Epic adventurer Lifestraw

My Lifestraw was delivered today!

A Lifestraw is a very cool device for personal water filtration. Its guaranteed to deliver 1000 litres of clean safe drinking water from any dodgy water source. The Murray River is one big dodgy water source, so a it fits the bill perfectly.

It looks like this, and weighs almost nothing.

According to the packaging, it does what all the other water treatment methods claim or better.

Apparently, my little Lifestraw removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria, 99.9% of waterborne parasites, and provides a minimum of 1000 litres of clean drinking water.

I also bought a PermaNet 2.0 mosquito net that not only claims to keep mosquitoes at a safe distance, but also kills them when they land on it. That means the world health organisation thinks its ok to use me as bait.

Fair enough I guess.

So basically my Lifestraw is a stack of tiny straws crammed into a tube with a sippy cup mouthpiece at one end. You stick the blunt end into a stock trough, or creek you dont quite trust, and drink through the mouthpiece as if it were a gigantic straw, and bam! you keep living.

My PermaNet 2.0 is a mosquito net.

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Epic adventurer DIY paracord bungee that should outlast the polar caps

Making a home made paracord* bungee** to take my new and very small Gerber Dime® multi tool on any epic adventures I may set off on turned out to be pretty worth while. Claiming that it will outlast the polar caps probably isnt saying that much.

Oh well.

I wanted to make it so I could use my new little multi tool while it was still attached to my belt so I couldnt lose it overboard, but didnt want it dangling around my ankles when I let it go without re-clipping it. I figured if I wasnt actively using it, Id clip it to my belt, but when I was using it, I could just it to still be attached. That would mean there was a loop of rope hanging down a foot or so from my belt, and I thought that might be annoying. I have a bungee cord with a hook at each end thats been sitting in water outside in the sun for 3 years and is still in perfect condition, but I have also bought a few dozen that didnt make it 3 months. I have no idea what brand the good one is, but even if I did, its too think for my requirements.

The invention engine said I should make my own.

I started with some paracord and removed all the inner strands. If they are tight, just pull one out at a time until they come out with ease.

The mess should look something like this when complete.

The next step was to cut a length of inner tube into a strip thin enough to fit inside the hollowed out para cord.

I cut a length around 30cm long, and around 2mm wide

Try to avoid any nicks and rough edges as this is where it will break if stretched too far.

But we wont be stretching our too far so it wont matter.

I then threaded a thin wire through the hollow  length of paracord, bent a loop, and tied the strip of inner tube to it.

I attached to other end of the wire to my house because it was the only heavy thing I could find.

With the help of some pliers to grip the paracord, it was simple to pull the strip of inner tube back through the empty paracord.

I added a decent quality swivel from my fishing gear as an afterthought, but it would have been a lot neater to incorporate it into the knot so it might lie in a straight line to the DIY paracord bungee.

As it is in this pic, I can stretch it to around twice the relaxed length.

In later experiments, I discovered that if you scrunch the length of paracord bungee into a rough ball, then roll it around between your palms as if you were rolling a ball of dough, it gains extra creases and folds. This allows you to untie it, and shorten the length of inner tube inside, and as a result bunch up the paracord.

So now I can get a stretch of around 3 times the relaxed length.

To get maximum stretch, bunch up the paracord until its still slack when you stretch it. This means the inner tube is the limiting factor. Then let a little paracord slip through your fingers until the inner tube is still fully stretched, but the paracord is also tight.

Tie it off, and you should be set. As long as you didnt stretch the inner tube too much before tying it off, the paracord should take any extreme force thats applied, and your rubber inner should stay intact for the next 25,000 years or so.

All in all this suggestion from the invention engine turned out well.

The short length of very thin and super strong DIY paracord bungee is ideal to suspend my new favorite tool.



120 Things in 20 years - Oh look, a post!



* strong, thin, light, multi strand rope you use to hang from parachutes
** rubbery rope you use to tie things to your roof rack, or tie your ankle to a bridge with when you are about to fling yourself off.

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Low Energy System Design

...Download this Sketchup Model..

This system has two radial filters and a media bed to keep the deep water culture raft very clean, An airlift pump keeps the water moving via an air compressor; no mechanical water pumps are required

Water levels in all the tanks are the same. By not raising the water from a sump tank only a small amount of energy is required to move the water laterally.

