My DIY Brine Shrimp Hatcher
The materials and tool that are needed are a 2-litre soft drink bottle, 6mm "L" shaped airline connector, 6mm airline(At least 35cm long), cellotape, sharp knife, scissors, electric drill, 5mm drill bit, measuring tape and a marker pen.
Tear off label, some labels are more difficult to completely remove than others. Personnely I'm not too bothered about getting all the label off, so long as u can get most of it off and are able to see whats happening inside the hatcher, That is just fine.
Mark the bottle at about 9 - 10 cm from the bottom up to the top with a felt tipped pen. This mark is where you are going to make the cut to split the bottle in two. Best way to do it is by holding the pen at that 9 - 10 cm height and turn the bottle around while howhile holding it down on a flat surface. If you have a steady hand you should get a nice straight line around the bottle.
Use a knife to make a hole in the plasic to start the cut. Please try to keep your hands clear of the area where you are going to puncture the bottle. Don't want anyboby having to go to hospital because they stabbed themselves. So be really careful.
Use a pair of scissors to finish the cut around the bottle, following the line you marked earlier.
Use a electric drill with a 5mm drill bit to drill a hole in the center of the bottle cap.
Once drilled the edges of the hole maybe a little ragid, so it needs to be cleaned up a little with a knife.
You don't have to follow this step, But like to trim the "L" shaped air connector, so that its flush on the inside of the bottle cap.
This is the hard bit, You need to be quite strong to get the "L" shaped air connector to fit into the hole in the bottle cap, Because it is such a tight fit this does make it water tight.
Now connect the airline to the "L" shaped air connector that has just been forced into the bottle cap.
Now drill a hole in the side at the bottom of the lower half of the bottle.
Pass the airline through the hole in the lower half of the bottle that has just been drilled.
Now tighten the top half of the bottle onto the cap, make sure it is tight.
Make sure the top half of the bottle is sitting straight on the bottom half of the bottle.
You can now tape the bottom half to the top half of the bottle. Wrap the tape around the bottle several times to make sure it is secure.
Now drill a hole near the top of the bottle, This makes a good place to secure the airline while the hatcher is being moved and is full of water.
Now i would advice testing the hatcher first, too make sure it is water tight before using it to hatch brine shrimp.
Connect a flow control valve to the airline running from your new hatcher to your air pump, this lets you control the amount air going to the hatcher.
This is very important, I would advice you to connect these non-return valves to your airlines. Too stop water siphoning along the airlines and damaging your air pump, if your air pump is below the water line. But if you intend to keep your air pump raised up above the water line then these are not necessary.