I don't if you read comments but I know what your problem is with the algae. You algae is in a closed system with a maximum amount of carbon that can be captured. When that limit is reached it goes into state of equilibrium where the bacterial in the algae eat and release the carbon as fast as it is captured by the algae. In order to remove the carbon, you need to remove a certain percentage to of the algae from the system as it is running. By filtering the algae water and drying the removed algae you can sequester the carbon out the room. Hope that helps. Cheers.
google "magnetic north movement map" then realize it's going in a straight line suddenly and now moving 6 times faster since 2001... its the real reason for climate change and why governments around 2016 stopped calling its global warming... when the DOD held a meeting with a congressional financial committee to get funding 4 years ahead of schedule to re-calibrate the GPS systems, remember all the funny car commercials where the GPS said turn right, and he'd drive off a bridge.. yup.. and only a few weeks after that happened was when Elon decided the SpaceX mission was a self sufficient colony on Mars within 100 years.. it's also when his "Boring Company" went into overdrive making the machines that can create a MILE of 24ft wide tunnel PER WEEK... Imagine this... He creates the tunnels that interconnect key governmental points.. establishes an electric self driving car that has a radioactive grade HEPA filter in it.. and can accept rail charging.. so that he has the only vehicles capable of traveling vast distances on their own in a tunnel that would otherwise not work if you used combustion systems.. it would require so many ventilation systems that it'd expose itself.. then he develops rockets that can land vertically in basically the same identical systems currently used to hold ICBM nuclear missiles in bunkers... so that he can create bunkers that the rocket ships can launch from and land inside.. They're gearing up brother.. they are gearing up to create an isolated government that is self sufficient underground and off planet for when the ecosystem collapses.. It's real easy to grow a ridiculous amount of food in a 24ft x 5280ft tunnel using sodium light bulbs that last forever and some fans they use in industrial chicken coupes. ~Cheers
You'll probably not see my comment but I have 20 years of experience in bioreactors. To solve your problem with 100hp on Wednesday, and 75hp on Thursday, you need to "waste". It's an actual term, and what you do is actually remove x amount each day. You'll need to find the right amount "x" to remove to keep your mg/l of algea optimum for most hp. Doing this will make 300hp, and probably with less tank's too. Cheers! Love your project.
I noticed this as well and he should have too. Especially when he got good results at the earliest start and poor later. The water just simply had too many organisms. I don't know if he did, but probably should have gone in the opposite direction. Dont let them get more populis, drain the population more and see when it fails
I used to work for an aquaculture company where we worked with brine shrimp, and was experimenting by using microalgae in a separate tank to the shrimp tank to stabilise oxygen levels in the system and provide an additional food source if needed. After months of testing we found pretty much the same here, chlorella, spirulina, whatever it is, at really large volumes makes it a very fragile system to maintain, the smallest change in water chemistry, one unsanitized instrument used, whatever it was would cause a collapse eventually. Honest props to those that keep large algal cultures alive and running, it's such a difficult job and the techs running those operations need serious kudos
@@bartmannn6717 Not even just us. If these algae are as sensitive as this implies, then just a deer taking a shit in a pond would be like a nuclear blast for them. Frankly it seems so absurd that these algae can't survive near-pristine conditions in a basement but can survive a massively chaotic natural lake that I have trouble believing that it's the whole story.
To be fair I think it's because people on a learning curve will be shocked by the apparent fragility of large bio-systems but once you know what you're doing, the systems can be ridiculously robust (by comparison to what will be experienced by someone on a learning curve). I've worked with different and similar biocircularisation systems as part of my regenerative resource initiative. I've pushed everything to its limits and then pushed that and really played around with it. But I say that because I know what is going on with them, so I will think I'm pushing it if I let a relatively big pH swing occur, or a relatively sudden temperature fluctuation. But things that normal people would think are normal swings in these things would make me wince.
