Auto brine shrimp hatchery and feeder

[joekool]

Lets see a tutorial for the r2r DIY forum

 

[Paul B]

Post #12 is the DIY of the thing. It is very simple and can be made in less than an hour. Unless you are a klutz, then it could take an hour and 10 minutes.

It's an empty box, any box that light doesn't go through. I used a piece of fence post from Home Depot. You can use the box your Grand Mother keeps hair pins in or her teeth. I used the fence post because they also sell end caps. I used one on the bottom and I cut one out for the top. It holds the stocking on the top. You can cut out a piece of your wife's stocking. Just remember to cover that hole with duct tape so she doesn't notice.
The tube is a tube. Mine is acrylic, you can use any tube. They sell 3/8" pvc tubes in Home Depot for connecting up bathroom sinks. Or do like I do, go to an acrylic store and buy some tubing, it comes in 6' length's. I buy it in bulk because I make all sorts of things out of it. The funnel on top is a funnel. There is an auto feeder above the funnel that supplies brine shrimp eggs to the funnel. I had to glue a baffle in it because it dispensed to many eggs at once. You can figure it out.
There is also a small water supply going into the funnel to help the eggs descend down the tube. I used an airline to put that water in the funnel. I have an algae trough above my tank so I get water from there. You can use a tiny powerhead.
This is only a vacation feeder and I only use it for that. After vacation I go back to my normal brine shrimp feeder that looks like this.



Also for vacation I install one of these units on the tank to make it easy for the tank sitter to put frozen food into the tank. It is just a tiny powerhead with a small container on the outflow and it has some holes in it. THe sitter takes the pre measured containers of food out of the freezer and puts one into the container. It defrosts there and gets dispensed through out the tank.



How do you guys go on vacation without these things? This is another very simple thing to make and should take five minutes, maybe 6

Here is a video of the regular feeder that I use every day for the mandarins and pipefish.



I use a lot of those acrylic tubes.




This is my Grand Daughter who has absolutely nothing to do with this thread. But she's very cute.

 

[SpartaReef]

:second:

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Post #12 is the DIY of the thing. It is very simple and can be made in less than an hour. Unless you are a klutz, then it could take an hour and 10 minutes.

It's an empty box, any box that light doesn't go through. I used a piece of fence post from Home Depot. You can use the box your Grand Mother keeps hair pins in or her teeth. I used the fence post because they also sell end caps. I used one on the bottom and I cut one out for the top. It holds the stocking on the top. You can cut out a piece of your wife's stocking. Just remember to cover that hole with duct tape so she doesn't notice.
The tube is a tube. Mine is acrylic, you can use any tube. They sell 3/8" pvc tubes in Home Depot for connecting up bathroom sinks. Or do like I do, go to an acrylic store and buy some tubing, it comes in 6' length's. I buy it in bulk because I make all sorts of things out of it. The funnel on top is a funnel. There is an auto feeder above the funnel that supplies brine shrimp eggs to the funnel. I had to glue a baffle in it because it dispensed to many eggs at once. You can figure it out.
There is also a small water supply going into the funnel to help the eggs descend down the tube. I used an airline to put that water in the funnel. I have an algae trough above my tank so I get water from there. You can use a tiny powerhead.
This is only a vacation feeder and I only use it for that. After vacation I go back to my normal brine shrimp feeder that looks like this.



Also for vacation I install one of these units on the tank to make it easy for the tank sitter to put frozen food into the tank. It is just a tiny powerhead with a small container on the outflow and it has some holes in it. THe sitter takes the pre measured containers of food out of the freezer and puts one into the container. It defrosts there and gets dispensed through out the tank.



How do you guys go on vacation without these things? This is another very simple thing to make and should take five minutes, maybe 6

Here is a video of the regular feeder that I use every day for the mandarins and pipefish.



I use a lot of those acrylic tubes.




This is my Grand Daughter who has absolutely nothing to do with this thread. But she's very cute.

She's adorable Paul. Do you feed her baby brine shrimp to make her smile like you do for the pipefish?

 

[Paul B]

Yes I do. And she turned into this.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Yes I do. And she turned into this.

That brine shrimp seems to work, she's even more adorable now! Did you take her to get her ears pierced in this picture? I can imagine you not asking her parents if it was okay first LOL! You must be the "fun" grandpa she adores.

 

[Paul B]

No that wasn't me. That was her Mother. my Daughter.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

No that wasn't me. That was her Mother. my Daughter.

Ahh, that's what I get for assuming!

Anyway, I was wondering if that stocking keeps all the eggs from getting into your tank? Let me know if I understood the setup correctly. Basically, you drop the eggs into the funnel, and then the brine shrimp that hatch squeeze through the stocking into the aquarium? Also, I noticed you had a black leopard wrasse, what happened to it? I don't see it in your updated photos.

