was standing at the huge stack of water pumps in the shop for 1/2 an hour at least trying to decide which size and brand to get. Finally it was narrowed down to Eheim,Eden and this SICCE piece. Being the most powerful with a vertically oriented design made the SICCE the final choice. Being made in Italy helps too ;)
I decided that I should get the submersible pump early to help me allocate space for it in the overall design. Having the pump inside the tank really gives me a spatial visualization of the equipment size and field of operation to design my backdrop and waterfall.
Friday, April 24, 2009
The Materials
I'm slowly gathering all the materials required to construct the background, false bottom and the planned waterfall (although I have yet to sit down with pen and paper to draw up the scheme yet..:P )
so far, these are the materials I gathered:
A close up of the Expanda foam...took me a while to find these at Homely Hardware at No.1 Ubi Crescent.
I will probably need some other stuff like:
so far, these are the materials I gathered:
Expanda Foam
- Concrete
- "Egg Crate" or Light diffuser gratings
- Bamboo charcoal
- Sculpting tools/ penknife
- Face mask
A close up of the Expanda foam...took me a while to find these at Homely Hardware at No.1 Ubi Crescent.I will probably need some other stuff like:
- LECA clay pellats
- Substrate for the water portion
- mini pump for the water circulation and waterfall
- peat, perlite and spagnum moss
- plants (thinking of getting carnivorous plants like pitcher and venus fly traps)
- faunas (will prob settle for hardy small ones like endlers)
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