As an engineer that works in life sciences I personally am impressed by the thought you put into your processes. I am not going to criticize any of your test method because you truly tried to include every variable you could. I would call it a job well done.
google "magnetic north movement map" then realize it's going in a straight line suddenly and now moving 6 times faster since 2001... its the real reason for climate change and why governments around 2016 stopped calling its global warming... when the DOD held a meeting with a congressional financial committee to get funding 4 years ahead of schedule to re-calibrate the GPS systems, remember all the funny car commercials where the GPS said turn right, and he'd drive off a bridge.. yup.. and only a few weeks after that happened was when Elon decided the SpaceX mission was a self sufficient colony on Mars within 100 years.. it's also when his "Boring Company" went into overdrive making the machines that can create a MILE of 24ft wide tunnel PER WEEK... Imagine this... He creates the tunnels that interconnect key governmental points.. establishes an electric self driving car that has a radioactive grade HEPA filter in it.. and can accept rail charging.. so that he has the only vehicles capable of traveling vast distances on their own in a tunnel that would otherwise not work if you used combustion systems.. it would require so many ventilation systems that it'd expose itself.. then he develops rockets that can land vertically in basically the same identical systems currently used to hold ICBM nuclear missiles in bunkers... so that he can create bunkers that the rocket ships can launch from and land inside.. They're gearing up brother.. they are gearing up to create an isolated government that is self sufficient underground and off planet for when the ecosystem collapses.. It's real easy to grow a ridiculous amount of food in a 24ft x 5280ft tunnel using sodium light bulbs that last forever and some fans they use in industrial chicken coupes. ~Cheers
I cant believe the algorithm has never suggested this channel. For me, glued to my screen watching algae grow happened with Cody. I love how the science content on RU-vid is seemingly more and more endless. I hope these channels get compensated better. So much better than most traditional media...
This is my favorite video you've made. It's the culmination of years of storytelling, problem solving, curiosity and persistence- and it shows. Thanks for letting me be a part of this.
Couldn’t agree more. Started out as a simple question every kid always wondered, and slowly evolved more to use more science. In a way it shows the natural evolution of science. Which is probably pretty cool for people to see who aren’t in a stem field
the homeschooling shows in his inability to even isolate variables and instead just repeat the same experiment over and over until he gets a result he likes
Cool to see that the algae is having an effect! Bummer it isn't enough to sustain a person at that scale yet but still a win! Some ideas; what if you had algae panels on your "space ship", just like solar panels. As in, if you set up your algae in such a way that it can exist outside, or on your roof, or somewhere you have more space, but have the air system be closed circuit. So only air from your sealed room gets in, and any air that comes out is redirected back into the room. Then you could have sufficient biomass. Also, you may want to look into a continues feed/drain. Then you can start with a MUCH higher level of algae per liter. Then you can be constantly slowly adding in fresh media, and removing a set amount of algae sludge per hour. That way you can maximize the living biomass/L and increase CO2 capture. Another idea is to maybe separate the co2 from the air before pumping it into the algae. Something like pressure swing absorption. Then 100% of the gas the algae get is co2. would make it more efficient because you're not dissolving a ton of nitrogen and oxygen into the water.
Nice to hear from you, love the ideas! The panels would be really cool, my primary concern would be finding an existing container that could be repurposed and would also be cost effective. I probably won't find anything as cheap as $8 for 55 gallons of leak-free capacity, but I'd definitely be interested if I found the right materials/containers. A continuous system would be dope...automation in general would be great, though I'd need to find out what kind of sensors I can source and if I can actively monitor the relevant metrics without breaking the bank. I hadn't considered the effect of oxygen and nitrogen dissolution. Have you ever done anything with pressure swing adsorption/ know how difficult or expensive a setup that can handle my volume of breath might be?
@@JoelCreatescody’slab did a video on a (nearly) closed loop algae panel system. he used old plastic drink bottles + sealant for the main panel and some cheap tubing for the runs back to the sump/pump.
@@JoelCreates for monitoring you can make a very simple spectrometer. Just an led and a photodiode set 1cm apart. You can measure the density of the biomass by how much it dims the light and then pick a set point to start removing media and adding fresh. Pressure swing absorption is super easy. Its just a compressor, some electronic valves, and two containers of zeolite powder. They use it for making pure oxygen for medicine and glass blowing amongst other things. But can be used to isolate various gases by choosing the right zeolite and whete you vent the seperate gasses
Except in the cases where they busted a strawman myth, picking the most inane version of it. But then the show was still more entertainment and it succeeded in that, wouldn't exactly take one groups attempts at something as a definitive answer even if it is strongly indicative.
