An Over-Engineered 1-Liter Brine Shrimp Hatchery that Does It All!

[Astyanax]

I have four components (upper light, lower attracting light, heater, pump) for this build, but only three holes for switches. I had planned not to need one for the heater, but as I gave it more thought, I realized that I need to be able to easily turn off the heater as well.

So I put another switch hole next to the others. That one went very poorly, probably due to the fact that my thick paint finish would rather be broken off than cut through. But the hole is intact!

For heater selection, I went with the smallest submersible heater I could find, but still adjustable. I need to get the hatchery's temperature up to the mid-80s Fahrenheit, and all the tiny heaters are pre-set to 78 degrees. No good! So I settled for this 25-watt Penn-Plax model from Amazon:

I recognize that this is serious overkill for one liter of water, but I didn't really have any choice if I wanted to keep the temperature consistently high.

Similar to what I did with the light, I chopped up its cord and started splicing. This will use a red-colored push-button (I only have the three colors).

I wired it up similarly to the overhead light, and then tested it in some water.

Setting it to 82 degrees Fahrenheit gave me a water temp of 85 degrees, and it seemed to stay there. Perfect! I do expect it to run a little hot, because water temperature will continue to rise a couple degrees in that small of a volume while the heater cools down. At least it won't drop below 82 degrees, so I'm satisfied. I'm hoping for less than 24 hours hatch time with that temperature.

Next up, hopefully later today, the tiny LED light to attract the hatched shrimp back down to the bottom!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

 

[Astyanax]

One of the most frustrating parts of working with a brine shrimp hatchery is separating the shrimp from the hatched and unhatched egg shells. Originally, I struggled with putting a tiny flashlight near the bottom while the whole thing was covered with a towel. It worked, but only if the flashlight didn't fall over. I plan to solve that by adding a small LED light near the bottom of the chamber, that way I can turn it on or off as needed.

Some weeks ago, I picked up this kit of assorted electronics from Amazon to help with various makery projects. It got my attention not only because it had a wide assortment of parts, but also came with a downloadable PDF that contained lessons and guides for making lots of small electronic projects from these parts. I'm not very good with electronics, so this was right up my alley!

This kit had exactly what I needed to assemble a very simple white LED circuit, and it had instructions for how to do it.

To power the whole thing, I dug up an old unused power adapter, which generates 5 volts at 1 amp of current. The instructions said that's what I would need, and it was easy to find.

After following the picture and adding the right type of resistor (220 ohms), I had a working LED light!

I was ready to wire it up directly, again using solder and heat shrink tubing.

This little bulb is very bright, and it definitely projects more light from its end than from the sides. So I decided to recess it a little. This will ensure that the light output is directed at the bottle, and doesn't flood the whole chamber with light.

Once I had it in position, I secured it with hot glue. Messy, but effective! But I forgot the power transformer plug might get in the way. So I simply bent the wires down a little, and the plug fit just fine.

I wired up the switch, same as the others, and re-secured some of the cords to the side wall. Works great!

Three switches down, one to go!

 

[Astyanax]

The final interior component is the air pump and tubing assembly. I've had good luck with these Top Fin pumps from PetSmart, so I picked one up from my local store:

As usual, I cut the cord and started splicing. I'll be using a black push-button switch for this component.

But before I could install it in the housing, I had to deal with something I've encountered before in air-powered projects: vibration! We all know, air pumps want to "walk" around on whatever hard surface they're located, until they're loudly buzzing against the side of their enclosure!

I always keep a supply of "anti-vibration" or "anti-skid" padding, as I use it in all kinds of projects. It's not only great for suppressing vibrations, but it's like the bottom of a mousepad: it grips any flat surface very nicely, so I've glued some on all kinds of tools and things in my garage.

In this case, I needed a piece about 5-3/4" x 3-1/2" for the floor of the box.

Then I glued it into the box using 5-minute 2-part epoxy. It's not going anywhere. Instant padded rubber floor!

But that's not enough to hold a pump in place. It won't make much noise anymore, but it'll still walk a little. So I cut a "strap" of the same material (It's very stretchy), and screwed one end to the floor of the box. Once the pump is settled in, I'll screw in the other side. This not only secures the pump in one place, but enables me to remove/replace it as needed.

After that, I finished my wiring work, attaching the wires of the pump to the switch and power cord and insulating with hot glue.

All four buttons complete!

I attached a long piece of airline tubing to the pump, and secured the strap around the pump with a second screw.

One more round of re-securing the cords with zip ties, and all wiring is done!

