I don't if you read comments but I know what your problem is with the algae. You algae is in a closed system with a maximum amount of carbon that can be captured. When that limit is reached it goes into state of equilibrium where the bacterial in the algae eat and release the carbon as fast as it is captured by the algae. In order to remove the carbon, you need to remove a certain percentage to of the algae from the system as it is running. By filtering the algae water and drying the removed algae you can sequester the carbon out the room. Hope that helps. Cheers.
You'll probably not see my comment but I have 20 years of experience in bioreactors. To solve your problem with 100hp on Wednesday, and 75hp on Thursday, you need to "waste". It's an actual term, and what you do is actually remove x amount each day. You'll need to find the right amount "x" to remove to keep your mg/l of algea optimum for most hp. Doing this will make 300hp, and probably with less tank's too. Cheers! Love your project.
I noticed this as well and he should have too. Especially when he got good results at the earliest start and poor later. The water just simply had too many organisms. I don't know if he did, but probably should have gone in the opposite direction. Dont let them get more populis, drain the population more and see when it fails
google "magnetic north movement map" then realize it's going in a straight line suddenly and now moving 6 times faster since 2001... its the real reason for climate change and why governments around 2016 stopped calling its global warming... when the DOD held a meeting with a congressional financial committee to get funding 4 years ahead of schedule to re-calibrate the GPS systems, remember all the funny car commercials where the GPS said turn right, and he'd drive off a bridge.. yup.. and only a few weeks after that happened was when Elon decided the SpaceX mission was a self sufficient colony on Mars within 100 years.. it's also when his "Boring Company" went into overdrive making the machines that can create a MILE of 24ft wide tunnel PER WEEK... Imagine this... He creates the tunnels that interconnect key governmental points.. establishes an electric self driving car that has a radioactive grade HEPA filter in it.. and can accept rail charging.. so that he has the only vehicles capable of traveling vast distances on their own in a tunnel that would otherwise not work if you used combustion systems.. it would require so many ventilation systems that it'd expose itself.. then he develops rockets that can land vertically in basically the same identical systems currently used to hold ICBM nuclear missiles in bunkers... so that he can create bunkers that the rocket ships can launch from and land inside.. They're gearing up brother.. they are gearing up to create an isolated government that is self sufficient underground and off planet for when the ecosystem collapses.. It's real easy to grow a ridiculous amount of food in a 24ft x 5280ft tunnel using sodium light bulbs that last forever and some fans they use in industrial chicken coupes. ~Cheers
Crazy to me that someone actually complained about yapping in a video designed around explanations of your experimentations and thought processes. I love the yapping. Thank you for yapping. I'm pretty hooked on this now.
Especially since it wouldn't make a difference. Yes, by talking you breath faster, but your body needs a certain amount of oxygen, so similarly to how after running you will increase you breathing, after talking you will decrease it for a while to save energy and end up with the same amount of oxygen consumed over a longer period of time.
@@LightPinkwhy? Yapping is pretty important because yapping is what we all do, if the algae can't handle yapping, they're not fit for humanity's survival.
google "magnetic north movement map" then realize it's going in a straight line suddenly and now moving 6 times faster since 2001... its the real reason for climate change and why governments around 2016 stopped calling its global warming... when the DOD held a meeting with a congressional financial committee to get funding 4 years ahead of schedule to re-calibrate the GPS systems, remember all the funny car commercials where the GPS said turn right, and he'd drive off a bridge.. yup.. and only a few weeks after that happened was when Elon decided the SpaceX mission was a self sufficient colony on Mars within 100 years.. it's also when his "Boring Company" went into overdrive making the machines that can create a MILE of 24ft wide tunnel PER WEEK... Imagine this... He creates the tunnels that interconnect key governmental points.. establishes an electric self driving car that has a radioactive grade HEPA filter in it.. and can accept rail charging.. so that he has the only vehicles capable of traveling vast distances on their own in a tunnel that would otherwise not work if you used combustion systems.. it would require so many ventilation systems that it'd expose itself.. then he develops rockets that can land vertically in basically the same identical systems currently used to hold ICBM nuclear missiles in bunkers... so that he can create bunkers that the rocket ships can launch from and land inside.. They're gearing up brother.. they are gearing up to create an isolated government that is self sufficient underground and off planet for when the ecosystem collapses.. It's real easy to grow a ridiculous amount of food in a 24ft x 5280ft tunnel using sodium light bulbs that last forever and some fans they use in industrial chicken coupes. ~Cheers
I cant believe the algorithm has never suggested this channel. For me, glued to my screen watching algae grow happened with Cody. I love how the science content on TH-cam is seemingly more and more endless. I hope these channels get compensated better. So much better than most traditional media...
This is my favorite video you've made. It's the culmination of years of storytelling, problem solving, curiosity and persistence- and it shows. Thanks for letting me be a part of this.
Couldn’t agree more. Started out as a simple question every kid always wondered, and slowly evolved more to use more science. In a way it shows the natural evolution of science. Which is probably pretty cool for people to see who aren’t in a stem field
the homeschooling shows in his inability to even isolate variables and instead just repeat the same experiment over and over until he gets a result he likes
Such a redundant comment. Same can be said for any video production. He also literally states around 11min mark how much thought he's put in in a sob story sorta way. Insane comment
@@shibarmyburnz1978 seems like a pretty tame comment to me. They are just sharing how it’s nearly impossible to express all of your thoughts and experiences in a single video. It’s like when you have a conversation and it’s easy to forget all the little thoughts and experiences you’ve had to influence your decisions. Let me ask you this, did you leave your comment before or after Joel liked the first one?
I know it's incredibly hard to make engaging videos out of failures, but it's so incredibly important to talk about them. People do it way too little despite the widely accepted statement that failures are the best way to learn.
@@lewiswood1693 Electro-chemical, CO2 is removed with disposable Litiumhy droxide canisters that are dumped in the trash and burned up with re-entry. Oxygen is provided by a machine that use electrolysis to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. This machine can be reversed for emergency water. New resupply missions bring in fresh co2 canisters, and all this is supplemented with O2 and N2 tanks (Leakage is a thing on the ISS). It's a rabbit hole, but a electro-chemical mechanical miracle of a rabbit hole.
Man, what an incredible journey! The amount of dedication, problem-solving, and persistence you put into this experiment is mind-blowing. Watching you navigate the complexities of algae, from managing pH levels to fighting off culture crashes, has been fascinating. It’s a huge testament to how unpredictable and tough real science can be, but also how rewarding it is to see those moments of success-even if they come with setbacks. The 7-hour record is seriously impressive, and the way you explain everything makes it super engaging and educational. Plus, your humor and reflections make the whole thing relatable, even as you're dealing with green goo and tiny spiders. Keep pushing those boundaries! Looking forward to whatever madness you tackle next!
I used to work for an aquaculture company where we worked with brine shrimp, and was experimenting by using microalgae in a separate tank to the shrimp tank to stabilise oxygen levels in the system and provide an additional food source if needed. After months of testing we found pretty much the same here, chlorella, spirulina, whatever it is, at really large volumes makes it a very fragile system to maintain, the smallest change in water chemistry, one unsanitized instrument used, whatever it was would cause a collapse eventually. Honest props to those that keep large algal cultures alive and running, it's such a difficult job and the techs running those operations need serious kudos
@@bartmannn6717 Not even just us. If these algae are as sensitive as this implies, then just a deer taking a shit in a pond would be like a nuclear blast for them. Frankly it seems so absurd that these algae can't survive near-pristine conditions in a basement but can survive a massively chaotic natural lake that I have trouble believing that it's the whole story.