Such a redundant comment. Same can be said for any video production. He also literally states around 11min mark how much thought he's put in in a sob story sorta way. Insane comment
@@shibarmyburnz1978 seems like a pretty tame comment to me. They are just sharing how it’s nearly impossible to express all of your thoughts and experiences in a single video. It’s like when you have a conversation and it’s easy to forget all the little thoughts and experiences you’ve had to influence your decisions. Let me ask you this, did you leave your comment before or after Joel liked the first one?
@@lewiswood1693 Electro-chemical, CO2 is removed with disposable Litiumhy droxide canisters that are dumped in the trash and burned up with re-entry. Oxygen is provided by a machine that use electrolysis to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. This machine can be reversed for emergency water. New resupply missions bring in fresh co2 canisters, and all this is supplemented with O2 and N2 tanks (Leakage is a thing on the ISS). It's a rabbit hole, but a electro-chemical mechanical miracle of a rabbit hole.
When you pulled out your lunch at 37:44, I instinctively skipped the next 30 seconds thinking it was a sponsored ad for one of those "meal ready to eat" companies. Then realized it was just a regular sandwich and went back
They play the same ads for every ad break so we install ad blockers. Then they have the same ad read baked into every video, now we're instinctually skipping the very content they're trying to make us watch..... I wonder if advertisers will figure out that beating us over the head with the same sales pitch over and over doesnt work.....
Seeing Tierzoos face for the first time in this video is the most surprising thing I've experienced in the last 2 weeks. Genuinely made my jaw drop, I've been watching him for over 5 years and just assumed he kept his identity super tight.
Before I watch, Just wanted to say I watched part one a few months ago at like 1 am while in the middle of a 20 day work week. I have been checking in periodically for part 2. What a treat to see it show up on my feed!!! Thanks!!!
Not exactly. There's also those who grow mushrooms in a sealed room in their basement. (they also need to be very sterile at first, to avoid bad mold growing)
Nah, like the other guy said you can grow mushrooms, weed, or just have a garden in your basement. I'm that weird guy offering fresh beans and peas in the middle of winter
the homeschooling shows in his inability to even isolate variables and instead just repeat the same experiment over and over until he gets a result he likes
16:43 "As long as you are not doing something because of your fear of the possible consequence, then you are living as if that consequence is reality."
Beer-Lambert is kicking your ass. Especially when the cultures are dense a significant volume is too dark to properly photosynthesize. Thin sheets might do you better, since you have more surface area for both light and gas exchange (you also need to get the oxygen out of the water). Another interesting thing to experiment with, if you keep this series going, is mixed cultures. It is possible with a combination of work and luck to grow a mixture of algae and bacteria that is more stable than algae alone. Effectively a suitable bacteria will eat the waste products, excrete compounds that the algae eat, and still keeping CO2 under control. Congrats on making a human too!
To be fair, there is at least one channel about closed cultures, like the guy put some algae and animals into a glass tile, sealed it and the animals are still there living
I was surprised to hear the number 19.5% for your lower limit O2. I was a submarine officer and I spent about 5 months of a 6 month deployment at about 18% oxygen. On subs they keep the oxygen low...for fire suppression purposes primarily. Some think it's to keep the load on the oxygen generator lower, but once the consumption plateaus, the load on the O2 generator is the same no matter the baseline level. If you do future content may be worth trying to talk to a submariner, particularly a doc or someone from the Washington office which may have a subject matter expert. Could also try talking to a NASA rep since I bet they keep the oxygen level lower for similar fire suppression reasons. Love the content!
Decreasing O2 levels and increasing CO2 levels probably both have a (cumulative) effect on the consciousness of a human. And they probably need to be considered together. I wouldn't be surprised if they can only reach 18% oxygen in a submarine by keeping the CO2 way below 10000ppmor, probably even below 5000ppm. It might even make sense to _increase_ the amount of oxygen in the chamber before the test, if that allows you to also go to something like 20000ppm CO2. Because those CO2 levels could then allow the algae to produce oxygen twice as well. That is, if the added toxicity of the oxygen on the algae doesn't nullify the improvement from the increased CO2 levels.