If this entire system were buried flush with the ground the thermal mass of the earth would help regulate the temperature very well during both summer and winter 

Airlifts  provides both water circulation and aeration. I believe airlift pumps can be more efficient than an external pump.  (Ive never understood why submersibles are always less efficient, but the specs tend to indicate this).
Airlifts can be calculated.
This article Performance Study of an Airlift Pump with Bent Riser Tube presents an interesting conclusion is that bends in the riser pipe do not effect the performace of an airlift pump.
OPTIMIZATION OF A BACKYARD AQUAPONIC FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEM
is a very good paper about aquaponics and it would be a very good source for information about airlift pumps but a critical table is missing.  Id still recommend reading it for everything else it presents.



I found this calculator for airlift pumps.  It is spot on against the real life experiments Ive conducted.

From my own experiments without math; I believe an airlift will provide enough water circulation.  That is also what Keith Tatjana demonstrates in his paper in which he assumes a circulation rate of one fish tank volume twice per hour.
I think air blowers are more reliable than water pumps, and less expensive.  Blowers do not provide the pressure like a compressor so this is a limiting factor when using a blower, but if at all possible use an air blower because air compressors like the Hydrofarm 70 and 110 lpm units tend to vibrate themselves to death.
I have not done any experimentation with how much ambient air temperature will affect the water temperature, but logically this would occur whether it be from an air stone or an airlift pump.
Other papers Ive found are

Performance Characteristics of Airlift Pumps withVortex Induced by Tangential Fluid Injection

Explore the Potential of Air-Lift Pumps and Multiphase   Explore the potential of air-lift pumps  A geyser pump, an improved airlift pump The Geyser Pump improved the amount of water pumped from 40 gpm to 60 gpm in one experiment I conducted.   This Video shows the Geyser Pump I built. http://youtu.be/ztHBHULkHNQ

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Immaculate Conception Church in Albuquerque to Offer Church of Second Chances Program this Fall

Photo: JustFaith Ministries

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Albuquerque is one of dozens of faith communities around the country that will participate in one of three JustMatters modules that JustFaith Ministries is offering this fall. The modules encourage small groups to explore critical current issues within the context of the Gospels and the life and example of Jesus. "In a world that is too quick to encourage rhetoric that divides us from one another, these experiences cultivate genuine dialogue, contemplative prayer, and community," said JustFaith.

Immaculate Conception will offer an eight-week session around the Church of Second Chances module, which shares the stories of incarcerated people and exposes injustices in the judicial system through the lens of faith. This module hopes to inspire a prophetic revision of incarceration that invites restoration, mercy and reconciliation.

This newly revised eight-session version of JustFaiths Prison Reform module represents greater diversity in the voices of those behind bars, includes updated video resources, encourages deeper dialogue, and incorporates Pope Francis’ message of mercy.

The eight-week session will be held  each Thursday evening at Immaculate Conception, 619 Copper NW (map) in downtown Albuquerque, September 24 through November 12, 2015,  in the Guadalupe Room.  For more information or to register, please call or email Joy Dinaro in the church office.(505) 247 – 4271 ext. 3034  jdinaro@iccabq.org

In addition to the module on prison reform, JustFaith Ministries offers the Crossing Borders program (immigration) and The Sultan and the Saint (Muslim-Christian relationships) this fall (More details here), but no churches in the Albuquerque area are offering these two programs. Other programs on the environment, solidarity and peacemaking are currently available but have not been recently revised and are not supported by JustFaith staff this fall.

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Stirling engines Balloon Power pistons

My original balloon power piston looked like this.

It had a connecting rod glued to the centre, and the other end of that rod connected to the cam shaft. The result was that as the air was heated in the chamber with the displacer, it expanded, filled this balloon, and pushed up the connecting rod.





I think it also pulls as the air cools and contracts, but that isnt very obvious either way. In that video (see link in first sentence) you can see the balloon inflating and giving the connecting rod a little push.

Im amazed that the air can expand and contract at such a high frequency. Im amazed these things work at all.

My power piston design was a little rough, and to be honest I was lucky that it worked at all.

