# diy egg tumbler out of mini-gravel vac



## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

Does this look like it will work? I haven't had a need for it yet, but I built this today and I was wondering if anyone thinks it won't work properly. I am using some open cell black foam on the bottom to support the eggs (friction fit), and on top to prevent any accidentally getting sucked out (top part can't be seen in pic). There is a 3/8" tube as the lift tube, similar to another design I saw, and a 3/16" tube is inserted into the side of it near the bottom, and I heated it a little with a flame so now it appears to stay in place. I'm using a gang valve to fine tune flow rate.


----------



## davespeed3 (Mar 29, 2009)

Can't see a major issue with it...but I'm no expert  How would you get the deads out? I'm sure the ones I've seen you can pop the top off and extract either dead fry or bad eggs without disturbing the whole thing too much.
How have you attached it to the glass, some sort of clamp and a sucker I take it?
I like this idea better than buying someone else's purpose built ones...then never having any use for them. I've a couple of these small vac's around which aren't much use for my large tanks plus they're really cheap at my LFS.
Once you've perfected the tumbler using the vac you can design a Brine Shrimp hatcher using one


----------



## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

The suction cup/clamp that is holding the tube is one (of the two) holders for a visitherm submersible heater. So, that was free. 

With this, you can pop the blue part off without too much trouble. Wouldn't that give you access to the eggs easily enough to cull any bad eggs? I bet some tweezers would be easy to stick in there since it's not too deep.


----------



## davespeed3 (Mar 29, 2009)

Ok I've pulled one apart no problem so all's good. Dug out a couple of old air pumps and I'm going to put it all together, if I don't use it no worries it ain't cost anything.
Post on here if you use yours or if you modify it anymore, cheers!!


----------



## herny (Nov 30, 2007)

man you are a life saver thanks for posting this


----------



## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

don't thank me until someone confirms it works ok


----------



## jwal (Jan 17, 2008)

Eight months later ... I get to put this to use 

My yellow tail acei female was holding, so I attempted to move her to my parent's house, where the breeding tanks are. When I got there, the eggs were all laying in the bottom of the bag. I thought ... this is it! I have to save them. 

There are 32 eggs gently tumbling right now. I will update if it worked or not.

Meanwhile: opcorn:


----------



## krfhsf (Dec 25, 2008)

It will work good and the bad eggs will float off the bottom. They will just disappear. Nice job!


----------



## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

Even an old water bottle should work would it not?


----------