If you havent yet, I would consider monitoring “carbon” as a thought experiment. A human is going to put out roughly 50 grams of carbon an hour. You need your bioreactor to be able to absorb 50 grams and turn it into biomass at that same rate to be at equilibrium. What may be happening is that there is not enough biomass being removed from your tanks so that there is more room for growth (which is literally conversion of gaseous carbon to solid form). If you can create a device that removes roughly 100 g of biomass (dryweight equivalent) per hour, and it contains that mass so the trapped algae cannot respirate, you should be able to find the right balance. Another useful measure of this could use spectroscopy. Shine a light through specific for measuring green absorption. If absorption starts rising for green wavelengths, increase rate of algae filtering/removal. If absorption decreases, decrease rate of removal and introduce additional nutrients for faster growth.
I found 'Microalgae possess the remarkable potential to sequester and convert 513 tons of CO2 into 280 tons of dry biomass per hectare per year.' a hectare is 10000 square meters and sunlight is 1kW per square meter. LEDs are 20% efficient converting electricity to light. Humans burn mass at 200 watts. so you need 1kw of electric power to the LEDs if the algae is 100% efficient. if algae is 1% efficient then need 100kW of power ro LEDs.
yeah i think a sufficient system would be more complicated than just tanks, it would need to be able to do some of that manual maintenance automatically. maybe there’s a way to get sufficient surface area which also allows for them to settle at some slow rate, so that they can be sucked out of the bottom occasionally, with some fraction redirected back to the top of the water level.
or maybe each tank could automatically remove most of the algae, after which a fraction of another tank is pumped into it, and then another is automatically cleaned. might require many small tanks idk
The circa 1995 PC (at 4:22) was a nice touch. Complete with 3.5" & 5.25" floppy drives, optical drive and Zip removable hard drive. Both the PC, and the green metal desk that screams "Good enough for government work", make for cool museum-quality props.
I make a lot of plant content and its insane how many people still spew the myths that plants are some kind of magic at home air purifier Thanks for growing barrels of algae for us
The quality and rigor of this project and specifically this video is a step above your usual great work. I've been waiting for this update for a while!
Would it make sense to seal the bioreactors, move them outside of the test room, and run two big tubes (one out and one in) to the bioreactors? Among the advantages would be you would be dumping far less heat into the test room. Individual ports would allow a beneficial single point measurement of O2 and CO2.
Insane. This experiment just gets better and better. I think both part 1 and 2 are successes. Part 1 demonstrated that it is possible to reduce the CO2 with plant matter. Part 2 showed the limitations of algae and probably the upper limit of what can be achieved with such a limited setup. If you ever make a part 3 and scale it up, I hope that you can get as many other big names to support you and finally lay the question to rest.
...BUT STILL.....HOW SO MANY BREATHING CREATURES ARE AROUND,THO... ....MAYBE STILL....WRONG DIRECTION,THO ...WHAT I'M PROPOSING,THO.........START ATTEMPTS WITH photosynthesising bacteria ,BECAUSE THEY'RE ACTUALLY THE THINGS THAT PRODUCE OXYGEN....AND CAPTURE MAJOR PART OF CO2 ......JUST IMAGINE THE DUDE IS TRYING TO REPLICATE LIFE ON EARTH......BUT MISSES KEY FACTOR ABOUT PLANTS DO CAPTURE SOME OF CO2 ONLY WHEN THEY REST AND IT'S DARK AND THEY ACTUALLY consume OXYGEN THEYVE EXCRETED DURING DAY
I guess there is a reason why we are not using algae to keep astronauts alive in space ships. I knew they were high maintenance, but I had no idea they were so fickle. though I would love to see how far do you need to go to keep someone alive for days with algae alone.
@@danilooliveira6580 infinite amount of time. The problem is not whether it's possible or not. The problem is keeping the perfect balance of making it self sustaining with the perfect condition for it to grow and thrive and later get decomposed into other components. It's the idea of how fragile our ecology is and how everything is in a perfect balance in nature. And that when we destroy that perfect balance, and tip the scale... it would make it a runaway effect that would not be easy to stop... But when everything is in a perfect balance then you would be able to go on for infinite amount of time.