To be fair I think it's because people on a learning curve will be shocked by the apparent fragility of large bio-systems but once you know what you're doing, the systems can be ridiculously robust (by comparison to what will be experienced by someone on a learning curve). I've worked with different and similar biocircularisation systems as part of my regenerative resource initiative. I've pushed everything to its limits and then pushed that and really played around with it. But I say that because I know what is going on with them, so I will think I'm pushing it if I let a relatively big pH swing occur, or a relatively sudden temperature fluctuation. But things that normal people would think are normal swings in these things would make me wince.
When you pulled out your lunch at 37:44, I instinctively skipped the next 30 seconds thinking it was a sponsored ad for one of those "meal ready to eat" companies. Then realized it was just a regular sandwich and went back
They play the same ads for every ad break so we install ad blockers. Then they have the same ad read baked into every video, now we're instinctually skipping the very content they're trying to make us watch..... I wonder if advertisers will figure out that beating us over the head with the same sales pitch over and over doesnt work.....
this series has been amazing. from the very detailed research and implementation, to the editing and storytelling, absolutely incredible content. and your speech at 16:17 was so insightful, many people would benefit from listening to it. bravo!
As an engineer that works in life sciences I personally am impressed by the thought you put into your processes. I am not going to criticize any of your test method because you truly tried to include every variable you could. I would call it a job well done.
If you havent yet, I would consider monitoring “carbon” as a thought experiment. A human is going to put out roughly 50 grams of carbon an hour. You need your bioreactor to be able to absorb 50 grams and turn it into biomass at that same rate to be at equilibrium. What may be happening is that there is not enough biomass being removed from your tanks so that there is more room for growth (which is literally conversion of gaseous carbon to solid form). If you can create a device that removes roughly 100 g of biomass (dryweight equivalent) per hour, and it contains that mass so the trapped algae cannot respirate, you should be able to find the right balance. Another useful measure of this could use spectroscopy. Shine a light through specific for measuring green absorption. If absorption starts rising for green wavelengths, increase rate of algae filtering/removal. If absorption decreases, decrease rate of removal and introduce additional nutrients for faster growth.
I found 'Microalgae possess the remarkable potential to sequester and convert 513 tons of CO2 into 280 tons of dry biomass per hectare per year.' a hectare is 10000 square meters and sunlight is 1kW per square meter. LEDs are 20% efficient converting electricity to light. Humans burn mass at 200 watts. so you need 1kw of electric power to the LEDs if the algae is 100% efficient. if algae is 1% efficient then need 100kW of power ro LEDs.
yeah i think a sufficient system would be more complicated than just tanks, it would need to be able to do some of that manual maintenance automatically. maybe there’s a way to get sufficient surface area which also allows for them to settle at some slow rate, so that they can be sucked out of the bottom occasionally, with some fraction redirected back to the top of the water level.
or maybe each tank could automatically remove most of the algae, after which a fraction of another tank is pumped into it, and then another is automatically cleaned. might require many small tanks idk
Cool to see that the algae is having an effect! Bummer it isn't enough to sustain a person at that scale yet but still a win! Some ideas; what if you had algae panels on your "space ship", just like solar panels. As in, if you set up your algae in such a way that it can exist outside, or on your roof, or somewhere you have more space, but have the air system be closed circuit. So only air from your sealed room gets in, and any air that comes out is redirected back into the room. Then you could have sufficient biomass. Also, you may want to look into a continues feed/drain. Then you can start with a MUCH higher level of algae per liter. Then you can be constantly slowly adding in fresh media, and removing a set amount of algae sludge per hour. That way you can maximize the living biomass/L and increase CO2 capture. Another idea is to maybe separate the co2 from the air before pumping it into the algae. Something like pressure swing absorption. Then 100% of the gas the algae get is co2. would make it more efficient because you're not dissolving a ton of nitrogen and oxygen into the water.
Nice to hear from you, love the ideas! The panels would be really cool, my primary concern would be finding an existing container that could be repurposed and would also be cost effective. I probably won't find anything as cheap as $8 for 55 gallons of leak-free capacity, but I'd definitely be interested if I found the right materials/containers. A continuous system would be dope...automation in general would be great, though I'd need to find out what kind of sensors I can source and if I can actively monitor the relevant metrics without breaking the bank. I hadn't considered the effect of oxygen and nitrogen dissolution. Have you ever done anything with pressure swing adsorption/ know how difficult or expensive a setup that can handle my volume of breath might be?
@@JoelCreatescody’slab did a video on a (nearly) closed loop algae panel system. he used old plastic drink bottles + sealant for the main panel and some cheap tubing for the runs back to the sump/pump.
@@JoelCreates for monitoring you can make a very simple spectrometer. Just an led and a photodiode set 1cm apart. You can measure the density of the biomass by how much it dims the light and then pick a set point to start removing media and adding fresh. Pressure swing absorption is super easy. Its just a compressor, some electronic valves, and two containers of zeolite powder. They use it for making pure oxygen for medicine and glass blowing amongst other things. But can be used to isolate various gases by choosing the right zeolite and whete you vent the seperate gasses
AMAZING JOB! The video, the experience, your personality, the research, everything incredible! Every big breakthrough starts with a person and a ideia. Don't let bad and idiotic people, bad results or shits of life make you give up. Every experience, good or bad, is USEFUL! Bravo for not stoping! CARRY ON BOI!
Except in the cases where they busted a strawman myth, picking the most inane version of it. But then the show was still more entertainment and it succeeded in that, wouldn't exactly take one groups attempts at something as a definitive answer even if it is strongly indicative.
If the car-stopping test had used twisted tape like the suspension bridge test, instead of flat layers which can tear along their bias, it would have worked.
They failed in recreating that Carlos halfcock sniper scope shot because they knew less than nothing about firearms. Other TH-camrs like fat electrician recreated it on the first try.
i loved mythbusters, but they never tried that hard to prove the myth, they tried maybe one or two variations of it at best and declared it busted, but thats the name of the show isnt it? if they tried hard to prove a myth they would have to be called mythprovers
Beer-Lambert is kicking your ass. Especially when the cultures are dense a significant volume is too dark to properly photosynthesize. Thin sheets might do you better, since you have more surface area for both light and gas exchange (you also need to get the oxygen out of the water). Another interesting thing to experiment with, if you keep this series going, is mixed cultures. It is possible with a combination of work and luck to grow a mixture of algae and bacteria that is more stable than algae alone. Effectively a suitable bacteria will eat the waste products, excrete compounds that the algae eat, and still keeping CO2 under control. Congrats on making a human too!
To be fair, there is at least one channel about closed cultures, like the guy put some algae and animals into a glass tile, sealed it and the animals are still there living
Seeing Tierzoos face for the first time in this video is the most surprising thing I've experienced in the last 2 weeks. Genuinely made my jaw drop, I've been watching him for over 5 years and just assumed he kept his identity super tight.