 

[Astyanax]

To finish the air connections, I attached a check valve and fed the air tubing through its hole into the bubble chamber area. The check valve also serves as a tension relief on the tubing, as it can't fit through the hole.

To make sure I can get bubbles all the way to the bottom of the water bottle, I needed a piece of rigid tubing. Unfortunately, here in North San Diego County, all the local fish stores have been driven out of business thanks to the fact that there are two PetCo and PetSmart stores per square mile around here. And they don't carry something like rigid airline tubing.

So I raided the junk drawer and took one of the many crazy straws my kids were collecting:

Perfect diameter!

I hooked this up to the flexible air tubing, and then test fit with the Fiji bottle. Looks like a good fit!

Okay, the air pump is done, all components are done! But I still have a few finishing touches and some minor plumbing adjustments to make before I can fire it up.

Thanks for reading!

Bill

 

[Astyanax]

Next, I needed to work on the tubing and fittings for the bottom of the bottle, where I get the shrimp out and remove the bottle for cleaning.

I used two of these metal ball valves for airline tubing:

I had drilled the hole in the back side of the box a tiny bit too small, so when I pushed the valve into it, the fit was so tight that no glue was necessary. Instant shrimp spigot!

Inside the box, I needed to run a tube from the bottom of the bottle to the spigot, but also make it relatively easy to detach. Those metal barbed fittings do not release airline easily, but I had a soft plastic connector to make it easy:

For plumbing, that's pretty much it!

Next, I had to address the acrylic splash guard.

 

[Tastee]

I have four components (upper light, lower attracting light, heater, pump) for this build, but only three holes for switches. I had planned not to need one for the heater, but as I gave it more thought, I realized that I need to be able to easily turn off the heater as well.



So I put another switch hole next to the others. That one went very poorly, probably due to the fact that my thick paint finish would rather be broken off than cut through. But the hole is intact!

Firstly I want to say this thread is great and your build quality is exceptional.

For your drilling issue you may find a dowel bit will cut through the paint more cleanly. Here is an example - an Australian one, but I'm sure you will have no issues finding the US equivalents.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/haron-10mm-dowel-drill-bit_p6322979

Well done and keep the updates coming!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Astyanax]

Firstly I want to say this thread is great and your build quality is exceptional.

For your drilling issue you may find a dowel bit will cut through the paint more cleanly. Here is an example - an Australian one, but I'm sure you will have no issues finding the US equivalents.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/haron-10mm-dowel-drill-bit_p6322979

Well done and keep the updates coming!

Ah yes, in the U.S. those are called brad-point bits. I have a set, but not at the 1/2" diameter I needed for those holes. I'll keep those in mind for future projects!

And thank you for the compliments!

Bill

 

[Astyanax]

Earlier in this build, I cut a piece of clear acrylic to serve as a splash guard:

However, it needed to be further cut in order to allow the air tubing and heater cord to get out of the bottle. So I marked and drilled two 1/4" holes in the acrylic:

Then I cut slots out with my bandsaw:

This piece is supported by the horizontal pieces of wood just above the water bottle, and the front vertical posts help hold it in place. It goes in from the side and holds the airline tubing and heater cord in place. The posts prevent it from sliding forward.

That's it for the splash cover! Next, I want to vertically stabilize the bottle a little bit.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

 

[Astyanax]

The space that holds the bottle is a little larger than the actual width of the bottle; so it's prone to lean to one side.

To make padding to hold it vertical, I cut some ~3" strips of 6mm craft foam.

Then I used spray adhesive to glue the strips to the horizontal wood bars.

There, no more leaning! I can remove the foam and replace it as needed.

Short and sweet. I'm in the home stretch!

Finally, I wanted to make the entire rig more stable. This involved using the same anti-vibration padding that I used for the air pump.

I started with a piece that was bigger than I needed, and glued it on the bottom using spray adhesive.

After a few minutes, I trimmed off the excess with a very sharp blade.

And that gives me a huge area that will help it grip any surface it's placed on, and further deaden any vibrations caused by the air pump.

And that is a completed hatchery! But I'm not done posting here. Time to test it out and work out the kinks. Let's see it in action!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

 

[reelredfish]

Still following along

 

[laverda]

Very nice build.