Man, your dedication is stunning. I often find myself in wild daydreams about things I'd like to try out and I can never make them reality. Your work is really impressive. Thanks for kicking butt!
“As long as you’re not doing something because of your fear of the possible consequence, then you are living as if that consequence is reality” Well damn Joel I want that on a poster
I too had a very self reflecting moment and considered how I sometimes take shortcuts or try not to suffer for a project. Suffering isn’t the worst outcome .
Self awareness is a very useful trait. Everyone wants to feel smart sexy cool and invincible, truth is we are people, and the more we tap into who we really are, as our best and most self aware self, I think we actually become much better people overall, by admitting we screw up sometimes!
Fear is not to be conquered, without fear we would blindly leap into the volcano. While it can be a bad idea to let fear drive all the time, it still has some impactful things to say. Fear keeps up alert, it helps us prepare, to plan, even to act. Controlling the effect of fear so that rationality, knowledge, experience, and wisdom can get a word in edgewise....now THAT is a goal more people should work towards. But never ignore fear entirely. I mean, unless you want to count your winnings walking through compton at 3AM believing everyone is a decent person who will respect your personal space, or that simply saying "No" has any power in deflecting an attacker intent on doing you harm.......
@@angelo3926 I used to purposefully experience physical discomfort for the express purpose of acclimatizing myself to it (ive been able to induce cramps in my calves and back from a very young age, its helped me stave off real cramps by recognizing the onset and out maneuvering them in a way. Hasnt always worked, but has enough times Id advocate for others exploring themselves to such an end). Mild discomforts others seem to take issue with, while I notice them dont bother me, its just a part of life, it aint all cotton candy clouds yall...(particularly modern youths who think they have a sensitivity and freak-out just because they notice something....yes I know its a real thing, I also know for a fact many of these people are appropriating the symptoms for their 'im special, im broken' merit badge and as a sufferer of mental issues it offends me deeply when its worn as a damn status symbol for hipsters. Start calling it out so your friends stop that shit, or get over the fact that it actively offends the actual SUFFERERS of the afflictions yall think its funny to play with). Ive applied the same concept to other areas of life, and Im not saying it will make you superman or anything.....but the level to which I apparently can shift to skipping the panic or surprise phase of something really seems to throw my friends for a loop. Of course they usually dont see afterwards when i finally lay down and shake myself to sleep so.......
Without fear, there would be no courage. Without courage, humanity would have fallen to the wolves long ago. It's that determination to stand in the face of a snarling beast, and take a step forward with a snarling of your own that has defined us as a species for milennia. The forest may have thinned and the wolves may be little more than a myth now, the determination remains, buried under the burdens of history, and the loss of close ties.
my suggestion: snails if there are snails present in the tanks, perhaps they could eat the dead biomass. then, their waste would recycle nutrients back into the water to be used by the algae. look into aquaponics. there might be something useful for this project
They will clean the water but also consume the oxygen you're trying to generate. Something like this may be necessary for a long term test, but the system should work for at least a day without snails if it's going to work at all.
That's a fun idea, and I get where you're coming from, but you have to think about the whole carbon cycle. The CO2 being removed from the air is being sequestered as algae biomass. If snails ate and digested the algae biomass, their breathing would reemit all of the CO2 that had been removed from the air. That's exactly how the carbon cycle works on the huge scale of the Earth: plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and animals, bacteria, and fungus digest those plants and put all the CO2 back in the air.
23:09 and I suddenly realize something, Joel, YOUR BREATH COULD BE INFECTING THE ALGAE! Seriously, the moisture of the human body as it exhales can easily be a disease vector. I bet that the tests could become more effective if you apply a filter to the air intake
As a homebrewer, I HATE pH meters and strips. One is unreliable, the other imprecise. And additionally, the digital ones just die over time, the probe wears out or something.
I just don't even bother measuring pH. I measure temp and specific gravity and that's it. I've never had any issues as long as I keep temperature steady, but then I only make cider and mead. I guess it's more important for beer, but beer seems more complicated anyway.