I make a lot of plant content and its insane how many people still spew the myths that plants are some kind of magic at home air purifier Thanks for growing barrels of algae for us
@@JoelCreates Well one way to think of it, is that the amount of plants you need to provide enough oxygen and co2 removal, is related to the amount you would need to feed you. This isn't exact, as different things will act like sinks or release stored amounts overtime, and you aren't the only one eating the algae or using up oxygen/producing co2. But as an overall average, it works as a rule of thumb. Almost all sources of calories on Earth comes from photosynthesizers at the start. The chemical equations to produce those calories, and the chemical equations to breakdown those calories are balanced. The oxygen needed to breakdown a sugar molecule, is the amount produced in the formation of that sugar molecule. The co2 and water used to produced a sugar molecule, are what you end up with when you breakdown a sugar molecule. If you have enough plants to feed yourself in a close system; they are likely producing more than enough oxygen and removing enough co2 to keep you going, on average. Different sinks of carbon are important to track. As they can cause unexpected rises and falls in co2 and oxygen. As the algae grow in number, they act as a carbon sink, absorbing more than normal, and producing more oxygen than normal. Once they plateau, that elevated rate stops. And if they start dying, it reverses; they start using up oxygen and releasing co2. In nature this can cause deoxygenation events, since the oxygen the algae originally produced left the water a long while ago, so now decomposition is using up more oxygen than what is locally available in the water, causing problems for aquatic life.
This was a brilliant video. I just watched both of them back to back. You have helped me, buy less plants XD but also attempted to answer a burning question for me. I will need to go and digest it all. This has been a great experiment to your detriment but also entertaining and well articulated and structed. Very much appreciated. Thank you for revealing your more vulnerable side, it was unexpected but allowed me to appreciate more the work and effort you had put into making this experiment work. Your friends are awesome for supporting and damn Quincy can floss! Congratulations on the baby! XD
Would it make sense to seal the bioreactors, move them outside of the test room, and run two big tubes (one out and one in) to the bioreactors? Among the advantages would be you would be dumping far less heat into the test room. Individual ports would allow a beneficial single point measurement of O2 and CO2.
The quality and rigor of this project and specifically this video is a step above your usual great work. I've been waiting for this update for a while!
the homeschooling shows in his inability to even isolate variables and instead just repeat the same experiment over and over until he gets a result he likes
Not exactly. There's also those who grow mushrooms in a sealed room in their basement. (they also need to be very sterile at first, to avoid bad mold growing)
Nah, like the other guy said you can grow mushrooms, weed, or just have a garden in your basement. I'm that weird guy offering fresh beans and peas in the middle of winter
Insane. This experiment just gets better and better. I think both part 1 and 2 are successes. Part 1 demonstrated that it is possible to reduce the CO2 with plant matter. Part 2 showed the limitations of algae and probably the upper limit of what can be achieved with such a limited setup. If you ever make a part 3 and scale it up, I hope that you can get as many other big names to support you and finally lay the question to rest.
...BUT STILL.....HOW SO MANY BREATHING CREATURES ARE AROUND,THO... ....MAYBE STILL....WRONG DIRECTION,THO ...WHAT I'M PROPOSING,THO.........START ATTEMPTS WITH photosynthesising bacteria ,BECAUSE THEY'RE ACTUALLY THE THINGS THAT PRODUCE OXYGEN....AND CAPTURE MAJOR PART OF CO2 ......JUST IMAGINE THE DUDE IS TRYING TO REPLICATE LIFE ON EARTH......BUT MISSES KEY FACTOR ABOUT PLANTS DO CAPTURE SOME OF CO2 ONLY WHEN THEY REST AND IT'S DARK AND THEY ACTUALLY consume OXYGEN THEYVE EXCRETED DURING DAY
I guess there is a reason why we are not using algae to keep astronauts alive in space ships. I knew they were high maintenance, but I had no idea they were so fickle. though I would love to see how far do you need to go to keep someone alive for days with algae alone.
@@danilooliveira6580 infinite amount of time. The problem is not whether it's possible or not. The problem is keeping the perfect balance of making it self sustaining with the perfect condition for it to grow and thrive and later get decomposed into other components. It's the idea of how fragile our ecology is and how everything is in a perfect balance in nature. And that when we destroy that perfect balance, and tip the scale... it would make it a runaway effect that would not be easy to stop... But when everything is in a perfect balance then you would be able to go on for infinite amount of time.
I love your tenacity and energy. I'm a homeless man with depression and anxiety and can only manage one or two positive actions a day. Basic things like exercise or buying water ect. Mostly fear stops me. Looking for work or actually bettering my life takes every two to four days. You're awesome, because unlike me, you only see set backs as something to solve. I on the other hand get more afraid. You're doing a great job of entertaining and educating the world of youtube. Be blessed and keep on doing you. You are exceptional. ✌️
I was surprised to hear the number 19.5% for your lower limit O2. I was a submarine officer and I spent about 5 months of a 6 month deployment at about 18% oxygen. On subs they keep the oxygen low...for fire suppression purposes primarily. Some think it's to keep the load on the oxygen generator lower, but once the consumption plateaus, the load on the O2 generator is the same no matter the baseline level. If you do future content may be worth trying to talk to a submariner, particularly a doc or someone from the Washington office which may have a subject matter expert. Could also try talking to a NASA rep since I bet they keep the oxygen level lower for similar fire suppression reasons. Love the content!
Decreasing O2 levels and increasing CO2 levels probably both have a (cumulative) effect on the consciousness of a human. And they probably need to be considered together. I wouldn't be surprised if they can only reach 18% oxygen in a submarine by keeping the CO2 way below 10000ppmor, probably even below 5000ppm. It might even make sense to _increase_ the amount of oxygen in the chamber before the test, if that allows you to also go to something like 20000ppm CO2. Because those CO2 levels could then allow the algae to produce oxygen twice as well. That is, if the added toxicity of the oxygen on the algae doesn't nullify the improvement from the increased CO2 levels.
@@jypsridic The ISS is pressurized with normal air composition (21% oxygen) at near atmospheric pressure. This is for fire safety; pure oxygen at 0.21 atm is still much more hazardous than regular air, due to the lack of inert nitrogen which robs the fire of heat. However, the space suits the astronauts use are pressurized to a few psi of pure oxygen. Before switching to them, astronauts must spend several hours breathing pure oxygen to avoid decompression sickness (much like scuba divers returning from long, deep dives)
Super interesting experiment. I think it was a success for science! I wonder if we'll get an improved version someday, but for now, thank you for all the efforts that went into this experiment! Well done!
Nobody is going to colonize Mars, humans can't live there for multiple reasons, mostly the different gravity. We can't acclimate. Until a TH-camr creates artificial gravity, then forget it.
Then they'll realize they're trapped there and their only way to survive is to assemble iPhones for their Earth masters 18 hours a day in exchange for food and supplies.
Even billionaire won't be going to Mars, only people that have no genetic conditions will survive the time in space without developing any cancer and dying in space as cancer grows 10 to 20 times faster in space then on earth
I don't know if this was the intended vibe, but your cutaway explanatory portions in the video feels a la 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' show - exceptional production, appropriate pacing and a perfectly digestible amount of info. Holy hell, man, I hope you looked at this one and were proud, I fail to articulate appropriately the talent you've honed into skill here. 🎉
“As long as you’re not doing something because of your fear of the possible consequence, then you are living as if that consequence is reality” Well damn Joel I want that on a poster
Wine makers fermenting containers help remove bio mass easily. It’s basically a cone shaped large plastic drum. It has a wall mounted bracket so the point of the cone is off the ground. To remove bio mass you simply open the big ball valve at the bottom of the container.
