My Diy Aptasia Zapper

[TORX]

I found a few around the net and thought I would give it a go. The video was just to show it works and have fun zapping Aptasia.

Supplies:
3' - 1/2 pvc pipe
1 - 1/2 end cap for pipe
1 - monetary switch
1 - Lg sewing needle
1 - carpenters pencil

Misc from around the house:
heatshrink, solder, electrical tape, wire, aquarium safe silicone

First I started by splitting and removing the lead from the carpenters pencil. A little tedious, but success full.

I then tapped a nail through the 1/2" end cap. I pushed the needle through and filled the inside with silicone to seal it. I also soldered the negative end of my wire to the needle. Here is the monetary switch and lead piece that I will be using from the pencil (about 2")

I drilled a hole a few inches up from the end and threaded the positive wire through it. I stripped several inches off and wrapped around the lead. Also here the 1/2" end cap is pushed on, sealed with the silicone blob in the cap.

I heat shrunk the exposed copper wire leaving a good inch or so of exposed lead. I also painted the shrink and area with silicone to seal the hole and make sure no water was getting into the wiring. I folded the wire flush with the pvc and ziptied in place. Why a zip tie...cuz this is just a test and not made to be pretty.

There you have it. Just quickly added a DC lead from my DIY Jebao harness that I had left and the monetary switch. I used a 12v 500mA power source.

 

[Marz]

this should be a sticky!!!!

 

[TORX]

this should be a sticky!!!!

LoL, thanks

I did not 'zap' them long enough in the video and some came back. I hit them again and all is well. I love this thing. I will be remaking it with a smaller diameter tube if I can find one and angle the tip will help as well. My only real issue is that my tank is 24" and it is hard to control it from the top of the tank while looking at the bottom of the tank. No way around that really though.

 

[EricTMah]

Nice build!

I have the swc zapper. It works. But I don't like it. I find it's only a temporary fix. Almost impossible to ensure you zap all the tissue. Almost guaranteed that you'll get an army of small aiptasias within a month of doing this.

Also. I personally don't have the patience to zap each anemone for 5+mins.

Good luck. Hopefully yours works better than the swc one I've got.


Sent from my Z30 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mmckaig]

I have one of the 1.8mw lasers... you can zap them, hear the frying.... I haven't had this much aptasia in my life. I think no matter what you do zapping or frying, they still release something that makes more than the one you ZAP. I am back to using Joes Juice.

Matt

 

[Marz]

Ok I get that they come back...but fun with the kids right!

 

[TORX]

I am using ApX, zapper and peppermint shrimp. Mind you, he is on a break apparently. I have a large purple cap that is on my sand bed on a frag plug and that is where he has been hiding. Might need to move it to my rockwork just so the little bastard keeps working.

 

[curiousphil]

Cool to see someone here built one of these, it's something I've been pondering for a while. I hear if you hook up a bigger power supply it's a lot more effective, but also dissolves the pencil graphite faster..

 

[TORX]

Played with another design and it was working better. Only didn't focus on waterproofing it. I need more heat shrink before I can move forward

 

[scubasteve]

not only are you zapping aptasia but you got a hydrolysis experiment as well lol