Summer 2015 update video

Greenhab is humid

That's good! Plants love warm, humid conditions. At least the ones I'll be growing. I had in fact cultivated some seedlings in anticipation and have now transplanted them into the soil of greenhab. It was really rewarding to see the water injection system working for the first time. Depress the plunger up by the compressor, then inside the habitat a moment later there's a brief spray of water. 

While there's condensation (which is weird to see underwater) it means there's enough moisture in the habitat for the time being. The constant throughput of dry air eventually carries it all away, at which point the condensation vanishes, my cue to inject more water. I didn't think doing this with plants would be so interesting, but it already is.

One possible implication is that in any hypothetical undersea colony, the plants and humans should be kept in separate habitats, or the module with plants should be separated from the rest with a humidity barrier as ideal conditions for plants differ greatly from ideal conditions for humans. 

Greenhab 2.0 complete and in the water

Cousteau's there in the back, thoughtfully nomming some corms. Greenhab 2 is all put together, the holdup was waiting on lead shot ballast in the mail. It's great stuff as it'll conform to the shape of whatever ballast container you're using and opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of hab design.

No soil or plants yet, I'll do that tomorrow. Then post pics once there's something green in there to look at. Having trouble with algae in the water again, despite regular use of an algaecide. The warm weather's to blame. I also feel as if I'm just now getting back to where I was with the project in 2013.

I expanded too fast without an idea of where I was going with it. The half assed Greenhab 1.0 was a symptom of that. Now that the new one is properly set up for plants (and permanent use) my focus will be on finishing the really big habitat.

I have all the weights for it (Twelve 5lb block weights for a total of 60lbs) just need ballast containers now. Nobody seems to have the Otterbox line in stock anymore so I'll have to identify a similarly proportioned replacement.

After that I gotta add the window to the lid (because the only model of that drybox still being sold has an opaque lid for some reason). Everything else is easily taken care of. The big hab won't fit in the aquarium, by the by. You wanted big, you got big. But it will need to be emplaced in a pond or lake. Not sure what I'm gonna do about that.