345 replies to this topic

[dermy]

Wow that looks pretty neat! Good idea on putting the fluon on both the inside and outside. I bet that water tastes pretty nasty [the bottled water] because it's probably 90F or something

[dspdrew]

My bottled water tastes great. I only drink it when it's been in the fridge.

[prettycode]

Drew, you're my hero! Haha! So much good information in this thread!

 

By the way, you know a good source for that mesh? Every place I find has large minimum orders.

[Subverted]

Ebay is a good place for that. You will probably have to buy at minimum 6"x6" and 12x12 is more common.

[dspdrew]

Ebay is where I get mine.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...l mesh&_sacat=0

[dspdrew]

There has been a few problems with this new vase setup. The hole in the bottom, while above the water level, does leak a tiny bit. The dirt is so saturated at that level, that the capillary action is creating a syphen effect, and that is allowing small amounts of water to slowly dribble down from the hole. It's such a small amount, that it's not really a problem at this point. The biggest problem is that I these vases are extremely thin except for the very top and very bottom. I should have realized this when I first noticed how light they were. I found out while trying to drill a large hole half way up the vase. Needless to say, that vase is now trash. The next one I make I decided will be exactly like my smaller setups. It will not use the center container as a tank, but just as a temporary water reservoir for manual hydration. I will also fill the center container up half way with dirt, just as I do with the smaller ones. This allows them to hold the moisture for a much longer time. These are so large, that this will probably only need to be done every couple months or so, and that's not bad at all.
 
I started working on the tank for the next one. This time I decided to hide the fill tube inside a piece of driftwood. I'm also going to glue sand and gravel to the top, like I forgot to do on the first one.
 

 

 

[dspdrew]

Painted it black because the white background on the chambers just doesn't look right.
 

 
 
Installed the tank, and stuck gravel and sand down with resin.
 

 

[dspdrew]

I cut the legs off an old pair of black fleece warm-ups that I probably wore like three times in my life, and put them around the vases. They make perfect covers.
 

 

[dermy]

That's cool, so they will "hopefully" make more chambers on the sides and eventually you can pull them back to see what's going on.  [I assume that's the point of the covers]

[dspdrew]

That's exactly the point of the covers.

[dspdrew]

A little update on my "wood box". The Camponotus are loving it.
 

 

 

 

[sgheaton]

Hey! Congratulations at successfully completing the cylinder tube before...well I know I had the exact same plan in the works, and surely some others! I understand the drawling and am sure PT does as well ! He and I were talking awhile back about a design exactly as such - and resorted to copied vases he had from California for researching vessels (@$6 heck yeah). I ended up using acrylic inserts from MSC Direct as drilling through glass isn't ideal. Work account, for the win! While I could put what would be exact copies of the pictures in this thread..I'm now going to say my version isn't done now compared to yours now..As my Pogonomyrmex are fine (for now) this tank has taken as a second string to the Tetra tank I'm having to do first. Currently have the cap of hydrostone set to the side and will mess with it later today. Anyways....  . Went all fancy with adding wires for a water level. Probably won't be doing something like that so I'm interested in how reliable it is and how much you actually trust/defer to it. 

 

My research models have 1 with hydrostone and 1 without it in the base (the third was drilled full of holes for practice).  Comparing the two set ups - Hydrostone DOES HAVE a single hole entrance and is always completely saturated with water. The vase without the hydrostone has TWO HOLES and while it isn't soaked like the other, clearly has a full gradient of water up the whole dirt level. Moving forward...I don't think I'm going to use the hydrostone layer on the bottom. Though I've got some questions because you're moving ants in yet and I can still design my set up.

 

questions

1 - Are you always going to add a thin layer of hydrostone to the bottom of your tanks? Is there a reason to this besides the whisking properties it provides?

2 - Is this the first application of a water level indicator?

3 - I was planning on making some sort of lid+screen on top. Do you have anything in the works for this or just sticking with the Flu-goo?

4 - What will be your plan for when the colony gets too big? what's your exit strategy for them?

5 - .....I didn't stick things down with resin. What was it you stuck? The "ground-layer"? What is the point/reason of doing this? 

 

Things I'm going to copy
1 - Putting the fill tube in a piece of drift wood. Currently mine is sitting in water, going to need to redesign the insert to allow for the tank to be "inside" the tube. Really like your "all in one" ness though my current design isn't allowing it and needs some modifications. 

2 - Blanket covers. Wasn't sure what to do yet. 

Edited by sgheaton, August 9 2016 - 5:43 AM.