23:09 and I suddenly realize something, Joel, YOUR BREATH COULD BE INFECTING THE ALGAE! Seriously, the moisture of the human body as it exhales can easily be a disease vector. I bet that the tests could become more effective if you apply a filter to the air intake
@@JoelCreates Why are you not controlling algae concentration in the bioreactors? This is the variable that is making your colonies unreliable. You need to remove algae (easiest by dilution) on an automated schedule if you want to keep them in a somewhat homeostatic environment. The respiratory biochemistry changes with concentration. It honestly feels like you are leaving this variable uncontrolled to stretch out the series.
I too had a very self reflecting moment and considered how I sometimes take shortcuts or try not to suffer for a project. Suffering isn’t the worst outcome .
Self awareness is a very useful trait. Everyone wants to feel smart sexy cool and invincible, truth is we are people, and the more we tap into who we really are, as our best and most self aware self, I think we actually become much better people overall, by admitting we screw up sometimes!
Fear is not to be conquered, without fear we would blindly leap into the volcano. While it can be a bad idea to let fear drive all the time, it still has some impactful things to say. Fear keeps up alert, it helps us prepare, to plan, even to act. Controlling the effect of fear so that rationality, knowledge, experience, and wisdom can get a word in edgewise....now THAT is a goal more people should work towards. But never ignore fear entirely. I mean, unless you want to count your winnings walking through compton at 3AM believing everyone is a decent person who will respect your personal space, or that simply saying "No" has any power in deflecting an attacker intent on doing you harm.......
@@angelo3926 I used to purposefully experience physical discomfort for the express purpose of acclimatizing myself to it (ive been able to induce cramps in my calves and back from a very young age, its helped me stave off real cramps by recognizing the onset and out maneuvering them in a way. Hasnt always worked, but has enough times Id advocate for others exploring themselves to such an end). Mild discomforts others seem to take issue with, while I notice them dont bother me, its just a part of life, it aint all cotton candy clouds yall...(particularly modern youths who think they have a sensitivity and freak-out just because they notice something....yes I know its a real thing, I also know for a fact many of these people are appropriating the symptoms for their 'im special, im broken' merit badge and as a sufferer of mental issues it offends me deeply when its worn as a damn status symbol for hipsters. Start calling it out so your friends stop that shit, or get over the fact that it actively offends the actual SUFFERERS of the afflictions yall think its funny to play with). Ive applied the same concept to other areas of life, and Im not saying it will make you superman or anything.....but the level to which I apparently can shift to skipping the panic or surprise phase of something really seems to throw my friends for a loop. Of course they usually dont see afterwards when i finally lay down and shake myself to sleep so.......
Without fear, there would be no courage. Without courage, humanity would have fallen to the wolves long ago. It's that determination to stand in the face of a snarling beast, and take a step forward with a snarling of your own that has defined us as a species for milennia. The forest may have thinned and the wolves may be little more than a myth now, the determination remains, buried under the burdens of history, and the loss of close ties.
I was yelling with you when you spilled the spirulina. That was so frustrating. I think you're a great example of what TH-cam should be. You're one guy doing a project in your basement and you're showing your friends and getting their thoughts. You're not a corporation trying to manipulate children. Thank you so much for the all work you put into these two great videos.
my suggestion: snails if there are snails present in the tanks, perhaps they could eat the dead biomass. then, their waste would recycle nutrients back into the water to be used by the algae. look into aquaponics. there might be something useful for this project
They will clean the water but also consume the oxygen you're trying to generate. Something like this may be necessary for a long term test, but the system should work for at least a day without snails if it's going to work at all.
That's a fun idea, and I get where you're coming from, but you have to think about the whole carbon cycle. The CO2 being removed from the air is being sequestered as algae biomass. If snails ate and digested the algae biomass, their breathing would reemit all of the CO2 that had been removed from the air. That's exactly how the carbon cycle works on the huge scale of the Earth: plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and animals, bacteria, and fungus digest those plants and put all the CO2 back in the air.
I think the last video was your most commented ever. It must be great to have a project you put so much time in and care so much about do so well. I've heard so many stories if youtubers who put it so much effort, and then get very few views, and the projects they do quickly going viral, to their frustration. Here, though, passion really being rewarded..
The amount of effort and commitment to all of this. Not just this video but the entire journey of the 1st video as well. This is a huge undertaking. So many complexities & everything takes so much time to find any answers. So awesome to see Plasma channel 🤘🏻
Hey! I'm glad you had that final success towards the end. I just wanted to bring up something that you might already know: almost all plant and fungal species acquire their mass through CO2 absorbed from the air, not from the soil or water. So when you begin your test at an "undersaturated" state, what you're really doing is promoting population growth, which sequesters CO2 directly from the air and forms your biomass, thus reducing CO2. Plainly said, mass of carbon (CO2) into the tanks = mass out (CO2) + accumulation (biomass). You want to minimize mass out and maximize accumulation. Ideally, what you would do is form a pipeline to remove biomass so that your algae population never reaches a saturation state where it begins to slow population growth while maintaining nutrient levels so that other biological processes or chemical elements are not limited (such as nitrogen or oxygen).
He needs to get a biomass increase of 1 kg per day to fully absorb the co2 He produces Bio available nitrogen might be the limiting factor for growth, and would have to be monitored closely
just a Fermi estimate to reach steady state in energy, which should mean steady state in C02: 100W for human baseline metabolism + minor activity by far the highest photosynthetic efficiency are found in cyanobacteria with about 10%. So at least 1000W of visible light needed. Great LED efficiency is 50%, which brings the needed LEDs power to 2000W, which is 5 times on what you used. Anything lower, and CO2 is almost guaranteed to grow, but 2000W is probably still a low estimate, because it e.g. assume optimal algae growth, and no light lost outside of the algae.
I don't mean to be sappy, I normally hate sap, but I just gotta say that inspirational stuff about trying things despite your fears actually hit me deep. Failure itself is just a concept, but regardless of how you look at it, if you live without trying you are living as if you had failed; undisputed. It's true. Man that really hits home with me, thank you!
if you find a sap unpalatable, you can always concentrate it into syrup. it’ll end up sweeter, but if the issue is bitter flavors then those will be concentrated as well. hope this helps
There's always going to be an army of keyboard warriors of all shapes and variations of lacking brain cells. Your work is greatly appreciated and I'm always excited to see your unique take on everything. I've been a couple different flavors of engineer for about 2 decades and I'd rather listen to you than some of the guys I've got to work with everyday. Keep up the incredible work man.
As a homebrewer, I HATE pH meters and strips. One is unreliable, the other imprecise. And additionally, the digital ones just die over time, the probe wears out or something.
I just don't even bother measuring pH. I measure temp and specific gravity and that's it. I've never had any issues as long as I keep temperature steady, but then I only make cider and mead. I guess it's more important for beer, but beer seems more complicated anyway.
I do a lot of hydroponics and it is just cheaper and easier to throw out the medium every week than spend all the hours managing total dissolved solids PH balances hardness. ect. ect.
It’s usually possible to recover them by dipping the probe into conc HCl. It strips off any organic crap stuck on them, and it seems to recalibrate them somehow. Maybe conc alkali solution might work too, but HCl has always done the job for me, so…
hey joel. you are letting the algae sit in ambient. they are growing to acomedate normal levels of co2, then you are introducing a high amount hoping the efficiency increases to counter your breath. i think the better option is to feed co2 prior to testing to get algae to aclimate and increase in capacity, then replace the co2 source with yourself.
