Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Preparing to purchase the aquarium

It's 100 gallon with a bay window style front. 20 inches deep, nearly twice the depth of the current 'tank' (a clear plastic storage tub). The water level will be at least 10 inches above the highest point of the hab (the water bottle) instead of just barely above it, as it is now. The habs will be properly underwater, by a good distance, but still well short of the max depth that the pump is rated for. There's room for upgrading to a larger, deeper aquarium in the future but as a starter tank this one's enormous. It will be illuminated by overhead lamp, stocked with plants/gravel/fish, roomy enough to contain four habitats generously spaced apart and deep enough to be a suitable alternative to lake deployment. I'm excited; once my laptop's repaired I can begin streaming live video of the three existing habs inside the aquarium, and eventually all four.

Things I still need (Prices include shipping)

~An additional battery backup air pump ($80)
~Materials for a fourth habitat ($250)
~6 additional hamsternauts to populate the rest of the habs ($12 per hamster times 6 = $72)
~Fish, coral, plants ($50)
~Four more resistive heaters (So there's two per habitat)($30)
~16 by 9 HD webcam to show entire city in one stream ($30)

The streaming video will most likely be on Livestream, it will be free to watch, always on 24/7 except during maintenance and will be in 720p provided I can get a webcam capable of it.

Here is how it's expected to look in the near term with two air pumps, three habs and no fish/plants/coral:

Here's what the finished setup might look like, with the fourth habitat, some plants and fish. 

Once all of this is done, I will consider the city complete, and Project Hampture fully realized. Everyone will be able to log in and watch the city over livestream as much as they like, but I'll be moving on to the Skyhab project. That's also very promising, and I've been neglecting it so that I could finally do justice to the Hampture concept with this complete, 4 hab city in a large scenic aquarium.


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