 

[Astyanax]

Yesterday I set it up in my kitchen, and started a batch of brine shrimp eggs. My recipe:

• 800mL of water
• 4 teaspoons of aquarium salt (shooting for a specific gravity of 1.017)
• A pinch of baking soda (to stabilize pH)
• 2 drops of bleach (to stave off bacteria)
• 1/4 teaspoon of Grade A brine shrimp eggs

I adjusted the heater a little over the next few hours, and found it to swing between 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit. I might raise it a tiny bit in the next batch.

Looks good in the kitchen, and very quiet!

Today I will check the hatching, take some more pictures, and think about a small thing or two I would like to add for convenience' sake!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

 

[Astyanax]

It's been 24 hours, and I have a sizable hatched batch!

I turned off the air pump but left the overhead light on for 15 minutes. This allowed the unhatched eggs to settle to the bottom.

I then ran those out of the bottle using my new "faucet." There were very few shrimp caught up in this step, so I discarded these.

Then I turned off the heater and the overhead light, turned on the LED light on the bottom, and left it for 10 minutes in the dark with the panels closed. The shrimp were drawn to the bottom!

A closer look shows how they were attracted to my light.

But even more interesting, they were attracted even more to the opposite wall. I think this is the LED light shining through the bottle and reflecting off the opposite wall.

I then decanted the rest of the shrimp into my tray, rinsed them in RO water, and gave them a fresh supply of salt water for storage in the refrigerator

That's a decent supply, considering I only used 1/4 teaspoon (that's 1.23 mL) of eggs!

They'll last like this for a few days, but they're at their most nutritious for only the next 12-24 hours at most.

For feeding the fish, I scooped out a small supply with a shrimp net and rinsed in fresh water. Ready for feeding.

Fat and happy baby swordtails!

To clean up, I removed the bottle and rinsed it out. The heater needed to be wiped off with a wet rag, and I also removed and rinsed the airstone. Cleanup and assembly took about five minutes. I then started another batch. Total turnaround was under ten minutes.

And that's about it! I hope you've enjoyed this build. I'll be monitoring this thread, so if there are any questions or comments, feel free.

Thank you for following along, and thank you all who left nice comments as well. I appreciate it!

Bill

 

[JaihWill]

This is great, if you ever decide to sell this design let me know lol


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[Sharpimage]

Where do you get the eggs?

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Nice Job Bill!

 

[Astyanax]

This is great, if you ever decide to sell this design let me know lol

Thank you! I would never sell the design, I'm a believer in open source innovation (suck it, Apple!). In fact, for whoever wants it, I will post the design as a Google SketchUp file. If anyone would like exact measurements, just let me know and I'll give you precise dimensions on every piece, if you like. All I ask is that you post pics of what you accomplish in this thread!

Here's the SketchUp file:

Bill's Brine Shrimp Hatchery v2 (409 KB)

Enjoy!

Bill

 

[Astyanax]

Where do you get the eggs?

I got them on Amazon, selected after some research:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012IKVMFG

I'm very happy with the results!

Bill

 

[Astyanax]

Hey guys!

I've been using this hatchery for almost two weeks ago, running a fresh batch every day. In that time I've learned a few things and made a few small updates, so I thought I would close out this project by sharing them here.

1. Replaced the bottle. The Fiji bottle turned out not to be the best choice for this project. The slope of bottle to the neck is not long enough, so eggs want to settle along the walls. Instead, I'm trying out a "Brisk Tea" bottle, but I may look for something wider in the near future.

2. Removed the bottle spacers. The craft foam spacers made the cavity too small for the Brisk bottle, and they make it harder to slide the bottle in and out. Turns out the weight of the water the in the bottle holds it vertical just fine, so I ripped those out.

3. Removed the airstone. The smaller bubbles of the airstone do not circulate the water as well as just a bare tube. I found that salt mix and shrimp eggs were wanting to settle under it. Once I removed it and extended it with a 1" length of airline tubing on the end, the bigger bubbles moved much more water and kept everything from settling.

4. Used the lower chamber for storage. I didn't plan this, but the lower area serves to hold my baking soda, bleach, and a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon. I just put the baking soda in an old spice can and the bleach in an eyedrops bottle. Convenient!

5. Decorated the front. It seemed like the whole unit need some sort of decoration, so I found a picture I liked via Google search, and then traced it onto some red craft foam and cut it out. I think this looks a little better.

6. Added a timer. Since I need to time 15 minutes for the shrimp to rise to the top (for draining unhatched eggs) and then another 15 to come to the bottom (for collection), a dedicated timer made things much easier.

So there we have it, nothing too major to change. I'm otherwise pretty happy with it!

Thanks for reading!

Bill

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

It's nice when a plan comes together.
Good Job!