Vacuum-enhanced aquariums
- Thread starter romaurie
- Start date
welcome to MFK I have been watching your youtube videos for a while and will one day build one of these. I know I am not the first on here to see you stuff as I know there are several others on here that have made water bridges as well as upside down aquariums. this is really cool stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXeTKvLxjIQ
Eilat is a city at the southern tip of Israel.Built on the edge of the Arava desert, the mountains continue down under the sea.In fact this is more obvious in the Sinai desert at Rus Mohamed.Winters are very mild.Night time temperatures rarely fall below 15C and daytime 27C.But summers are somink else.So I am always trying new ways to provide cooling.
Friday afternoon I was on a pergola roof repairing an A/C unit.It was 48 Deg. C!Not a soul in sight!
"Mad dogs and Englishmen"!
Eilat is a city at the southern tip of Israel.Built on the edge of the Arava desert, the mountains continue down under the sea.In fact this is more obvious in the Sinai desert at Rus Mohamed.Winters are very mild.Night time temperatures rarely fall below 15C and daytime 27C.But summers are somink else.So I am always trying new ways to provide cooling.
Friday afternoon I was on a pergola roof repairing an A/C unit.It was 48 Deg. C!Not a soul in sight!
"Mad dogs and Englishmen"!
"The water-bridge is based on the same mechanics that keeps water in a bottle when it is raised out of the water in an upside down position."
Yes.
"If you fill a bottle with water and and raise it (upside down) out of a tub of water, no air can enter the bottle and therefore no water can escape from the bottle: hence all the water remains in the bottle."
Yes.
"Another point to consider.As the tunnel or inverted aquarium is under vacuum, a "leak" actually pulls air in rather than water leaking out."
No.
Not a vacuum sucking up water but air pressure pushing down on the body of water not protected by the rigid tube.
When the weight of the atmosphere is equal to the weight of the water this effect will stop and _then_ a vacuum will be created...and that will not help lift the water any higher.
Disclaimer: This post may or may not suck.
Yes.
"If you fill a bottle with water and and raise it (upside down) out of a tub of water, no air can enter the bottle and therefore no water can escape from the bottle: hence all the water remains in the bottle."
Yes.
"Another point to consider.As the tunnel or inverted aquarium is under vacuum, a "leak" actually pulls air in rather than water leaking out."
No.
Not a vacuum sucking up water but air pressure pushing down on the body of water not protected by the rigid tube.
When the weight of the atmosphere is equal to the weight of the water this effect will stop and _then_ a vacuum will be created...and that will not help lift the water any higher.
Disclaimer: This post may or may not suck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-PBj4_z1-U
I thought the public aquarium shown on this dragon Fishkeepers Forum in Vietnam was in Vietnam.Apparently a very large marine park in Oita Japan would seem the more likely location but I can find no reference to this set-up in their information.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmeH0ChUFVg
I have drafted a design for a smaller version of this idea to provide feeding ports for the fish.Same idea using the principal of placing the ports on the water line.
I cannot source the hemispherical bowls used for the ports.Cutting glass desert bowls in half needs a very expensive motorized glass cutter.I have opted to build a 6mm glass section to cover 3 or 4 ports.
As summer in Eilat is absolutely crazy with refrigeration breakdowns, [my work] construction will have to wait until winter.
My home-made flash cooler based on an old 2.5 H.P. A/C unit was more successful than anticipated but in practical terms my old 4 cubic foot chest freezer chills a 25 litre water container far more cheaply than operating the AC.But the AC cooler has potential for a chilled water circulating system for the house.
When I first moved to Eilat in 1986 I built a marine set-up for fish from the local reefs.Being a "foreigner" I was totally unaware of the stringent application of the law for trapping protected reef fish. One relatively cold January morning me and my Canadian buddy returned from a collecting dive in a small marina near Club Med.When we came out the water we went straight to the car to have some hot soup.3 cars from the Israel Nature protection authority scorched to a halt blocking our car and their spokesman demanded to look in my pink picnic box.It had sandwiches in it on this occasion because the net with the fish was in 3 metres of water waiting for us to finish our soup.But they obviously had a "tip-off" regarding my collection methods.
They left issuing warnings about my collecting native marine fish.So I reluctantly switched to freshwater fish and concentrated on the fluid mechanics involved to develop somink different.
I kept native marine in the U.K. for many years and developed a home-made cooling system to keep the water at 12 Deg,C maximum.Never had any trouble there but then how many people wanted to keep Corkwing or Cuckoo Wrasse in their aquariums?
What goes around comes around.
I thought the public aquarium shown on this dragon Fishkeepers Forum in Vietnam was in Vietnam.Apparently a very large marine park in Oita Japan would seem the more likely location but I can find no reference to this set-up in their information.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmeH0ChUFVg
I have drafted a design for a smaller version of this idea to provide feeding ports for the fish.Same idea using the principal of placing the ports on the water line.
