DIY - Egg Tumbler

[plecoman]

Bad news for the eggs. When I went to check them today, there was no air flow through the tumbler. The pump was running, but either the pump is starting to go bad or the air somehow shifted more to the open end of the gang valve that I was using to control the flow through the tumbler. I looked at the side of the eggs that was laying on the screen and they had fungus building up on them. I might could have saved half of the eggs, but I decided to chunk them and try again without a gang valve and also another pump. We were also gone with the Grandbabies shopping most of the evening yesterday and I didn't check the eggs when we got home last night. My bad! The tumbler works great, but I've got to control the flow through it better! :duh:

 

[FTLOSM]

I built two of these pretty much to the same specs parts wise the problem I am having is flow, the bottom is clear, the screen is screeendoor mesh, I have an airstone on a line pushed down to the top screen (to create more upflow) tried it higher but saw no difference figured the lower into the tube the more draw it would create, I don't know if i need a bigger airstone (pump is huge) have a checkvalve and a flow adjuster knob but opened that fully, just isn't "lifting" like I'd want, is my top tube not long enough to create the flow area (remember too inside the coupler is almost anther 1/2 inch of space as well), think that might be my next try to make the top tube part longer to see if it might "draw" more up thru the eggs I put into it were partially hatched so they were partial swimmers but if they were just eggs i don't know if they would even do the light tumble like i hoped.

I even thought about restricting the top tube in a funnel like mannor with something so it forced flow more as the air travels up creating more lift.

I have a commercial made one that just falls apart everytime I use it very annoying so I am hoping I can adjust these to get them working well for my cichlid eggs.

 

[tilapiamaster]

question for you ,, when you place the air tube inside the elbow and down in the tube,, what do you use to hold the tubing in place to make sure the tube doesnt move around?

 

[FTLOSM]

Where the air tube goes thru the top elbow i put a toothpick in once I have the length adjusted, that holds the tube in with enough force to keep the airstone from coming up. I am still having the flow issue though, I am considering lengthening the top clear portion so the airstone sits deeper, and also considering putting something into that top elbow joint to restrict the outbound flow in hopes it would "create" more lift and get the eggs moving.

I have a big whisper air pump going and had it on one line in direct with the valve wide open (airstone going crazy), yet it still seems to just move the bubbles up and out fast but not create the lift, I think the output area needs to be tightened up and maybe the tube the airstone sits in be longer so it creates more force upward, still experimenting with mine here but I need it as 3 fish are currently holding and I want to strip them bad...

 

[FishFanMan]

Maybe try a much smaller diameter tube where the eggs will be. Same amount of water flow in a smaller diameter will flow faster. Perhaps rig up an adapter of some kind to connect to the larger diameter section where the air stone is.

 

[FTLOSM]

I am experimenting with a longer top tube (where the airstone goes) then at the top of that tube just before the bend I am going to limit the outflow to about 1/3 the diameter with something (maybe even just some sponge material idk yet, I have tried peas in it tho to simulate eggs, zero movement, and i had eggs in it way back zero movement too, but once I get it figured out here it should be sweet