Hey everyone, yesterday i found some tubes of glitter at the local Jo Ann fabric. Always being on the look out for a new project i saw that they might make decent drop checkers. I bought a six pack of glitter for $2.50. I also bought some 5/16ths rigid airline and some rubber washers. When i got home i used a soldering iron to melt holes in the bottom of the tubes. After i put the airline in the hole i used 2 part epoxy putty (this is always handy to have around) to secure it. The tubes have a small lip on the bottom so it made it easy to pack the putty in and get a good seal. I used a rubber washer at the top just to ensure a tight fit. I tried to cut off some of the tubes to make the whole thing smaller, it didnt go so well, they kept breaking. I got one cut without breaking but after testing i found the reaction time is no different than the longer tubes. I put the three i made yesterday in the tank this morning before C02 came on, im almost to the end of the light cycle for the day and mine kept up exactly with the one i purchased from aquatic magic.

I hope this helps, it is a very easy cheap project that results in a very useful tool.

I have pictures if anyone is interested. They didnt seem to upload, if you're interested let me know and i can email them.



~Andy

I'm interested. You need to upload photos to hosting service, such as the one I use, VillagePhotos-Free photo hosting, free image hosting, picture upload, free picture hosting, eBay selling tools, listing management, picture hosting and image management.. There are several others, and they are all free, at least for small numbers of photos. Then the second icon from the right above the message window is what you click to add photos to your post.

Vaughn, thanks for pointing me in the right direction.


These pictures did'nt come out the best but you should be able to get the idea.

VillagePhotos-Free photo hosting, free image hosting, picture upload, free picture hosting, eBay selling tools, listing management, picture hosting and image management.

I was concerned about the amount of airspace but for the 2nd day in a row they have kept pace exactly with the one i bought.

Hey all, the other day my wife found some containers at Hobby Lobby that work even better than the glitter ones i found. These are used to mix and store paint. I used 1/2 in. thin wall rigid tubing for the centers. I used Goop adhesive, aquarium silicone will work but i've had better more consistent results with the Goop. The best part is the caps fit very tightly so no gasket is needed. I think the video is fairly self explanitory, if you have any questions please dont hesitate to ask.


YouTube - Aquarium DIY CO2 Drop Checker


~Andy

Awesome, I'm going to keep an eye out for containers like that.

That is the best DIY report I can remember seeing! "A video is worth 10,000 words and 2 photos."