I cannot source the hemispherical bowls used for the ports.Cutting glass desert bowls in half needs a very expensive motorized glass cutter.I have opted to build a 6mm glass section to cover 3 or 4 ports.
As summer in Eilat is absolutely crazy with refrigeration breakdowns, [my work] construction will have to wait until winter.
My home-made flash cooler based on an old 2.5 H.P. A/C unit was more successful than anticipated but in practical terms my old 4 cubic foot chest freezer chills a 25 litre water container far more cheaply than operating the AC.But the AC cooler has potential for a chilled water circulating system for the house.
When I first moved to Eilat in 1986 I built a marine set-up for fish from the local reefs.Being a "foreigner" I was totally unaware of the stringent application of the law for trapping protected reef fish. One relatively cold January morning me and my Canadian buddy returned from a collecting dive in a small marina near Club Med.When we came out the water we went straight to the car to have some hot soup.3 cars from the Israel Nature protection authority scorched to a halt blocking our car and their spokesman demanded to look in my pink picnic box.It had sandwiches in it on this occasion because the net with the fish was in 3 metres of water waiting for us to finish our soup.But they obviously had a "tip-off" regarding my collection methods.
They left issuing warnings about my collecting native marine fish.So I reluctantly switched to freshwater fish and concentrated on the fluid mechanics involved to develop somink different.
I kept native marine in the U.K. for many years and developed a home-made cooling system to keep the water at 12 Deg,C maximum.Never had any trouble there but then how many people wanted to keep Corkwing or Cuckoo Wrasse in their aquariums?
What goes around comes around.
It is interesting how this system is received in different regions.Both in Britain and Israel the problems of maintaining good water quality were cited as being complicated enough without adding to the complexities of the hobby with vacuum pumps.
Since this system was first "aired" on "The Fishkeepers Forum" back in 2004 the most interest has come from the United States and Canada.The Far East just quietly go about emulating the system as in Oita Japan's Marine Park which hosts the largest system utilising a vacuum in the world.
Practical Fishkeeper has actually blocked any updates on the system.This however might be as a result of their site being "hacked" and all users having to re-register.As a result I cannot link with my previous posts.
Eilat has one of 3 underwater observatories in the world.I have worked on cooling systems for closed systems and a low temperature system for raising jelly fish as a food-source for juvenile sea turtles as part of a program to re-populate the Red Sea with turtles.
In fact when the Underwater Obsevatory built its new extension some years ago, the refrigeration company I was employed by had one of few "lloyds-registered" welders in Eilat.He had to weld the sections of the tower and tunnel together after bringing the 3 main sections to Eilat separately.
I was involved in the A/C system for the observatory.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EbED5AsR9s
When I first arrived in Eilat from the U.K. back in 1986, I was keen to set-up a "native-marine" aquarium.That had been my hobby in southern England for a few years and prompted me to come up with a design for a sea water cooler that would not contaminate the water.Titanium is the only metal that can be safely used in seawater with no long-term side effects like killing off the nitrifying bacteria in the biological filter.I used "heat-shrink" plastic shroud to insulate copper tube to avoid direct contact with the water whist having a low enough "K" factor not to reduce heat exchange.The compromise worked so well I was approached by "Red Sea Fish Pharm" to help them develop a commercial unit for export.
I later learnt from a marine biologist employed by them that I was not to be paid any money but given any equipment I wanted for for my home system.
I was having so much fun using my "trade" in connection with my hobby I hadn't really considered the financial implications.It transpired that the system we put together was a more "frugally" produced "clone" of a German made system that sold for 999 G.B.P. at that time.That system like the one marketed by Red Sea Fish Pharm used the same principal that I had used in England to keep tide pool fish from Kimmeridge Bay at a temperature range from 4 to 12 degrees C [55 deg F] for a few years before moving to Eilat.
Interesting that the now available commercial units are based on the "Peltier-Element" solid-state cooling system employed in by NASA and nuclear submarines for air conditioning where refrigerant gasses are not a practical solution.I experimented with this when Electrolux brought out the first commercial car refrigerator in the UK.Stripped-out the element and made a bigger aluminium heat exchanger to fit the element to the base of a 40 litre aquarium to see how it worked.Well, it didn't!I ended up making a glass tube heat exchanger to sit inside the car refrigerator and circulated the water from the aquarium through this.This is what led to the heat-shrink copper tube system.
In the words of Sir Michael Cane, "Not a lot of people know that".
