Ecosphere with one shrimp left, how to free it

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:33 am

headline: "Virginia woman admitted to hospital with glass shrapnel embedded in face, saved shrimp, lost eye" LOL.

I didn't think you were crazy until now

JK

Please take all precautions when doing this, take care

pturley · Post by **pturley** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:50 am

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:29 am

Very good Idea pturley, I would use this method also

But still take all precautions

Terran · Post by **Terran** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:30 am

Yeah stick the bowl underwater like this

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-Water line
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~----------------~~~~~~
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl <----"sphere"
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~----------------~~~~~~~~

Then get a hammer and a screw driver...put the screw driver tip in the water against the sphere and hit the handle of the screw driver with the hammer

..................Hit Hammer here
............................l l
............................l l <----screw driver
______________l l ___________________-Water line
~~~~~~~~~~~V~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~----------------~~~~~~
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl <----"sphere"
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~lOOOOOOOOl~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~----------------~~~~~~~~

Oooor I suppose you could stick in in water and have it so the sphere is almost directly under the surface of the water and just hit it with a hammer ....but I would think the screw driver with the sphere under deeper water would be slightly safer...

Ug this did not format how I wanted it to....Im fiddling with it to make it look right

DatDamWuf · Post by **DatDamWuf** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:28 pm

I thank you all for the suggestions and support

I emailed and talked to two different guys at Ecosphere and they were adamant about CO2 buildup causing asploding and that what they do is cover the top with a towel to help with glass going every where. I am not at all convinced that holding the sphere under water will be of any help with the explosion, water is not very dense...

I'm trying to get my husband to help me. One hand to hold sphere, one hand to hold the screw driver, one hand to use the hammer and one hand to hold the towel - and one shrimp to rule them all!

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:52 pm

One hand to hold sphere, one hand to hold the screw driver, one hand to use the hammer and one hand to hold the towel - and one shrimp to rule them all!

"Lord of the Ecosphere"

Hope it turns out alright.

Guybrush · Post by **Guybrush** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:27 am

For extra protection, you could use a piece of plexiglass. Just get a hole drilled in it for the screwdriver. If there's as much pressure as they make it sound, I wouldn't trust just a towel (well, maybe if it was like those x-ray aprons

). Also, a punch would be better than a screwdriver, if you have it.

Good luck!

Terran · Post by **Terran** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:21 am

Guybrush wrote:For extra protection, you could use a piece of plexiglass. Just get a hole drilled in it for the screwdriver. If there's as much pressure as they make it sound, I wouldn't trust just a towel (well, maybe if it was like those x-ray aprons ). Also, a punch would be better than a screwdriver, if you have it.

Good luck!

Instead of plexiglass you could use a piece of plywood....since plexiglass is kindof expensive...

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:40 am

I think the isea behind the plexiglass is that you will be able to see what you are doing thoughout the process. Correct me if I am wrong

HylaW · Post by **HylaW** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:58 pm

I keep seeing new replys and clicking on this link to waiting to see if you have done the job!

Icelightning · Post by **Icelightning** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:31 pm

Ah, no. I haven't actually opened my ecosphere yet--I'm trying to figure out a few more things first before I do the deed.

The two main problems I have are this: how to open the sphere, and actually cycling their new home. I mostly know how to do the second (and my brother has set up a saltwater tank before, so just reducing the amount of salt we put in should work), but the first is still giving me issues.

There was one article I found via google (for opening lightbulbs safely, but hey, I figured I could adapt the info), and I want to see if it's available through my college's website... but unfortunately their remote login service hates firewalls. So Dad'll have to make special permissions for me to connect to it, and then I'll look to see if it has anything else on pressurized vessels. I never even though to look there until now....

I don't think the ecospheres are full saltwater, however. My shrimp have been slowly growing, and are pretty active (they even do the "happy lap" behavior). But that won't last forever, and I want to get them out sooner than later--and they'll grow a lot faster once I can give them a better food source! They've been eating the web-branched structure for forever, now....

While I research more on this, I do have a few suggestions: get an indoor thermometer, and use it to find a warmer place in your house. Mine have always done poorly at average room temperatures, but they like 75-80 F (er, usually I keep them close to my computer--that works pretty well--be careful to make sure it's not *too* warm!). I also cover mine up at night, otherwise they're always roaming and don't rest (lights keep them up).

One thing that might be a viable thing to look into is to find someone who knows how to work with making stained glass, and knows how to cut glass. They wouldn't know how to cut glass with pressurized contents, but you could get an idea for what you might need....