Light Bulb Shrimp Aquarium

I know, I know, there are already two instructables (to the best of my knowledge) about making a light bulb aquarium, but mine has step by step instructions with pictures for every step

you will need:

MATERIALS

1 globe light bulb
1 coat hangar
1 4" long peice of 2x4
.25 lbs of aged aquarium gravel
1 bottle water conditioner
1-3 ghost shrimp

TOOLS

1 Hammer
1 pair of needle nosed pliers or tin snips
1 screwdriver, or skinny scissors

Use your needle nosed pliars or tinsnips to remove the copper connector on the end of the light bulb

On the end of your lightbulb, there is black glass. The best way to get that out, is to put your screwdriver or skinny scissors into the little indention where the copper connector used to be, and twist back and forth to crack the glass. Be careful, the glass shards are extremely sharp, and extremely painful once they are lodged in your hands.

After you have removed all of the black glass, look into the stem of your lightbulb. You will see two things. A skinny long tube, and glass covering the stem. Point the stem away from yourself, and gently, with the screwdriver/skinny scissors, break it. It is pressurized, and will, on ocasion send a shard flying. then you can insert the tip of your tool, and give it a gentle rap with your hammer to break the glass that seals the lightbulb.

Remove the extra points and protrusions on the inside of the stem.


NOTE!: do not attempt what i am doing in the picture. It is extremely stupid, but it was the only way i could illustrate the point that there was a lack of obstructions in the stem.

Take your lightbulb to the bathroom to clean it out. There is a dust in the bulb that coats the inside. To the best of my knowledge,it is non-toxic, but probobly isnt the best thing for your lungs. Fill it halfway with water, cover the stem with your thumb, give a couple good shakes, and rinse. There may be some stubborn bits that "wont come off", but you can get those easily with an old toothbrush.

Now your lightbulb should be crystal clear

Now this is when the coat hangar comes into play. Use your tinsnips to cut off the staight part on the bottom of the coat hangar.

Bend your wire into a rough shape, like this. Make sure you get a corkscrew at the top, that closelt resembles the threads on the lightbulb.

Make sure you dog-leg the bottom end of the wire, and then staple it thusly to the 2x4.

Screw your lightbulb into the make-shift corkscrew on your threads. Be very carful not to screw to far, you you will end up cracking the glass.

Put in about 2 or so inches of AGED aquarium gravel. The gravel doesnt have to be aged, but it will aid in biological filtration, due to the beneficial bacteria that grows in the substrate. Then fill it to within 1/2" with water treated with chlorine/chloramine neutralizer. Then you can add 1-3 ,depending on their size, ghost shrimp to the tank. You can feed them a SMALL pinch of very crushed fine fish flake, once every three days. Due to the extremely small bioload that ghost shrimp contribute to in their habitat, water changes do not need to be frequent, about once every two weeks to keep the ammonia at bay. Use a dropper every couple days to vaccume up all of the uneaten food at the bottom. And There you have it!

P.S.: DO NOT even think about putting a betta in this light bulb!

As expected, you might mess up a few times, as did I. Its a trial and error process, so dont get discouraged.

Well, now your done. You can use it as some weird sort of modern art(i still dont understand that crap), put it on your desk at work, or put it into your room as a nice addition to your 55 gallon green severum tank.


ENJOY!