 

[Paul B]

None of the eggs get into my tank, they all stay in that device.
That leopard wrasse like most of my wrasses jumped out. I don't have a cover so I lost a lot of wrasses.

Now I put a piece of plastic all along the back of the tank and so far, after about 2 years, I hardly lose anything to jumping. I still occasionally lose a fish by jumping to the side.
I don't have a sump so I have a lot of things hanging into the tank.

4 pumps, a DIY skimmer, DIY algae skimmer, etc.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

None of the eggs get into my tank, they all stay in that device.

Sounds good. It seems easier to work with than a hatchery, I'm going to make one when I'm free in the next couple of weeks. How do you remove the egg capsules after they've hatched? Do you just take the device out and rinse it?

None of the eggs get into my tank, they all stay in that device.
That leopard wrasse like most of my wrasses jumped out. I don't have a cover so I lost a lot of wrasses.

Now I put a piece of plastic all along the back of the tank and so far, after about 2 years, I hardly lose anything to jumping. I still occasionally lose a fish by jumping to the side.
I don't have a sump so I have a lot of things hanging into the tank.

4 pumps, a DIY skimmer, DIY algae skimmer, etc.

No lid covering the whole tank will do it, wrasses love to jump. I guess they take that song "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly too literally. Have you ever bought equipment other than pumps lol? It seems like you build almost everything yourself. My father was similar in the DIY department, he built almost everything by himself. He even built his house by himself LOL! It was definitely different from any other house I've ever seen (it is really high tech), it is gorgeous though. The only issue was after he passed away, no one could figure out how to maintain his DIY electrical system and furnace. He was a certified genius, so not everyone could understand what he built the way he could in order to operate and maintain the equipment. Most people thought he was weird LOL! He was kind of weird, but I believe it was because he had an issue understanding another's emotions. What I found odd was how he could memorize books from cover to cover. He had a powerful memory and exceptional problem-solving abilities. He was definitely different from the norm which can be perceived as weird to most.

 

[Paul B]

Your dad was my kind of guy. I also practically built my last house. I raised the dormer, put in the heating, AC, plumbing electric and solar panels. I also built 3 kitchens and 3 bathrooms, and fireplaces there. So far I have never hired anyone for anything in my life except dentists and if I could stand my screaming, I would do that myself.
No one has touched my house, cars or boats and I want to keep it like that as long as I can. but it is getting tough now as my knees aren't what they used to be.

As for that vacation brine shrimp hatchery feeder, that one is for vacations and not the one I used every day. When I came back I would gently remove it and take out any eggs. Clean it and put it away.

It was not for every day use.

In Viet Nam in the middle of the jungle I built this cool "hooch" out of bamboo that I cut down. It was a blast wall so the RPGs would hit that and blow up before they hit my sand bags inside. They saved my life.



I also built this 30 round magazine for my M-16. I don't remember what I used because I had nothing but a pliers. I did scavenge crashed helicopters for parts when ever I encountered one and took parts, mostly wire and some small pieces of sheet metal and I also crashed myself twice in them.



I was attached to a field artillery battery on small LZs or clearings in the jungle and we had 6 Howitzers. The Captain had about 5 hand sets to call each gun, FDC (fire direction control) Helicopters, other units and our rear area and sometimes, especially if we were getting attacked he would have to use all of them. (remember this was 50 years ago, no computers or cell phones)

I built him, out of helicopter parts one handset and he could turn a switch and connect to different places at the same time which made it a lot easier. That was all from downed choppers.
He is now a retired general and still my friend. I hear from him occasionally and he still thanks me.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Your dad was my kind of guy. I also practically built my last house. I raised the dormer, put in the heating, AC, plumbing electric and solar panels. I also built 3 kitchens and 3 bathrooms, and fireplaces there. So far I have never hired anyone for anything in my life except dentists and if I could stand my screaming, I would do that myself.
No one has touched my house, cars or boats and I want to keep it like that as long as I can. but it is getting tough now as my knees aren't what they used to be.

LOL! He was the same way, he would even have a tool kit inside his car to fix anything that may break down on the highway since he travelled a lot. You name it, he would fix it. I remember one time he bought a broken-down dump truck for a couple of hundred bucks and made it functional for a thousand dollars all in. He also did the same thing with a bobcat. Just in case you're wondering why he even bought heavy machinery, he owned 50 acres of land and used them to complete work that he couldn't do without them. He never got to complete everything because he met his untimely demise during one of his trips to Syria to give the people suffering donated supplies from Canada. That's just how it goes, he knew what he was getting himself into, but did it anyway. I'm sure he had no regrets and wouldn't want others to feel sorry for him as he was that kind of person.

