This DIY Anaerobic chamber was designed and built to grow cultures of Geobacter Sulfurreducens bacteria, to do research and experimentation on my Microbial Fuel Cell project called "BactElecTric".
It is important to state the fact that this is piece of equipment intended to be used in a Bio Safety Level 1 lab environment.
Also, it was conceived to keep a low oxygen level atmosphere inside of the chamber, it is constantly pumped with inert gas such as Nitrogen or Argon.
It is NOT(repeat...not) intended to keep organisms from going outside of the chamber, it is intended to keep a desired atmosphere inside, with positive pressure.
It is NOT air tight, the positive pressure and small leaks keeps outside air from going in.
This is a functional piece of biology lab equipment, it was welcomed inside GENSPACE, the first community Biolab, based in Brooklyn, New York.
It is important to state the fact that this is piece of equipment intended to be used in a Bio Safety Level 1 lab environment.
Also, it was conceived to keep a low oxygen level atmosphere inside of the chamber, it is constantly pumped with inert gas such as Nitrogen or Argon.
It is NOT(repeat...not) intended to keep organisms from going outside of the chamber, it is intended to keep a desired atmosphere inside, with positive pressure.
It is NOT air tight, the positive pressure and small leaks keeps outside air from going in.
This is a functional piece of biology lab equipment, it was welcomed inside GENSPACE, the first community Biolab, based in Brooklyn, New York.
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Signing UpStep 1: Chamber parts breakdown
Here is the breakdown of the parts of the my DIY Anaerobic Chamber:
1- Big plastic container (36 gal), as clear as possible, as big and square as you can find.
2- Gas intake
3- Relief valve
4- Double hatch system (two plastic food containers)
5- Double gasket with metal reinforcements
6- Pressure gauge
7- Rubber arms (flex tube) and gloves
8- C clamps
9- Insulation foam + silicon + duct tape
More detailed material list and building procedures ahead.
1- Big plastic container (36 gal), as clear as possible, as big and square as you can find.
2- Gas intake
3- Relief valve
4- Double hatch system (two plastic food containers)
5- Double gasket with metal reinforcements
6- Pressure gauge
7- Rubber arms (flex tube) and gloves
8- C clamps
9- Insulation foam + silicon + duct tape
More detailed material list and building procedures ahead.
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Do I "really" need an anaerobic chamber ?
New chambers are way too expensive for me.
Used ones are still expensive and you have to still get some parts to complete them (at least the ones I was able to find)
... so, what does a man do... he make his own anaerobic chamber !!!, and than shares it. :)
If you don't know what you'd do with an anaerobic chamber, well... maybe you ought to start doing some cooler stuff ^_^
Good brewing! send me a sample jeje
PS: I had thought about this so many times in the past and now I have the push to build it rather than think about it. Excellent!!
see my reply on "The Mighty El Rondo" post
Go and make one! just show me how it goes :)
This isn't a clean room (box) anyway, just a place to grow stuff that doesn't like oxygen, or grows too fast in oxygen.
I think the main difficulty is that the flexible tubbing has a spiral backbone (like a slinky)... it is not like an accordion design (I could not find an affordable one with my time frame), which could make your DIY coupling (for sleeves and gloves) much more easier to implement.
Thank you.
just a thought... :)
great instructable. very thorough.
Still this is a part of a larger project that could potentially change the world ;)
What a brilliant idea, and excellently executed! I would have liked to use this for some long term sampling of a Winogradski column. Ahhh, in another life!
Good info on the tubbing and gloves material, thanks!, Im using vinyl tubing.
Thank you for the encouraging comments.
:D
the only remark I have to make is that since the large container is not completely clear, detailed work might be a little bit hard.
So this is another upgrade that I'm pending:
Cutting a large rectangular space above the gloves, and use plexi, and for the borders, rubber gaskets (or insulation foam could be used), and the metal frame to be able to apply pressure to the screws that hold everything together, without cracking the plexi or the container.
You now have a protected, positive pressure interior box that protects the environment of the experiment and a negative pressure outer box that protects the experimenter.