That's what I was looking for. That had to be the most low key pregnancy announcement I've ever heard. Concratualtions Joel. You're about to experience a new level of tired.
Man, your dedication is stunning. I often find myself in wild daydreams about things I'd like to try out and I can never make them reality. Your work is really impressive. Thanks for kicking butt!
I just want to say . . . The production quality of this is amazing. The commentary, the cuts to the commentary, the music, the script. It reminds me of watching a show on Discovery, Nat Geo or the like.
You should try selectively breeding your algae. You have 4 tanks, create a starter culture from the best tank and eventually super algae. I did this with Yeast and created stuff that could survive like 25% alcohol, Sodium Benzoate and furthermore it it took about a day and a half to ferment. It only took m e like 2 weeks to create this but unfortunately it exploded because I accidently sealed it thinking, Na.... Wont produce that much gas overnight. I was wrong.
I appreciate the level of dedication to this project. I would have quit a long time ago, but I'm also dealing with life and work stresses so that wouldn't help. Great video. Thanks! Also... f those negative comments. ❤ Love yah, bro!
One test you could try is growing a batch of algae fresh from near nothing directly in one of the large tanks filled to the top with water. Then have the room seal and record the rate of change in the CO2. This way you can compare an identify at what "phase" of the algae's growth cycle it is operating most efficiently.
Hey Joel! Loved this video and have often had the same idea! Dont give up! Think this sort of thing is a great excercise and something that could be useful! Current thoughts and theories following this video (other comment mentioned 'wasting' and tend to agree): consider the following. 1. Install small condensate pump or some such at the bottom of the barrel, set to remove maybe 1 gallon per hour. These are common on things like HVAC units and dont cost a lot. Elevate the drums slightly and run plastic tubing from below barrels to above. 2. Discharge pumped algae material into a filtration system (carbon/cycled media from fish tanks might be best. Could use small canister filter with physical filtration to remove some of the algae, carbon/bacteria to remove waste products like ammonia). 3. Overflow into barrels. Think this would smooth out your upward trend and prolong the experiment. Seriously itching to play with something like this personally! Best of luck!
15:34 I completely disagree with this take. When it comes to science any outcome is interesting. that's because you're venturing in territory that hasn't been deeply explored before. yeah maybe a lot of people here would prefer a better ending, but those are people who have an attention span of 5 seconds. if the experiment is successful or failed, both outcomes will be very interesting and cool
This video is great, and I've loved the series! It's also one of the most inspiring videos, as in "hey, I could do cool things and make videos". Amazing work, thank you!
3:39 Please *BE CAREFUL* that you don't accidentally lock yourself in the Biomass Chamber and transform into SWAP THING! _Even though that would be a cool video_
I bet the algae in the last test consumed so much CO2 specifically because the tanks were almost empty, so they had a ton of room to just keep growing, and using up CO2 in the process of growing. Maybe constantly remocing algae to keep the population low will keep it in that state?
Alright so I had basically typed this up before and stopped as you hit your realization that something was off and wanted to see if you were able to correct it but since I didn't hear it addressed directly figured I'd throw my two pennies in the mix. But first since this is going to be a long long long comment for most people I'll say this for those who have a TL;DR need. Joel you did great, don't beat yourself up and think of this as a win/success. The system you are trying to create might as well be a separate "world" for the level of complexity at hand since you are trying to essentially give yourself a self sufficient living space. Thank you for the video and the inspiration you gave to those who saw this and decided to try more science in their lives as well. 1. Typical aftershave contains ingredients known as isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) or ethyl alcohol that are similar to what's used in hand sanitizer or household cleaners like rubbing alcohol. These ingredients kill bacteria or toxins on your face after a shave. While you mentioned putting it on the night before I did notice in the follow up test where you had better results you went "natural" shall we say? So I hope that is one variable taken down for any would be followers on this experiment, while I cannot say it was the cause and effect it's something that technically could be a HUGE variable for those just doing a daily routine prior to carrying out something similar to this. 2. Sorry to hear about your starter on the second algae variant I would have loved to see how it did by comparison but yeah as it has been stated these should be viewed as small worlds rather than "a jug of green." The level of complexity you (those who are interested in this endeavor) need to comprehend is almost baffling if you've never stopped to think about the scale. You need to create and manage a whole ecosystem, the food of the algae, the PH of the water and the oxygen of the human in the experiment is just the beginning. As stated anything tipping the scale could be terrible. If you are going to ever attempt this experiment you NEED to document EVERYTHING. Sorry for the caps but I literally cannot stress enough how difficult this is to get right and understand why it went better once vs another time. Because your body has it's own waste those can also affect the system. Technically just having a toilet in the equation adds another as when you flush you are technically cycling in air from out of the system. Your meals need to be accounted for, not just because what you bring into the system can change the air's acidity or steal some of the byproduct from you and the algae but also what you've been eating prior to the experiment to include sauces spices etc as all of the components will have an effect on the body which will therefore have an effect on the environment. Your clothing could also introduce variables in that static build-up could jolt equipment into failing etc. Movement can hasten the CO2 buildup as well as the aforementioned "yapping" (I don't think it was meant to be an insult on what you do for a living but you did get quite a few toxic comments, all I can say to add to it is that you "could have" done the talking later as a voice over while using a pen/pencil and paper in the system to essentially give your moment to moment reactions). Bonus potential variable: Take it with a huge grain of boulderous salt...but there was a study by Dr Masaru Emoto, "the molecular structure of water is influenced by the words and feelings that are directed towards it. In his studies, Emoto found that water exposed to positive words and intentions formed beautiful, symmetrical crystalline structures when the water was frozen, while water exposed to negative words and intentions formed disorganized, asymmetrical structures." While that snippet isn't 1 to 1 for this experiment in the actual document they talked about how "thinking toxic things 'at' the water" it would essentially lead to water that was overall more acidic and other results that were scientifically measured. I haven't looked at it in almost five years if I'm remembering correctly (gee I wonder what was happening at the time to give me such a specific yet general time "landmark"). But theoretically IF TRUE this means just being in a foul mood and/or being agitated at the algae, water, situation could make the results skew. The test also showed that the same yet opposite was true in that good thoughts would lead to "better" water for lack of concise verbiage. So you could also technically skew the results the other way as well. So if you wanted to truly do a full test on this unfortunately you need to have someone purely impartial and technically unaware (see blind scientific studies for guidelines on the general concept) while likely ALSO having a proctor/observer who's only job is to open the door, "if something goes wrong" without explaining what the situation is in the room (again see the guidelines for a dual blind study in this case). As for the one manufacturing (for lack of a better term given the nature of the experiment), you will need to be able to remain neutral the whole time you are setting up this experiment and document any and all cross contaminants in order to try and pin down what variables could be at play. For examples from this video: when you sprayed down everything did you use tap water in your pressure washer, was the bin everything was in contaminated by other chemicals previously, when the jugs were "open" to outside air what was that like (inside, outside, controlled air from pressurized tanks and if so what was the mixture) and did you use containers that were new or already used? In both cases you will likely need to account for any potential coatings on the inside as many companies will treat their containers depending on what is supposed to go on them. So for instance a fuel jug would have contaminants from the fuel as well as might have treated plastic/metal to prevent the fuel from spoiling or leeching and both will have to be removed which might take different steps depending on the chemicals at hand so that you can account specifically for the container's composition with how well your algae mixture is doing. ---- Clearly I could go on and on and on for those who aren't aware of how complex this seemingly simple test was. So again all I'll leave it on is you did a great job and even if you didn't get the results you wanted and even if you tried to control for the perceived failures of the first test Joel I think you should mark this down as a win for all the people you got to think about something this abstract yet practical given the scientific goals many people especially in the west have for the future while also lacking the patience or understanding of the undertaking of the endeavors at hand. Nothing is ever perfect all we can do is try our hardest to account for everything double check our work and hope for the best.
