Updates: Atlantis Project

[PunkMartyr]

I put together something as a trial run, but encountered a few problems.

What I did was I took an aquarium bowl, wove tubing around the rim, and put some tubing pieces in the weave with suction cups on the ends. Then I siliconed the weave to the rim and the cups to tiles. Sand on top of the tiles was enough to keep the globe down.

1. Burp - The first problem I encountered was the "burp" we discussed before, air being pushed out by the air stone I ran into the globe would come out in burps which disrupted the sand around the globe. I should have done something about this before setting it all up but I really wanted to get a feel for what it would all look like.

I am still trying to finalize how I will handle this in my head. I believe I will attempt to drill holes into the lip of the globe even though this isn't the smartest thing to do. The sand is a big issue, I have it on all sides of the globe except the entrance. I am tempted to instead incorporate the burp into the pvc pipe entrance I have been working on. I wouldn't mind the burp coming out of the entrance.

2. Entrance - For the entrance for my crayfish I have been working with some PVC pipe. It comes in several shapes and can easily be cut to length. I am thinking about using either a 45 or 90 degree elbow. I have been toying in my head with taking a strip of clear plastic 1" wide and the length of the circumference of the globe and wrapping it around the lip so that the globe continues down after the lip. I'd seal it with silicone. Then I would run the pipe through that plastic so that one end goes into the globe beach area and the other end is out in the aquarium jutting out of the sand. I have determined that the pipe needs to have a 1 & 1/2" circumference or about.

3. The Beach - Another problem I encountered was that the beach was difficult to manipulate. It is difficult for several reasons, i.e. not much room for my hand to get in, and the sand tends to want to level out and not allow a high beach. I am wondering if I should take a sheet of plastic, cut a circle out of it to the shape of the globe, cut a hole for the pvc pipe, then go ahead and put the sand in and silicone it to the globe interior. There's got to be a more simple answer on this one.

Any ideas or feedback is appreciated. Also would the best place for the air stone leading air in be at the top of the interior of the globe?

[clayt101]

Any chance you could post a pic, its kinda hard to understand what you are talking about:)

[JP457]

Did you ever think of getting a pump to run in reverse of the one putting air into the dome? You could try that to get rid of the burps but im not sure where you could get one.

[latazyo]

this sounds interesting, but what exactly is an atlantis project?

[1 fish 2 fish]

I think I remember a post about this a while ago... before we got the new forums, darn.

[Mr.Jingles]

the atlantis project is an attempt to create an underwater bubble for some reason or another...like the city of atlantis which allows humans to inhabit the underwater world.

what is this thing for?

[JP457]

PunkMartyn wast trying to create an underwater dome filled with air so that crayfish nd crabs could live in an aquarium with no access to the surface. It started as a dome with a rock on top and has turned into this.

[latazyo]

haha...wow...impressive

good luck

and just so you know, if you figure this out, you are a genius

[tyler]

is there going to be a dry land tip? maybe if you grew some sort of amphibious plant in there, could that handle the oxygen situation? just something to think about.

[Serrateeth_2002]

Tried making an underwater bubble before but it was too messy

[shmeeb001]

what's the bowl made of? you idea of drilling holes near the bottom to bleed of enough air to compensate for the burp sounds as if it would work the best. you'd have to experiment on how many holes would be required. if you don't want multiple holes you could attach a low level pump's intake as a forced exhaust like P457 suggested. not sure how you'd pull that off though. first you just silicone an airline interconnect piece into the holes, attach some airline, and you'd have a snorkel. connecting that to an intake would be somewhat difficult (not that i've ever tried it). you might want to take a look at a small power head, they usually come with converters for smaller undergravel filters (my aqua clear ph201 did). be very cool if you get your contraption to work, good luck.

[carpguy]

If you could get an airpump to suck the air out of it you could just leave a hose as the air inlet. As the air gets sucked out it would naturally replace itself. Its an idea with legs. What was the original logic behind the vent? Were we just trying to avoid the unfortunate siphon type incident? Why didn't anyone think of this the last time around?

I don't think you need an airstone, just an airline, especially with this suck the air out option. I don't think the placement is all that critical.

I can't really visualize the entrance or the beach.

I still like my other bowl with some driftwood maybe for the ramp. (I'm going to stop lobbying for it now).

Nay not said. No nay near.

[PunkMartyr]

Thank you for all the feedback and no naysaying. My apologies for not responding sooner, I slept over at a friend's yesterday.

The tube that sucks air out of the globe, I am having a lot of trouble grasping this. They sell air pumps that suck not just blow? (pardon my french) I was not aware.

I agree I don't need an actual air stone at the top of the tube dunno why I did that.

I think I forgot to mention, I did manage to get some of the burps to go through the trial pvc pipe tunnel entrance, and it looked very cool.

Another effect I would like to mention, when the air pump is not in use the water level inside the globe can rise to the land level so its quite marshish. When the air pump turns on the air pressure forces the water down until it reaches a level as to let air slip out under the globe lip.

My girlfriend's dad is going to be teaching me how to do mosaics soon and I am considering doing one as a backdrop for my aquariums. My first one is going to look like a black mage from the final fantasy game I hope.

Thanks again for all the help, I will make another post as soon as I accomplish something more. My gf's dad also got a digital camera for christmas so I plan on taking pictures of the finished product if it doesn't look just horrible.

[Dopey]

What I did was I took an aquarium bowl, wove tubing around the rim, and put some tubing pieces in the weave with suction cups on the ends. Then I siliconed the weave to the rim and the cups to tiles. Sand on top of the tiles was enough to keep the globe down.

Why does the rim of the bowl need to be beneat the sand? if you extended the bits of tubing that connect to the suction cups enough, you could suspend (that's the wrong word... what's the opposite of suspend???) the entire bowl, rim and all, about one inch above the sand. If you tip the rim slightly, this might allow the air to bubble out at a rate equal to it's bubbling in, as well as eliminating the need to build entry tunnels. All you would need to do is build a little mountain inside so the crabs could climb above the waterline.

[Dangerdoll]

PM,

just wanted to say that this whole project is soooooo intriguing, am loving following it. You will be posting pictures once it's completed, right?

DD:D