As for that vacation brine shrimp hatchery feeder, that one is for vacations and not the one I used every day. When I came back I would gently remove it and take out any eggs. Clean it and put it away.

It was not for every day use.

Oh, so you manually hatched the eggs after your vacations. I guess I should keep doing the same then.

In Viet Nam in the middle of the jungle I built this cool "hooch" out of bamboo that I cut down. It was a blast wall so the RPGs would hit that and blow up before they hit my sand bags inside. They saved my life.



I also built this 30 round magazine for my M-16. I don't remember what I used because I had nothing but a pliers. I did scavenge crashed helicopters for parts when ever I encountered one and took parts, mostly wire and some small pieces of sheet metal and I also crashed myself twice in them.



I was attached to a field artillery battery on small LZs or clearings in the jungle and we had 6 Howitzers. The Captain had about 5 hand sets to call each gun, FDC (fire direction control) Helicopters, other units and our rear area and sometimes, especially if we were getting attacked he would have to use all of them. (remember this was 50 years ago, no computers or cell phones)

I built him, out of helicopter parts one handset and he could turn a switch and connect to different places at the same time which made it a lot easier. That was all from downed choppers.
He is now a retired general and still my friend. I hear from him occasionally and he still thanks me.

Wow, you've really been through it all. I'm sure your resourcefulness saved your life and many other's lives many times over. I can't imagine how you felt during the crash and having RPG's shot at you. I really hope the people in America respect veterans for what they went through for the sake of their country. You guys went through hell so future generations won't have to experience it, IMO that's enough of a reason to earn someone's utmost respect at the very least. Sadly, I'm aware of how little resources they put into treating The Vietnam Veterans post-war. It's honestly an utter tragedy that can be linked to the lack of understanding of mental health during that period. In my brief studies in psychology, I learned that not everyone copes with PTSD the same way, some people have their lives overtaken by it while others figured out their own ways to deal with it. I believe with the proper resources they could have helped the former, too bad that wasn't the case and they are suffering due to the lack of care to this day. It broke my heart when I used to see vets on the streets (homeless) being ridiculed by drunk idiots. The government could have helped them with proper care but they didn't. I blame politicians for these issues. If an extinction event ever occurs, I believe there will be two things that live, cockroaches, and politicians. That is because both hide on the sidelines when everything goes to hell.

P.S. Sorry for the late reply.

 

[Paul B]

Oh, so you manually hatched the eggs after your vacations. I guess I should keep doing the same then.

The vacation feeder hatched the eggs automatically and fed the fish. The normal what they call the "PaulB" feeder you have to hatch the eggs first.

As for Viet Nam. The VA tells me I have PTSD and that also is why I can't sit still or sleep. Me like a lot of combat Vets can't turn off my mind and stay awake all night thinking or inventing. But at least I don't re-live battles in my head as many unfortunate Vets do. My PTSD made me completely forget those times.

My second week in Nam I was in a firefight where about 175 of us were attacked by 400 NVA (regular communist troops). They killed about 50 of us and we killed 200 of them. There is a book about it if you are interested.

Firebase Illingworth Illuminated in a Titanic Horror

April was the deadliest month of 1970 for U.S. troops in Vietnam with 730 deaths. On the first day alone, North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units shelled some 115 targets throughout the country and launched 13 ground assaults.

www.vfw.org

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

The vacation feeder hatched the eggs automatically and fed the fish. The normal what they call the "PaulB" feeder you have to hatch the eggs first.

Oh, I must have confused the two. What I want is the "PaulB" feeder. I'll make one sometime next week with the extra 3/4 inch PVC I have left over from my plumbing and the following mesh.

As for Viet Nam. The VA tells me I have PTSD and that also is why I can't sit still or sleep. Me like a lot of combat Vets can't turn off my mind and stay awake all night thinking or inventing. But at least I don't re-live battles in my head as many unfortunate Vets do. My PTSD made me completely forget those times.

I'm glad to hear you're not suffering from those severe symptoms similar to those unfortunate vets.

My second week in Nam I was in a firefight where about 175 of us were attacked by 400 NVA (regular communist troops). They killed about 50 of us and we killed 200 of them. There is a book about it if you are interested.

Firebase Illingworth Illuminated in a Titanic Horror

April was the deadliest month of 1970 for U.S. troops in Vietnam with 730 deaths. On the first day alone, North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units shelled some 115 targets throughout the country and launched 13 ground assaults.

www.vfw.org

I'll definitely give it a read when my semester is over. I always appreciated a good historical story.