I love these videos they teach - smart- people more about nature, don’t listen to the hate, they could literally just look at some other video instead of ranting about something they know nothing about. ❤
Before I watch, Just wanted to say I watched part one a few months ago at like 1 am while in the middle of a 20 day work week. I have been checking in periodically for part 2. What a treat to see it show up on my feed!!! Thanks!!!
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to run these experiments and share all you've learned. It's a fascinating topic! Ignore the detractors and know that there are many more of us who want to see you succeed.
I appreciate this series because I made a tiny soundproof home office a few years ago. It took me a while to realize that is mostly air tight too. It get hey up to 10,000 ppm in one day of work, so I've thought about getting some plants so I don't have to open the window
![[Full] 4 ต่อ 4 Celebrity EP.920 | 3 พ.ย. 67 | one31](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KwiW2M_kAg4/mqdefault.jpg)
Part 1: th-cam.com/video/xWRkzvcb9FQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=8WdtIV_W5V4z1Hts
Thank you, for making these 2 video's!
I don't if you read comments but I know what your problem is with the algae. You algae is in a closed system with a maximum amount of carbon that can be captured. When that limit is reached it goes into state of equilibrium where the bacterial in the algae eat and release the carbon as fast as it is captured by the algae. In order to remove the carbon, you need to remove a certain percentage to of the algae from the system as it is running. By filtering the algae water and drying the removed algae you can sequester the carbon out the room. Hope that helps. Cheers.
Need a part 3 this is too cool to quit, you're a youtuber doing NASA's work for them, great content
I WAS WAITING FOR THIS
This experiment is legendary
You'll probably not see my comment but I have 20 years of experience in bioreactors. To solve your problem with 100hp on Wednesday, and 75hp on Thursday, you need to "waste". It's an actual term, and what you do is actually remove x amount each day. You'll need to find the right amount "x" to remove to keep your mg/l of algea optimum for most hp.
Doing this will make 300hp, and probably with less tank's too.
Cheers! Love your project.
commenting to bump your useful-to-OP input!
I noticed this as well and he should have too. Especially when he got good results at the earliest start and poor later.
The water just simply had too many organisms. I don't know if he did, but probably should have gone in the opposite direction.
Dont let them get more populis, drain the population more and see when it fails
Top comment
You're spot on!
yes
Those Darn spiders were taking all the air lol.
And the rising parts per million was caused by the many, many children the spiders had.
google "magnetic north movement map" then realize it's going in a straight line suddenly and now moving 6 times faster since 2001... its the real reason for climate change and why governments around 2016 stopped calling its global warming... when the DOD held a meeting with a congressional financial committee to get funding 4 years ahead of schedule to re-calibrate the GPS systems, remember all the funny car commercials where the GPS said turn right, and he'd drive off a bridge.. yup.. and only a few weeks after that happened was when Elon decided the SpaceX mission was a self sufficient colony on Mars within 100 years.. it's also when his "Boring Company" went into overdrive making the machines that can create a MILE of 24ft wide tunnel PER WEEK... Imagine this... He creates the tunnels that interconnect key governmental points.. establishes an electric self driving car that has a radioactive grade HEPA filter in it.. and can accept rail charging.. so that he has the only vehicles capable of traveling vast distances on their own in a tunnel that would otherwise not work if you used combustion systems.. it would require so many ventilation systems that it'd expose itself.. then he develops rockets that can land vertically in basically the same identical systems currently used to hold ICBM nuclear missiles in bunkers... so that he can create bunkers that the rocket ships can launch from and land inside.. They're gearing up brother.. they are gearing up to create an isolated government that is self sufficient underground and off planet for when the ecosystem collapses.. It's real easy to grow a ridiculous amount of food in a 24ft x 5280ft tunnel using sodium light bulbs that last forever and some fans they use in industrial chicken coupes. ~Cheers
Not to mention the sex they had making even more CO2!
bro was probably working just to keep those spiders alive and didn't notice, incredible feat fr
@@ImCxoi and sex, spider sex.
I'll never forget the experience inside that room. Smelled refreshing and humid, until the Xenomorph showed up and threw a face hugger at me.
So did you get an egg layed in you?
Love your channel and it's so cool to see you guys working together
my brain saw this and immediately went to SS13 but then i realized xenomorphs arent just an ss13 thing
Dry air is 21 percent oxygen, 78 percent nitrogen and 1 percent other gases.
As a gas, oxygen is clear. But as a liquid, it's pale blue.
New origin story: facehuggers were once algae xD
Crazy to me that someone actually complained about yapping in a video designed around explanations of your experimentations and thought processes. I love the yapping. Thank you for yapping. I'm pretty hooked on this now.
Especially since it wouldn't make a difference.
Yes, by talking you breath faster, but your body needs a certain amount of oxygen, so similarly to how after running you will increase you breathing, after talking you will decrease it for a while to save energy and end up with the same amount of oxygen consumed over a longer period of time.
It's the internet. There is no end to what some random individual will find to complain about.
He could have done the talking in voice over
Wherefor come illiterate if not the intellectual delays of stalling for more time...
@@LightPinkwhy? Yapping is pretty important because yapping is what we all do, if the algae can't handle yapping, they're not fit for humanity's survival.
I didn’t know that 2024 was the year I’d literally watch algae grow and be GLUED to my screen. Killer video Joel!
Oh sick! Love your videos as well Weisz!
google "magnetic north movement map" then realize it's going in a straight line suddenly and now moving 6 times faster since 2001... its the real reason for climate change and why governments around 2016 stopped calling its global warming... when the DOD held a meeting with a congressional financial committee to get funding 4 years ahead of schedule to re-calibrate the GPS systems, remember all the funny car commercials where the GPS said turn right, and he'd drive off a bridge.. yup.. and only a few weeks after that happened was when Elon decided the SpaceX mission was a self sufficient colony on Mars within 100 years.. it's also when his "Boring Company" went into overdrive making the machines that can create a MILE of 24ft wide tunnel PER WEEK... Imagine this... He creates the tunnels that interconnect key governmental points.. establishes an electric self driving car that has a radioactive grade HEPA filter in it.. and can accept rail charging.. so that he has the only vehicles capable of traveling vast distances on their own in a tunnel that would otherwise not work if you used combustion systems.. it would require so many ventilation systems that it'd expose itself.. then he develops rockets that can land vertically in basically the same identical systems currently used to hold ICBM nuclear missiles in bunkers... so that he can create bunkers that the rocket ships can launch from and land inside.. They're gearing up brother.. they are gearing up to create an isolated government that is self sufficient underground and off planet for when the ecosystem collapses.. It's real easy to grow a ridiculous amount of food in a 24ft x 5280ft tunnel using sodium light bulbs that last forever and some fans they use in industrial chicken coupes. ~Cheers
😂 same
I cant believe the algorithm has never suggested this channel. For me, glued to my screen watching algae grow happened with Cody. I love how the science content on TH-cam is seemingly more and more endless. I hope these channels get compensated better. So much better than most traditional media...
