Sorry about the hiatus

I'm moving cross-country shortly. I haven't made much progress on the project because of that, and because there's been no donations for a long time. I'll continue construction of the Mk. III habitat after the move, once I've settled in. There's not much left to do but the stuff I need, I can't get, at least for the time being.

Possible future project?

I can't believe two people independently had this idea. It gives me great hope for the future of humanity.

Dremeling shit takes forever.

...But it's done. All the holes are precisely dremeled out. Here's the colony with the tunnels in place:Next I need to get ahold of a resin sealed wooden platform I can bolt the enclosures to, then I can seal it all up.

I plan to make the third enclosure (nearest the camera) the planter. That way it will be the last place air gets to, meaning the clover will recieve air with higher concentrations of CO2, which it needs to survive. Hamsters hanging out in that chamber will breathe easy due to close proximity to the oxygen emitting plants, everyone's happy. The alternative was to add another enclosure, pipe oxygen into all four, and let the stagnant air bleed out the seal of the central enclosure, but I didn't like that idea for obvious reasons. This one's tidier and safer overall. Now, where to get grow-LEDs...

Finally, progress to report!

Thanks to a steady trickle of donations plus a bit of my own money I was finally able to get these extra enclosures and the dremel necessary for expanding Hampture. You can see the Mk. II habitat in the back for a size comparison, and inspirational reading material in the lower right. :3Next I'll need a sealed wood panel to bolt them to. I'll want them very secure before I glue/seal the tubes in place as trying to bolt them down after the fact might cause cracks.

Air will flow in to either of the two side enclosures, through the main exercise room, then into the bottom enclosure and out a one-way air release valve. This model will release air directly into the water as the Mk. II taught me that maintaining a 1 atmosphere habitat via air return tube requires precisely measured pump strength or you wind up with a slight overpressure that forces bubbles through the seal (as seen in the video). That's not a big deal for a few hours here and there but I'd rather the seals not somehow weaken over time as a result, so the Mk. III habitat will be ambient pressure. At 8 feet deep, the increase in pressure won't be significant enough for the hamster to so much as feel it, although I may want to raise/lower it at a leisurely pace to be on the safe side.

Side note; The Mk.III will have a power cable instead of an air return tube, this time for powering the heating pads, one for each room. I can't really rely on battery power for that many heaters and the clover aquaculture room will require grow lights. Still shopping around for compact grow LED arrays.

We're close, guys. This is really gonna happen.

Hampture Mk. III is coming together nicely.

The acrylic tube sections arrived today along with the largest enclosure. Below you can see the planned layout, though of course the tubes aren't 'installed' yet.There's room for another enclosure if I can think of a good reason to add it, but in all honesty three is probably plenty. I want to conserve funds for Project Earth Rover so unless someone can pitch a convincing rationale for adding another enclosure, this is probably as big as Hampture will get.

Next up; need to buy a dremel tool to make the holes for the tubes, and buy some kind of platform I can secure the enclosures to. Movin' forward!

Growing plants underwater.

This is a suggestion from the early days of the project that I've given a lot of thought to and decided to pursue. I won't make the colony reliant on plants for air as that would endanger the hamsters. However it will supplement the air, act as a backup food supply and be generally neat as fuck:Why clover? Why not blue green alage? Well, a couple reasons. Clover thrives even in dry conditions, meaning I don't have to water it often. It also thrives with minimal sunlight, meaning even a meager blue/IR LED array will suffice. Last, hamsters love it. It's a treat for them, as there's a sort of sugary nectar inside the leaves and stem they really enjoy. By comparison blue green algae offers efficient production of oxygen (a function we don't need) but cannot be eaten, and is more difficult to successfully cultivate.

So, for our purposes, clover seems ideal. I can simply spray the "crops" with a mister every time I raise the colony to clean out the other parts, and the lights will do the rest. This does mean I'll need to add a USB power cable to the umbilical, however. But given that I'll soon be dremeling out a 1.5 inch hole in each enclosure, and given how perfectly silicone sealant seems to protect against water getting in, I'm no longer skittish about breaching the habitat walls to pass cables inside. Any idea where I can get a 24 foot long USB extension cord?

TUUUUUBES

Welp, eight feet of 1.5 inch diameter transparent acrylic tubing cost me $52, including shipping. I've instructed that it should arrive precut into sixteen 6 inch long sections. Overkill for what I need but there was a minimum on the amount you could order.This means the sky (or budget) is basically the limit on potential future expansions. I can add damn near anything with at least one flat surface, made of transparent material, and watertight or easily made so.

I still need materials to build the platform to which the enclosures will be bolted. I'm thinking erector set. They have large panels govered in a grid of holes with standard sized bolts, perfect for building exactly the size and shape platform I need. I'll position the enclosures, drill holes in their floors, bolt them down and then seal the area where the bolt passes through the enclosure floor with silicone sealant.

I'll be bolting them down after I dremel-out the holes for the tubes, but before I actually add the tube and glue/seal it into place. My reasoning being that if I fix the tube to the two enclosures with glue and sealant beforehand, when I bolt them down, forcing them flat like that might crack the seal where the tube passes through the enclosure wall. Better to add the tubes when they're already bolted down and let the glue dry, then add sealant.

So, a general purpose erector set with plenty of large panels, and a dremel. Can anyone suggest good candidates for either?