The balloon kept slipping around under its rubber bands, making the connecting rod feel some resistance as the balloon reached its limits of free movement. The result was some extra friction where it wasnt necessary.

What I need is a bit more room for error.

With that in mind, I did some research and found what I think might be a useful design, and also came up with one myself that might work pretty well.

I found this one in use already and mine was made from a balloon neck, and a plastic bottle top.

To start with I created a plastic disk around 25mm in diameter by trimming off the sides of a plastic bottle cap. 

It was pretty easy to do with scissors, and a cut that went in a spiral gradually cutting away the side.

I also have a copper elbow that will be the power pistons basic form.

This will take the place of the ungainly plastic bottle with the hole hacked into the side as seen in the top-most picture on this post.

I cut the neck off a balloon and inserted the plastic disk. The connecting rod would be glued to the centre of this disk at the top.

The cut end of the neck is stretched over the copper elbow so that it looks like this when at its highest. (this would be the end of the power stroke)

And like this at its lowest.

It looks quite neat, and this is probably the design Ill use unless it proves to require too much air expansion to fill it.

My design includes the same section of balloon neck, and a cable tie to secure the top.

I tightened the cable tie with pliers  and then cut the rest of the balloon away with scissors.

It looks like this at its lowest. Or near its lowest.

It might be the case that this design will prove useful when used entirely at the low end. It requires much lass change in air volume to move 10mm up or down from its pictured position.







I have no idea if it will be of any benefit to use this (green) design, but It should be easy enough to try both with my adjustable cam shaft.




120 Things in 20 years - When it comes to balloon power pistons for Stirling engines, I have standards above which, I will not go.

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That was Easy

[Previously, much angst was expressed about my inability to remove the fish tank without completely disassembling the entire system.]

I was staring at the system before Thanksgiving, noticing that the size of the tank didnt look as big as in my schematics of the system. A bit of measuring and, voila, the tank is just a tad smaller than I thought.

That makes all the difference.


On paper it looked like I should be able to slide the tank out from under the legs of the 2x4 shelf - just barely. Would it work in real life?

Last night I drained most of the water from the fish tank into the tub (scrubbed out with salt and rinsed, trying to get rid of any nasty stuff my fish tank wont like). With a few inches of water in the bottom of the tank (and two worried fish), I was able to maneuver the tank out from under the growbed.

And back again. Now that I know I can move the fish tank any time I really want to, Im content to leave it the way it is.

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Polyculture

Lepomis microlophus, aka shellcracker or redear sunfish
I gave a call to my nearest commercial fishery (90 minutes away...) and he extolled the benefits of catfish and shellcracker. Seems shellcracker is a type of sunfish, like blue gill, but they grow faster and larger. Theyre called shellcracker because they like to munch on aquatic snails, cracking the shells in their powerful back jaws.

Most of what I can find on shellcracker (or redear sunfish) is on sport fishing or pond culture websites. I can find all kinds of recommendations for stocking density for a 1-2 acre pond, for example. And much of that literature explains the mix of fishes you want to get. Carolina Fish Hatchery goes so far as to offer pond stocking packages. For example, the package for a new 1 acre pond would run $765 and consists of:

700 Bluegill (2-4")
300 Shellcracker (2-4")
10# Minnows
100 Largemouth Bass (4-6")
100 Channel Catfish (6-8")

I told the nice man at the local fishery how excited I was to visit once Id set up my system. He proceeded to tell me about the Fish Wagon. Fish Wagon is a family owned pond stocking business out of Arkansas that delivers to customers at local agricultural supply stores during the warmer months. Im sure the nice man at the fishery 90 minutes from my house wouldnt mind my business, but he thought local delivery of fish that didnt cost me shipping might work better for me.

I thought that was right nice of him.

If Im looking at a polyculture of fish, I dont mind going for a 300 gallon tank. Even though Ive read on the internet somewhere that you can have as many as 3 bluefish per gallon of water (900 blue gill), I think Id settle for a tiny fraction of the numbers cited above.

Heres the way the Rubbermaid 300 gallon fish tank and 50 (or 100) gallon grow beds could fit in the 8x18 space:



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In other news, my tilapia have yet to ship. Theyre coming from near Kansas City, which has been hit by a big winter storm. Looking forward to having them in hand sometime next week!

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