Wait for the zombies of '25
This is my favorite video you've made. It's the culmination of years of storytelling, problem solving, curiosity and persistence- and it shows. Thanks for letting me be a part of this.
what's up COB GOBLINS!
Bro the length of time you flossed was genuinely hilarious with the timelapse footage.
Couldn’t agree more. Started out as a simple question every kid always wondered, and slowly evolved more to use more science.
In a way it shows the natural evolution of science. Which is probably pretty cool for people to see who aren’t in a stem field
You took the words right out of my mouth
the homeschooling shows in his inability to even isolate variables and instead just repeat the same experiment over and over until he gets a result he likes
I resonated with the comment section read. For every minute of footage you show, there's hours of thought process the audience has no idea about.
Such a redundant comment. Same can be said for any video production. He also literally states around 11min mark how much thought he's put in in a sob story sorta way.
Insane comment
@@shibarmyburnz1978 seems like a pretty tame comment to me. They are just sharing how it’s nearly impossible to express all of your thoughts and experiences in a single video. It’s like when you have a conversation and it’s easy to forget all the little thoughts and experiences you’ve had to influence your decisions.
Let me ask you this, did you leave your comment before or after Joel liked the first one?
@@shibarmyburnz1978 I'd say the comments fairly sane, I don't see the big deal
@@shibarmyburnz1978 "Such a redundant comment" is a redundant comment in and off itself my guy. That's why the thumbs down option is there. Use it.
Inb4 Dragalge LED's (idk I just wanted a funny way of saying hi fancy seeing you here)
I know it's incredibly hard to make engaging videos out of failures, but it's so incredibly important to talk about them. People do it way too little despite the widely accepted statement that failures are the best way to learn.
I mean, of course you had trouble managing co2. You had a whole family of spiders sucking up all the oxygen out the room right there with you!
spiders would have been negligible.
@@logodsaw This is exactly what a spider would say. 🕷️
@@Cautionary_Tale_Harris i dont know what you’ve been having but spiders dont say things
@@logodsaw now that's definitely something a spider would say...🕷
@@logodsaw ☝️ This is exactly what a spider would say.
Could you imagine how stressful it would be if you were in a real spaceship. Trying to keep your only source of oxygen alive.
makes you think about oxygen management on the ISS
I think their system is chemical rather than biological.
Probably because it's way more reliable ahah
The secret to calm cool decision making is preparation.
High stakes Gardening
@@lewiswood1693 Electro-chemical, CO2 is removed with disposable Litiumhy droxide canisters that are dumped in the trash and burned up with re-entry. Oxygen is provided by a machine that use electrolysis to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. This machine can be reversed for emergency water. New resupply missions bring in fresh co2 canisters, and all this is supplemented with O2 and N2 tanks (Leakage is a thing on the ISS). It's a rabbit hole, but a electro-chemical mechanical miracle of a rabbit hole.
Man, what an incredible journey! The amount of dedication, problem-solving, and persistence you put into this experiment is mind-blowing. Watching you navigate the complexities of algae, from managing pH levels to fighting off culture crashes, has been fascinating. It’s a huge testament to how unpredictable and tough real science can be, but also how rewarding it is to see those moments of success-even if they come with setbacks.
The 7-hour record is seriously impressive, and the way you explain everything makes it super engaging and educational. Plus, your humor and reflections make the whole thing relatable, even as you're dealing with green goo and tiny spiders. Keep pushing those boundaries! Looking forward to whatever madness you tackle next!
I used to work for an aquaculture company where we worked with brine shrimp, and was experimenting by using microalgae in a separate tank to the shrimp tank to stabilise oxygen levels in the system and provide an additional food source if needed. After months of testing we found pretty much the same here, chlorella, spirulina, whatever it is, at really large volumes makes it a very fragile system to maintain, the smallest change in water chemistry, one unsanitized instrument used, whatever it was would cause a collapse eventually. Honest props to those that keep large algal cultures alive and running, it's such a difficult job and the techs running those operations need serious kudos
And now if we imagine, these delicate algae systems are also out there in nature, being exposed to all the literal crap we put en masse in it.
@@bartmannn6717 You're not wrong, but actual algae systems would be more robust since they aren't a monoculture.
@@bartmannn6717 Not even just us. If these algae are as sensitive as this implies, then just a deer taking a shit in a pond would be like a nuclear blast for them. Frankly it seems so absurd that these algae can't survive near-pristine conditions in a basement but can survive a massively chaotic natural lake that I have trouble believing that it's the whole story.
To be fair I think it's because people on a learning curve will be shocked by the apparent fragility of large bio-systems but once you know what you're doing, the systems can be ridiculously robust (by comparison to what will be experienced by someone on a learning curve). I've worked with different and similar biocircularisation systems as part of my regenerative resource initiative. I've pushed everything to its limits and then pushed that and really played around with it. But I say that because I know what is going on with them, so I will think I'm pushing it if I let a relatively big pH swing occur, or a relatively sudden temperature fluctuation. But things that normal people would think are normal swings in these things would make me wince.
@@nomoturtle1788 I think the point was about the concentration of algae present in a monoculture solution. In nature this wouldn't be the case.
When you pulled out your lunch at 37:44, I instinctively skipped the next 30 seconds thinking it was a sponsored ad for one of those "meal ready to eat" companies. Then realized it was just a regular sandwich and went back
They play the same ads for every ad break so we install ad blockers. Then they have the same ad read baked into every video, now we're instinctually skipping the very content they're trying to make us watch.....
I wonder if advertisers will figure out that beating us over the head with the same sales pitch over and over doesnt work.....
ever heard of sponsorblock?
Use sponsorblock
Haha😅
Same here
you know while you were in the chamber talking about failure, it felt so real, and its a very powerful and important statement.
So true, it applies to so many things in life
Actually. When you don't take your shot or do the things you wanna do out of fear, you are essentially allowing that fear to become reality.
Martians wont have room for failure. Failure will mean death and extinction. Gigachad men and women would be born out of it.
this series has been amazing. from the very detailed research and implementation, to the editing and storytelling, absolutely incredible content. and your speech at 16:17 was so insightful, many people would benefit from listening to it. bravo!
As an engineer that works in life sciences I personally am impressed by the thought you put into your processes. I am not going to criticize any of your test method because you truly tried to include every variable you could. I would call it a job well done.
If you havent yet, I would consider monitoring “carbon” as a thought experiment. A human is going to put out roughly 50 grams of carbon an hour. You need your bioreactor to be able to absorb 50 grams and turn it into biomass at that same rate to be at equilibrium. What may be happening is that there is not enough biomass being removed from your tanks so that there is more room for growth (which is literally conversion of gaseous carbon to solid form). If you can create a device that removes roughly 100 g of biomass (dryweight equivalent) per hour, and it contains that mass so the trapped algae cannot respirate, you should be able to find the right balance.
Another useful measure of this could use spectroscopy. Shine a light through specific for measuring green absorption. If absorption starts rising for green wavelengths, increase rate of algae filtering/removal. If absorption decreases, decrease rate of removal and introduce additional nutrients for faster growth.
