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. 

Greenhab 2.0: Watering mechanism

In the process of rebuilding Greenhab (the first was destroyed when I tried to use the dishwasher to clean it, only for it to partially melt) I decided I don't want it to be a single use gimmick. I want it to really work, and be able to stay down permanently.

Two problems with the last one: 1. too cold, and 2. no way to water the plants without bringing it up. I solved 1 by adding resistive heater pads.

They may or may not be too warm, if so I can add an inline potentiometer to throttle how much current they receive. I thought I'd solve 2 by adding a second tube just for water.

But, I hate adding extra surface connections, Quickly becomes an ugly, unmanageable tangle. Instead, I've worked out that I can simply inject water into the existing airline, letting the compressor push it down to the plants. This means Greenhab 2.0 will never need to be resurfaced.

Scratch that last post, Aqua Bubble is lost

Could swear I'd seen it recently but after several days of searching I just can't put my hands on it. That's a shame. Currently in the process of building a new greenhab after the dishwasher partially melted the last one, so hopefully I'll have something new to show soon.

Summer mini-expeditions

As I've not been able to afford to do much work towards completing the really big habitat, and the weather outside is getting nice and warm, I thought I'd do some short term stuff in natural bodies of water.

There are some ponds, lakes, and creeks nearby. Some even have reasonably clear water. My thinking was to take the battery backup air compressor, a length of air hose and the aqua bubble. Then emplace it on the bottom for 10-15 minutes at a time, running the compressor off its internal battery.

I would of course film this from underwater. I'm expecting it to be neato to finally get some decent footage of the aquabubble somewhere other than the aquarium. More to come.

Hyper-intelligent rodents

http://www.iflscience.com/brain/mice-part-human-brains-are-smarter-their-peers


"By injecting human cells into mouse pups, scientists have created mice whose brains are part human. These hybrid mice grew up to be smarter than their peers, performing much better in tests for memory and cognition. Although this may sound like the plot of a terrible Sci-Fi film, researchers hope to glean a lot of valuable information from these experiments."

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? (No, this is not a Pinky and the Brain reference) OF COURSE YOU ARE! If you support something like this in the first place we probably have the same neurological disorder! It's all so clear to me now. The missing piece was always intelligent colonists to populate Hampture. Dwarf hamsters are not the brightest bulbs.

Imagine! Mice who could operate small buttons or levers! Who could, with a lot of training, pilot mini-subs! Or at least comprehend that they're underwater. And who knows what living under pressure would do to their transgenic brains? And to think, those stuffed shirts at the Academy call me insane. I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S INSANE, BOARD OF ETHICS! 

Artificial lagoon!

So, I've been thinking about how to expand beyond the aquarium. Not much will fit in there, and some people (rightfully imo) question what the point is of putting a habitat into an aquarium not much larger than it is.

What I really need is a body of water under my control. Very close by, so I can supply grid power and wifi for a webcam. But also with ideal visibility. The ponds near me are all muddy as hell. Then the solution hit me like a ton of ballast. Inflatable pool!

This is the biggest (on a budget) one I can find. It's 18 feet across by 48 inches/4 feet deep.
http://www.amazon.com/Intex-Easy-Pool-18-Feet-48-Inch/dp/B00AA8AAH0/

This is the next biggest. 15 feet across by 42 inches deep.
http://www.amazon.com/Above-Ground-Swimming-Complete-Intex/dp/B000QYZHRQ/

There's a big price difference between the two. The second biggest is $175. The biggest is just over $300. I'm not sure that jump in cost is worth it for 3 more feet of diameter and 6 more inches of depth. But if I can talk one or more of you crazy bastards into paying for it, I'd prefer the biggest one. Why bother unless you're gonna give it 110%, right?

This completely solves the problem of where to put the increasingly large (and soon modular) habitats. The depth is respectable but does not require anything beyond a snorkel and mask to work in. There will be a distance of nearly three feet between the top of Hambase Delta and the water's surface, and the curved blue outer wall should help create the illusion that the habitats are in open water. Maybe some fake coral here and there? And LED illumination at night.

Whereas livestreaming the existing habitat in the aquarium involves pointing a laptop camera at it from outside (in air), livestreaming the modular habitat complex I could finally establish in a pool like this would involve a webcam on a long USB cord, housed in a watertight weighted container. I could periodically move it around to view the growing colony from different angles.

Because all of this would be right outside, there would be no need for complex, failure prone solutions to power (like solar panels and lead acid batteries) or connectivity (like mifi or tethering, as if I can afford the data plan that would require anyway.) This is in all ways (I think) the ideal solution for how to continue building bigger, more ambitious habitats than will fit in the aquarium and still being able to stream video to my supporters.

But as usual I don't have the resources to make this happen on my own. I'll need some funding. We can call it "art" if that helps you justify donating this kind of dosh to such a project without feeling weird. }:3 I never enjoy soliciting money so brazenly but this is something I need your help for. It represents a revolutionary step beyond the restrictive confines of the aquarium, a much cooler environment to put habitats in (and film/stream them) and a testbed for eventual Summertime lake deployments. More than any other addition, this one in particular will drastically improve your experience as a spectator and make possible all kinds of future developments there's simply not space for right now.

Weights arrive!

Holy hell. I will tell you one thing right now. Hambase Delta is the largest single module I will ever build, because the amount of weight needed to sink this fuckin' thing very nearly exceeds what I consider to be realistically man portable. Any larger than this and we get into "requires a crane" territory.

Even with 60lbs of weight, it's just barely negatively buoyant. I haven't accounted for the air displaced by the weights (they sat inside the enclosure for the buoyancy test) so all told, it's probably still not quite negatively buoyant, but that's easily solved by pouring some lead shot into the spaces around the weights when they're inside the ballast pods. I really don't want this to be much heavier than it already is because I have to fuckin' carry it, but it also shouldn't be *barely* negatively buoyant because then even a gentle current can knock it around when it's underwater. A minimum of a few extra pounds to keep it in place will be added.

I am not pleased with the size of the skylight I purchased, which is why I've been holding off on installing it. I want the window to take up as much of the lid as possible. I've heard Home Depot will custom cut lexan to any dimensions you like. That seems like the way to go. When I have more money to spend on this project I'll head back there and have them cut a custom skylight for me.

The other thing is, this habitat doesn't make a lot of sense for use in the aquarium. It will (just barely) fit, but the roof will be no more than an inch from the surface. And there's less than an inch of clearance on either side of it, depthwise. It's looking like the only place it will make sense to deploy this huge motherfucker is in an aboveground pool (one of those blue inflatable ones maybe?) or a natural body of water.

There's always the pond I put Hampture Mk.III into that one Summer, but it's murky as fuck and there's no access to grid power or wifi to livestream. So I'm thinking once I finish the habitat itself, the next big purchase will be one of those blue inflatable pools to stick it in. Maybe with some sand poured in as a simulated ocean floor.

This way it's close enough I can still use grid power and livestream the habitat. Speaking of which I am getting ready to livestream the aquarium again for the first time in ages, now that Hambase Alpha is finally kitted out for year-round use. Stay tuned.