I do a lot of hydroponics and it is just cheaper and easier to throw out the medium every week than spend all the hours managing total dissolved solids PH balances hardness. ect. ect.
I wonder if any universities would be able to weigh in on things you could address. They might have tighter measurements too (not intended to be an insult of your work). Side note: I bet there are some Uni out there that are also trying to obtain a more efficient strain over millions of generations. I vaguely remember watching a vid about scientists who were growing cells over decades(?) and observed changes/drift. I doubt your colony has changed much in the time you have been experimenting, but I bet a university might have interesting results to share. This kind of deep dive experimental/niche content on yt really feels like the early days of the content was shared on this platform. Love it.
I just found these videos and watched them back to back, I'm not even disappointed that I didn't get a definitive answer to my question because I was captivated by all the research and work that went into this. I thought it would be complicated but I never knew it would be this complex!
I don't know if this was the intended vibe, but your cutaway explanatory portions in the video feels a la 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' show - exceptional production, appropriate pacing and a perfectly digestible amount of info. Holy hell, man, I hope you looked at this one and were proud, I fail to articulate appropriately the talent you've honed into skill here. 🎉
Wine makers fermenting containers help remove bio mass easily. It’s basically a cone shaped large plastic drum. It has a wall mounted bracket so the point of the cone is off the ground. To remove bio mass you simply open the big ball valve at the bottom of the container.
This is the first video I’ve ever seen from you and let me just say you couldn’t have come in at any better of a time because I’m currently a senior in college studying geology, with my interest hydro my capstone research is actually about bacterial microbial mats or also known as biofilm and how they actually trap translucent quartz grains to conduct the sunlight to the floor of an epi-benthic zone for photosynthesis. A huge role in that is how we formed our sedimentary rocks we live on now 😃
I don't mean to be sappy, I normally hate sap, but I just gotta say that inspirational stuff about trying things despite your fears actually hit me deep. Failure itself is just a concept, but regardless of how you look at it, if you live without trying you are living as if you had failed; undisputed. It's true. Man that really hits home with me, thank you!
if you find a sap unpalatable, you can always concentrate it into syrup. it’ll end up sweeter, but if the issue is bitter flavors then those will be concentrated as well. hope this helps
There's always going to be an army of keyboard warriors of all shapes and variations of lacking brain cells. Your work is greatly appreciated and I'm always excited to see your unique take on everything. I've been a couple different flavors of engineer for about 2 decades and I'd rather listen to you than some of the guys I've got to work with everyday. Keep up the incredible work man.
I have a tip for you. If you would construct your tanks in such that they were to circulate between each while also passing through a separate tank that has a series of copper rods in the midst of the mass. This tank would also have a 32-volt charge along these copper rods. The algae would enter this special tank via time triggered gates on 6 hour terms. Algae in the special tank would be held for 2:21 minutes then be released through the exit gate. The tank would be emptied and cleaned before the next algae enter. The algae will use this tank for it's waste and will 'learn' to exhaust it's waste only in this tank.
lol if the algae business doesn't pan out you can still rent your basement as a sci-fi movie set XD those barrels look more radioactive than some actually radioactive things :P
This was such a fun saga to watch unfold. It's wild how a simple comment can lead to such an epic saga. Also if I got that hint at the end of your video correct, Congrats and good luck on your next amazing adventure!
I think the last video was your most commented ever. It must be great to have a project you put so much time in and care so much about do so well. I've heard so many stories if youtubers who put it so much effort, and then get very few views, and the projects they do quickly going viral, to their frustration. Here, though, passion really being rewarded..
The fact that A. I was excited and immediately clicked on this video when it appeared on my feed and B. It entertained me as well as beat my expectations says about as much about my life as it does about how good Joel's videos are. Fingers crossed for a part 3 some time in the future.
hey joel. you are letting the algae sit in ambient. they are growing to acomedate normal levels of co2, then you are introducing a high amount hoping the efficiency increases to counter your breath. i think the better option is to feed co2 prior to testing to get algae to aclimate and increase in capacity, then replace the co2 source with yourself.
