Astrobiology - Ancient Mars History - A Temporal Biotope

[Tim Harrison]

Took me literally forever but I finished editing this quick video for the Mars setup. Please watch if you have five minutes...

Great video, you just need to sit back and wait a few billion years for eukaryotic life to evolve.

 

[hydrophyte]

The end caps and O rings are best turned on a lathe. Provided the dimensions are correct it shouldn’t leak done this way.
I’ve had a scribble of a plug with O ring grooves for my Biomaster on the coffee table for a few weeks. Hopefully I’ll get round to it soon.
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I wondered about that too, but did not know how to align the cap shape with the holes for the push-connect fittings and fiberglass rods. But now that I think of it I can just reverse the processes, getting the round shape and the O-ring grooves on the lathe first, then cutting additional holes on the CNC router. That should work.

Great video, you just need to sit back and wait a few billion years for eukaryotic life to evolve.

That will be a lot of dusting, glass cleaning, watering and occasional light fertilization! 😲😲😲

 

[hydrophyte]

I made some more headway with the O-ring caps. I had never operated it before, but got an orientation on the big metal lathe and it is much better for precise material removal.

This cap was another practice/problem-solving exercise and didn't come out quite right. I had put one of the silicone O-rings in place while figuring out the correct groove dimensions, so that's why it's on there.

That huge chuck is mildly terrifying. Keep your hands and everything else away!

This final version seems to seal up the enclosure very well. Another advantage of turning the shape on the lathe is that I was able to add the flange to keep the cap on top. Now I just need to cut one for the top along with the pair of caps for the smaller 2" tube.

I found this article with very good explanations for the concepts I have in mind.

H2 + CO2 is the most oft-cited pathway for methane generation, but it turns out they can utilize several other substrate combinations, including acetate (C2H3O2-) as both the electron donor and receiver.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Looking good.

That huge chuck is mildly terrifying. Keep your hands and everything else away!

It is terrifying, but turning out something of your own creation is hugely satisfying.

 

[hydrophyte]

O-rings are not easy!

I finally got the new tube enclosure assembled for a water test. The two caps have good seals, but the center bulkhead needs more work. Here's a quick Instagram reel...

Push-connect fittings for airtight passage of wires and airline...

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's preliminary assembly for the 2" tube enclosure.

It's not airtight yet. I still need to plug the arbor holes and seal around the wires with epoxy...

With the air pump there are nine wires running out through two of the push-connect fittings. And that leaves two ports for pumping the atmosphere between the two enclosures.

Closer view with the MQ gas sensor. I have one for H2 gas and one for methane...

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's the tube enclosures and aluminum track for electronics + electrical hung up together on the wall. I'm sure I'll reconfigure this some more later on, but this arrangement will be adequate for a test...

I also designed a bracket to hold the argon cartridge. I got a little confused looking at gas cylinders and it took me a while to figure this out, but these are simply called 16-gram cartridges and they are standard with the same thread for N20, argon and CO2. A small and cheap regulator with bubble counter will be adequate for filling the enclosures. Argon is heavier than air, so with a slow bubble rate and a vent at the top, it should push all the air out just as it does in a wine bottle...

 

[hydrophyte]

I'm going to wait for any major reconfiguration until I confirm that this setup more less works as intended, but among other updates I plan to reposition the 2.75" tube on a longer (48") piece of aluminum track, then secure a neopixel LED strip inside for lighting effects like my larger phytoplankton setup. Slow microbial metabolism is, you know, not much to look at, but this will make the setup more visually dynamic. The electronics on the right-hand side will also have various blinking LEDs and I'll probably light up the smaller 2" tube as well...

 

[hydrophyte]

New update for one of the Winogradsky Columns.

You can really get lost in it...

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Moonwort Studio

Битва на небесах - Battle in Heaven

Day 1336

Winogradsky Column: watertight enclosure, antique-style frame, LED lighting, live microbial cultures.

12cm X 51cm X 64cm

 

[hydrophyte]

Just finished most of the assembly for another thing to hang on the wall. Pretty basic construction, but I had some tooling marks to sand out and other fussy little jobs and I was up all night with it.