[dspdrew]

Hey! Congratulations at successfully completing the cylinder tube before...well I know I had the exact same plan in the works, and surely some others! I understand the drawling and am sure PT does as well ! He and I were talking awhile back about a design exactly as such - and resorted to copied vases he had from California for researching vessels (@$6 heck yeah). I ended up using acrylic inserts from MSC Direct as drilling through glass isn't ideal. Work account, for the win! While I could put what would be exact copies of the pictures in this thread..I'm now going to say my version isn't done now compared to yours now..As my pogos are fine (for now) this tank has taken as a second string to the Tetra tank I'm having to do first. Currently have the cap of hydrostone set to the side and will mess with it later today. Anyways....  . Went all fancy with adding wires for a water level. Probably won't be doing something like that so I'm interested in how reliable it is and how much you actually trust/defer to it. 

 

My research models have 1 with hydrostone and 1 without it in the base (the third was drilled full of holes for practice).  Comparing the two set ups - Hydrostone DOES HAVE a single hole entrance and is always completely saturated with water. The vase without the hydrostone has TWO HOLES and while it isn't soaked like the other, clearly has a full gradient of water up the whole dirt level. Moving forward...I don't think I'm going to use the hydrostone layer on the bottom. Though I've got some questions because you're moving ants in yet and I can still design my set up.

 

questions

1 - Are you always going to add a thin layer of hydrostone to the bottom of your tanks? Is there a reason to this besides the whisking properties it provides?

2 - Is this the first application of a water level indicator?

3 - I was planning on making some sort of lid+screen on top. Do you have anything in the works for this or just sticking with the Flu-goo?

4 - What will be your plan for when the colony gets too big? Whats your exit strategy for them?

5 - .....I didn't stick things down with resin. What was it you stuck? The "ground-layer"? What is the point/reason of doing this? 

 

Things I'm going to copy
1 - Putting the fill tube in a piece of drift wood. Currently mine is sitting in water, going to need to redesign the insert to allow for the tank to be "inside" the tube. Really like your "all in one" ness though my current design isn't allowing it and needs some modifications. 

2 - Blanket covers. Wasn't sure what to do yet. 

 

Not sure I understood everything you were describing, but I can answer your questions.

 

1. The Hydrostone is there to keep anything but water from moving between the water source and the nest. What is keeping your ants from leaving the nest once digging all the way to the bottom where all your holes are drilled?

 

2. I only put that float switch in one of these, and never used it. It turned out using the inner tube as a water tank didn't work. I actually don't even remember exactly what happened, but I think the water continued soaking all the way up the dirt to the top, while I only expected it to go up so far due to the tank being air-tight. Same reason a Sparklets bottle doesn't empty out all over the floor. Because of this I only pour enough water in to keep it as wet as I want it. That's really good enough, because even just the dirt from the nest holds enough water to keep it damp for months. The second one I made I actually put dirt in the tank, the same way I did with all my box setups.

 

3. I haven't gotten around to making lids yet. So far the Fluon has been sufficient.

 

4. That I don't know. I tried drilling a hole in one of these tanks and destroyed it. Because of the way the light refracts through the glass of these vases, it's impossible to visually tell that they are only 1/16 of an inch thick except at the very top and bottom. I was a bit shocked at how light they were, but obviously never gave it enough thought.

 

5. I did that so that the ants didn't move all the dirt, leaving smooth plastic showing on the surface.

[sgheaton]

Thanks for responding though. It cleared some things up for me

 

1 - Using a chunk of sponge. Was concerned of the stone eventually eroding away upwards. 
2 - OOO - love the idea of the internal cylinder as the water tank. Maybe a next year project. (I'm totally not set up for it that way though..... .......nonono. I have enough on my plate as it is.) I'll have to reread all your posting on this design project.  

3 - I'm thinking that I'm wanting a screen lid thingy. Kinda have..some..well much like my french press's screen but on top. 

4 - I'm going to defer to you when the time comes. I'm setting myself up for trouble as only 1 set up as an exit "hole" drilled. 

5 - I'll view other posts and compare your tanks. I'm guessing your Pogonomyrmex (rug?) ..the Pogonomyrmex in the tank didn't have this as they ...I'm guessing have ran out of dirt at this point? I need to compare your other cylinder set up to this one. 

 

 

Edit

I'm excited to see how quickly your already functional colony moves into and constructs their tunnels. 

Edited by sgheaton, August 10 2016 - 5:16 AM.

[sgheaton]

So would probably help if I read the dates when things are posted...Had to do a bit of searchin.

 

This cylinder tank design is currently holding your Myrmecocystus Mexicanus?

[dspdrew]

I have two of them. One has Acromyrmex versicolor in it, and one has Myrmecocystus mexicanus.

[dspdrew]

Working on my new "dirt boxes" cast Hydrostone inner block instead of the plastic inner container.
 

[sgheaton]

Nice texturing on that block. What was your method to achieve that?

[dspdrew]

3M spray-on glue and sand.

[drtrmiller]

What problem is this supposed to solve?  Hydrostone poured really thick has very low absorption.
 

Working on my new "dirt boxes" cast Hydrostone inner block instead of the plastic inner container.