One test you could try is growing a batch of algae fresh from near nothing directly in one of the large tanks filled to the top with water. Then have the room seal and record the rate of change in the CO2. This way you can compare an identify at what "phase" of the algae's growth cycle it is operating most efficiently.
Your first algae experiment helped me find your channel and I've been waiting for this video since then. Great job, insane amounts of effort on display here.
I have some ideas for you, Joel... Lighting - Increase the lighted algae surface area by placing the grow lights outside an inner transparent vat. The algae get more light (~80% more), and the light fixtures don't get overgrown with algae. Down the road, you might also employ a simple stirring/wiping mechanism that slowly rotates within the vat to keep algae from attaching to the inner walls and keep the entire colony lightly churned. Buffer - When I did aquariums I used natural course-crushed sea shells (gathered right off the beach) as buffers instead of chemicals. As your colony bath gets acidic, dissolving calcium maintains the PH at 0. You don't have to worry about the bath becoming alkaline as the shells stop doing their magic once the PH balances. You might have to experiment with how much shell material to use as there is some minimum amount required per volume. And of course, don't forget to sterilize the shell material before you use it. Gabbing - Have you heard of a new technique called a Voice-Over? *chuckle* I hope any of this might help in some small way.
I thought about the light being too concentrated in some parts of the tanks but not concentrated in other parts as well. But the issue with keeping the LEDs away from the algae would be that algae would attach to any transparent surface that you use to do so. With directly submerged LED's at least any algae attaching themselves directly to the LED will die. But maybe there's a sweet spot how far you can offset the LED's from the algae tank and have the algae only die when they attach themselves to the surface. Or as another commenter has pointed out, you could introduce a few snails into the tanks. They would probably prefer eating algae on the tank surface rather than suspended ones. Or maybe you could use the water-air interface to shine the light through. But that would mean that you'd need to use flat containers instead of barrels. Which would drastically increase the cost of the aeration equipment.
You should try selectively breeding your algae. You have 4 tanks, create a starter culture from the best tank and eventually super algae. I did this with Yeast and created stuff that could survive like 25% alcohol, Sodium Benzoate and furthermore it it took about a day and a half to ferment. It only took m e like 2 weeks to create this but unfortunately it exploded because I accidently sealed it thinking, Na.... Wont produce that much gas overnight. I was wrong.
The amount of effort and commitment to all of this. Not just this video but the entire journey of the 1st video as well. This is a huge undertaking. So many complexities & everything takes so much time to find any answers. So awesome to see Plasma channel 🤘🏻
The average person produces around 1kg of CO2 in a day. Your algae would need to make almost 0.7kg of glucose to keep up. You can measure the dry mass density over time to see if your algae is keeping up.
Nooo someone please make a larger-scale, lab-grade version of this absolutely awesome experiment! It’s beyond me why nobody has done this before! We need to see it running perpetually!
Hey! I'm glad you had that final success towards the end. I just wanted to bring up something that you might already know: almost all plant and fungal species acquire their mass through CO2 absorbed from the air, not from the soil or water. So when you begin your test at an "undersaturated" state, what you're really doing is promoting population growth, which sequesters CO2 directly from the air and forms your biomass, thus reducing CO2. Plainly said, mass of carbon (CO2) into the tanks = mass out (CO2) + accumulation (biomass). You want to minimize mass out and maximize accumulation. Ideally, what you would do is form a pipeline to remove biomass so that your algae population never reaches a saturation state where it begins to slow population growth while maintaining nutrient levels so that other biological processes or chemical elements are not limited (such as nitrogen or oxygen).
He needs to get a biomass increase of 1 kg per day to fully absorb the co2 He produces Bio available nitrogen might be the limiting factor for growth, and would have to be monitored closely
That's what I was looking for. That had to be the most low key pregnancy announcement I've ever heard. Concratualtions Joel. You're about to experience a new level of tired.
Absolutely blown away by your willingness to do the hard stuff. I have the same curiosity, but most of that goes into my job, so after that I don't have the motivation to try these other things out like this. Well done mate
Great Video Joel, im pretty new to your content but im glad that the Algo sent you my way. I hope your continued perseverance is fostered by your ability to explore this life duderino!