Strange how you can drive along a main road for years and not realise what has been developing just a few hundred yards off that road.After the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan, a large area of the Arava desert that had been used for experimental agriculture was extended almost to the Jordanian border.The road that takes the workers to the many greenhouses also takes an increasing number of tourists along what in places looks like a small version of "Death Valley" U.S.A. At my last count there were 3 large lakes of water from bore holes drilled straight down under the desert sands.It was only when the refrigeration company I worked for in Eilat was contracted to build 2 large cold stores for sweet peppers in a settlement called Hatzeva I saw how big the farming project had become.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idan
It is within this project that 15 fish farms have been started also using bore hole water.The waste from the fish is harvested dried and used as a fertilizer for the greenhouses.
Israel has never allowed the collection of "native marine" life for either commercial or private aquariums.I ran into trouble some 25 years ago collecting a few small specimens for my marine system at home.The "Israel Nature Protection" made a "deal" with me as I was researching cooling systems for marine aquariums at the time.They said if I offered my services to the Hebrew University and was accepted, they could approach their head office in Jerusalem to get a letter authorising me to take certain fish to be agreed on for my home aquarium.
I was then approached by an American student at the University pursuing a doctorate for the study of the "White Bellied Damsel Fish".He required volunteers to dive at 2 hour intervals all day and make observations of this "fascinating" fish for his paper.They would fill my tank for free!4.30am until 6.30am. was my allotted time.For this I might have got a "letter" allowing me to have a home native marine aquarium.Now for a Brit. who had kept native marine aquariums in the UK, this was tempting.But I worked for a refrigeration/air conditioning company from 7am. till 4.30pm.Extremely hard work in the sometimes 45 Deg.C ambient temp.So I declined the offer and carried on with my marine aquarium until they attempted to "bust-me" for possession of protected marine life.
One very cold January morning, me and my Canadian diving buddy went on a collecting expedition.Nothing too ambitious.Had 2 gobies and a small squat lobster in the net.We decided to go back to the car and have cup of hot soup before moving the catch into a transport container.As we poured the soup, 2 "Shmorat Ateiva" cars came scorching into the car park blocking our car.They were talking to someone else who I noticed was up in the mountain behind us with high powered binoculars.They demanded to look inside the Pink coloured insulated container I had in the car.I said I wanted to see their search warrant.This they produced and I opened the container to show them the contents.1 flask of hot soup and some cheese sandwiches!They were extremely annoyed.They obviously knew that container was how I transported my catch home.If they waited another half hour we would have moved the catch into the container.They were showing some new trainees how exciting a career in the "Israel Nature Protection Service" [Shmorat Ateiva] in Hebrew could be.
But that was enough for me.I decided to switch my systems to freshwater and concentrate on the development of vacuum enhanced aquariums.
The Romaurie Effect, in fact.
Not a lot of people know that.
It is within this project that 15 fish farms have been started also using bore hole water.The waste from the fish is harvested dried and used as a fertilizer for the greenhouses.
Israel has never allowed the collection of "native marine" life for either commercial or private aquariums.I ran into trouble some 25 years ago collecting a few small specimens for my marine system at home.The "Israel Nature Protection" made a "deal" with me as I was researching cooling systems for marine aquariums at the time.They said if I offered my services to the Hebrew University and was accepted, they could approach their head office in Jerusalem to get a letter authorising me to take certain fish to be agreed on for my home aquarium.
I was then approached by an American student at the University pursuing a doctorate for the study of the "White Bellied Damsel Fish".He required volunteers to dive at 2 hour intervals all day and make observations of this "fascinating" fish for his paper.They would fill my tank for free!4.30am until 6.30am. was my allotted time.For this I might have got a "letter" allowing me to have a home native marine aquarium.Now for a Brit. who had kept native marine aquariums in the UK, this was tempting.But I worked for a refrigeration/air conditioning company from 7am. till 4.30pm.Extremely hard work in the sometimes 45 Deg.C ambient temp.So I declined the offer and carried on with my marine aquarium until they attempted to "bust-me" for possession of protected marine life.
One very cold January morning, me and my Canadian diving buddy went on a collecting expedition.Nothing too ambitious.Had 2 gobies and a small squat lobster in the net.We decided to go back to the car and have cup of hot soup before moving the catch into a transport container.As we poured the soup, 2 "Shmorat Ateiva" cars came scorching into the car park blocking our car.They were talking to someone else who I noticed was up in the mountain behind us with high powered binoculars.They demanded to look inside the Pink coloured insulated container I had in the car.I said I wanted to see their search warrant.This they produced and I opened the container to show them the contents.1 flask of hot soup and some cheese sandwiches!They were extremely annoyed.They obviously knew that container was how I transported my catch home.If they waited another half hour we would have moved the catch into the container.They were showing some new trainees how exciting a career in the "Israel Nature Protection Service" [Shmorat Ateiva] in Hebrew could be.
But that was enough for me.I decided to switch my systems to freshwater and concentrate on the development of vacuum enhanced aquariums.
The Romaurie Effect, in fact.
Not a lot of people know that.
