Hi Everyone,
I'm working on a bioluminescent dinoflagellate aquarium for my
appartment. Dinoflagellates require proper light/dark cycling for good
light output, but seeing as i want this to be something of a coffee
table thing in a well lit room, i need to be able to block light
without physically throwing a box over it every 12 hrs. My solution to
this was to design the aquarium as a jacketed pyrex tube (just to give
an rough mental picture, the device would be similar to an upright
liebig condensor in overall structure). My idea for controlling the
light cycle is to have two immiscible solvents in a reservoir; one of
which would be transparent to photosynthetic wavelengths of light, the
other would be opaque. Obviously, the choices for the biphasic system
are either:
water & hydrophobic dye mixed with a high boiling point, non polar
solvent
OR
hydrophilic dye in water & high BP non-polar solvent
My problem is, i know NOTHING about dyes :)
The properties that the dye must possess:
- Block photosynthetic wavelengths of light (but not so well that a few
molecules left on the surface of the glass will mess up the light
cycle)
- VERY selective non-polar or polar solubility
- preferably non-toxic and low va**** pressure (not essential)
- stable
Properties of organic solvent
- VERY low solubility in water
- LOW vapour pressure
- colourless/transparent (if used as the transparent solvent)
- similar viscosity to water
- either substantially more or less dense than water (to ensure good
phase separation)
(toxicity not particularly im****tant)
The general idea is that the jacket is in a closed loop with the
reservoir containing the two liquids, which has hose barbs at the top
and bottom. The interface of the two liquids would be roughly centred
in the reservoir. On one of the hoses leading from jacket to reservoir
would be a reversible peristaltic pump running continuously. The
direction of the pump determines which phase of the reservoir fills the
jacket, and consequently, whether or not photosynthesis is occuring.
This continuous flow model also allows you to control the temperature
of the aquarium by heating the reservoir to the desired temperature
using a submersible aquarium heater (water phase).
I'm still designing this thing and would really love some input. I'll
post my plans in a few days if anyone is interested.
Thanks for your time on this, it is very much appreciated.
Cheers,
Adam
|