This is intended to model and visualize oxidation of organic carbon, decomposition and the development of soils. I have some electronics to round up too and then I can get it set up. And I have stuff to put inside...

 

[Malarky]

This is so fricking out there. It's aquascaping George, but not as we know it.

 

[hydrophyte]

I got it hung up in its spot on the wall...

Before filling it up though I'm going to assemble and position the electronics with a piece of t-track to the right. This is pretty basic with the same microcontroller housing and LCD display as this other setup, but without the rotary encoder. This doesn't look like all that much, but it's a lot of little parts to cut out and round up and I'll have to buy another forty dollars of Adafruit stuff also to compete it...

 

[hydrophyte]

The new UNS 45S tank got here delivered tonight and I started putting together the 80/20 aluminum stand. I was hoping this pretty short (28") stand with a nano tank on top would be sturdy enough with those internal connectors, but it's obviously not. I'd rather not put additional connectors all around, but I think this style of external brace around some of the joints in the rear with probably stiffen it up enough...

(JP-010-H) 10 Series 5 Hole 90° Joining Plate | TNUTZ

That HDPE sheet makes such nice shelves for a project like this—so easy to work on the table saw and table router.

 

[hydrophyte]

Mars

Day 653

Really happy with this thing. The stone and gravel surfaces have developed such a rich patina texture + color with slow development of the Cyanobacteria biocrust. A couple of different Mosses have also found their way inside via spores.

 

[AlecF]

It's really interesting to see a project so different from the norm.

 

[Mat H]

What an interesting tank, I love the thought process, ingenuity and the perspective you have approached it.

I imagine the you will/have learnt substantially more trying to grow cyanobacteria than many ever will in trying to rid their tanks of it.

I would posit that, in some fashion, a mini evolution takes place in most planted tanks as bacteria and algea come and go, replacing each other as conditions alter changed even by their own presence, and that this mini evolution is necessary in order to achieve balance.

 

[hydrophyte]

It's really interesting to see a project so different from the norm.

Thanks for stopping by!

What an interesting tank, I love the thought process, ingenuity and the perspective you have approached it.

I imagine the you will/have learnt substantially more trying to grow cyanobacteria than many ever will in trying to rid their tanks of it.

I would posit that, in some fashion, a mini evolution takes place in most planted tanks as bacteria and algea come and go, replacing each other as conditions alter changed even by their own presence, and that this mini evolution is necessary in order to achieve balance.

Yes you are right! There is some pretty interesting recent investigation into the microbiomes of reef aquariums, their changes over time and responses to variables. I'm really pleased with how the biocrust showing similar rich texture and color as it matures like similar features out in nature growing Cyanobacteria, Algae and Lichens.

Something really interesting this project is demonstrating is the slow visual evolution as the microorganisms develop and cover the substrates over time.

 

[hydrophyte]

Really interesting article to bookmark...

Lamprecht, O., Wagner, B., Derlon, N. et al. Synthetic periphyton as a model system to understand species dynamics in complex microbial freshwater communities. npj Biofilms Microbiomes 8, 61 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-022-00322-y

 

[hydrophyte]

Update for the hypersaline stromatolites tank...

This system went through a long period where there was a lot of the Cyanobacterium dark green EPS grew all over the tops of the faux-stromatolite stone features. It looks to me as though this organism actually hinders calcium carbonate precipitation when it's on very thick because I usually find loose particles beneath it. I was able to reduce its coverage with water changes and I've also been dosing SpongExcel, which encourages the brown Diatom that seems to cement the sand grains together more coherently.

The Brine Shrimp colony moved into improved accommodations with a 12" glass bowl from the craft store and better lighting.

That Oase CrystalSkim is another new addition and I really like it. I don't run it all the time, but it clears up the surface film super quick.

Water is cloudy. I have tried clearing this up with Purigen, but now I think it's probably the green phytoplankton (most likely Nannochloropsis or Chlorella), so I'm next going to try a UV sterilizer and I'm just waiting on delivery for that.

 

[hydrophyte]

Really interesting thing I'm reading with my coffee...

(Source: Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: A Terrestrial Analog of Ancient Mars - PubMed )