I found 'Microalgae possess the remarkable potential to sequester and convert 513 tons of CO2 into 280 tons of dry biomass per hectare per year.'
a hectare is 10000 square meters and sunlight is 1kW per square meter. LEDs are 20% efficient converting electricity to light. Humans burn mass at 200 watts. so you need 1kw of electric power to the LEDs if the algae is 100% efficient. if algae is 1% efficient then need 100kW of power ro LEDs.
Also bringing food in with him just adds more to the system. Ideally he could eat the excess algae, but he probably wouldn't like that.
yeah i think a sufficient system would be more complicated than just tanks, it would need to be able to do some of that manual maintenance automatically. maybe there’s a way to get sufficient surface area which also allows for them to settle at some slow rate, so that they can be sucked out of the bottom occasionally, with some fraction redirected back to the top of the water level.
or maybe each tank could automatically remove most of the algae, after which a fraction of another tank is pumped into it, and then another is automatically cleaned. might require many small tanks idk
So... add some fish?
Cool to see that the algae is having an effect! Bummer it isn't enough to sustain a person at that scale yet but still a win!
Some ideas;
what if you had algae panels on your "space ship", just like solar panels. As in, if you set up your algae in such a way that it can exist outside, or on your roof, or somewhere you have more space, but have the air system be closed circuit. So only air from your sealed room gets in, and any air that comes out is redirected back into the room. Then you could have sufficient biomass.
Also, you may want to look into a continues feed/drain. Then you can start with a MUCH higher level of algae per liter. Then you can be constantly slowly adding in fresh media, and removing a set amount of algae sludge per hour. That way you can maximize the living biomass/L and increase CO2 capture.
Another idea is to maybe separate the co2 from the air before pumping it into the algae. Something like pressure swing absorption. Then 100% of the gas the algae get is co2. would make it more efficient because you're not dissolving a ton of nitrogen and oxygen into the water.
These are good ideas
Nice to hear from you, love the ideas!
The panels would be really cool, my primary concern would be finding an existing container that could be repurposed and would also be cost effective. I probably won't find anything as cheap as $8 for 55 gallons of leak-free capacity, but I'd definitely be interested if I found the right materials/containers.
A continuous system would be dope...automation in general would be great, though I'd need to find out what kind of sensors I can source and if I can actively monitor the relevant metrics without breaking the bank.
I hadn't considered the effect of oxygen and nitrogen dissolution. Have you ever done anything with pressure swing adsorption/ know how difficult or expensive a setup that can handle my volume of breath might be?
@@JoelCreatescody’slab did a video on a (nearly) closed loop algae panel system. he used old plastic drink bottles + sealant for the main panel and some cheap tubing for the runs back to the sump/pump.
@@pigalex I was thinking of that this whole video! My fav TH-camrs are on an algae frenzy lol
@@JoelCreates for monitoring you can make a very simple spectrometer. Just an led and a photodiode set 1cm apart. You can measure the density of the biomass by how much it dims the light and then pick a set point to start removing media and adding fresh.
Pressure swing absorption is super easy. Its just a compressor, some electronic valves, and two containers of zeolite powder. They use it for making pure oxygen for medicine and glass blowing amongst other things. But can be used to isolate various gases by choosing the right zeolite and whete you vent the seperate gasses
AMAZING JOB!
The video, the experience, your personality, the research, everything incredible!
Every big breakthrough starts with a person and a ideia. Don't let bad and idiotic people, bad results or shits of life make you give up.
Every experience, good or bad, is USEFUL!
Bravo for not stoping!
CARRY ON BOI!
Every time Mythbusters didn't manage to modify a myth to make it work, they didn't fail at their job, they just busted the myth harder.
Except in the cases where they busted a strawman myth, picking the most inane version of it. But then the show was still more entertainment and it succeeded in that, wouldn't exactly take one groups attempts at something as a definitive answer even if it is strongly indicative.
and in the end they used explosives to really bust the myth
If the car-stopping test had used twisted tape like the suspension bridge test, instead of flat layers which can tear along their bias, it would have worked.
They failed in recreating that Carlos halfcock sniper scope shot because they knew less than nothing about firearms. Other TH-camrs like fat electrician recreated it on the first try.
i loved mythbusters, but they never tried that hard to prove the myth, they tried maybe one or two variations of it at best and declared it busted, but thats the name of the show isnt it? if they tried hard to prove a myth they would have to be called mythprovers
Beer-Lambert is kicking your ass. Especially when the cultures are dense a significant volume is too dark to properly photosynthesize. Thin sheets might do you better, since you have more surface area for both light and gas exchange (you also need to get the oxygen out of the water). Another interesting thing to experiment with, if you keep this series going, is mixed cultures. It is possible with a combination of work and luck to grow a mixture of algae and bacteria that is more stable than algae alone. Effectively a suitable bacteria will eat the waste products, excrete compounds that the algae eat, and still keeping CO2 under control.
Congrats on making a human too!
I am no science guy but mixing cultures sounds like a lab-level task to accomplish
@@zohairsabeeh82plenty of TH-camrs accomplish lab level tasks
To be fair, there is at least one channel about closed cultures, like the guy put some algae and animals into a glass tile, sealed it and the animals are still there living
@@A11V1R15what channel?
@@A11V1R15 I agree, what channel? That sounds interesting.
Seeing Tierzoos face for the first time in this video is the most surprising thing I've experienced in the last 2 weeks. Genuinely made my jaw drop, I've been watching him for over 5 years and just assumed he kept his identity super tight.
He recently did a game show on Nebula and he attended opensauce so he's been doing a lot more irl stuff lately.
The fact that TierZoo is a real person who has a face is mildly upsetting in a way that's hard to articulate.
Oddly enough the first time I saw Tierzoo was on a magic the gathering channel lol. He was just chilling playing mtg with other youtubers.
I make a lot of plant content and its insane how many people still spew the myths that plants are some kind of magic at home air purifier
Thanks for growing barrels of algae for us
I can't speak much to their purification properties, but you definitely need a lot to make a dent in co2! Thanks for saying hi!
@@JoelCreates Well one way to think of it, is that the amount of plants you need to provide enough oxygen and co2 removal, is related to the amount you would need to feed you. This isn't exact, as different things will act like sinks or release stored amounts overtime, and you aren't the only one eating the algae or using up oxygen/producing co2. But as an overall average, it works as a rule of thumb.
Almost all sources of calories on Earth comes from photosynthesizers at the start. The chemical equations to produce those calories, and the chemical equations to breakdown those calories are balanced. The oxygen needed to breakdown a sugar molecule, is the amount produced in the formation of that sugar molecule. The co2 and water used to produced a sugar molecule, are what you end up with when you breakdown a sugar molecule. If you have enough plants to feed yourself in a close system; they are likely producing more than enough oxygen and removing enough co2 to keep you going, on average.
Different sinks of carbon are important to track. As they can cause unexpected rises and falls in co2 and oxygen. As the algae grow in number, they act as a carbon sink, absorbing more than normal, and producing more oxygen than normal. Once they plateau, that elevated rate stops. And if they start dying, it reverses; they start using up oxygen and releasing co2. In nature this can cause deoxygenation events, since the oxygen the algae originally produced left the water a long while ago, so now decomposition is using up more oxygen than what is locally available in the water, causing problems for aquatic life.
I got a snake and spider plant. Now I can smoke inside and my family will breathe clean air!
/s
This was a brilliant video. I just watched both of them back to back. You have helped me, buy less plants XD but also attempted to answer a burning question for me. I will need to go and digest it all. This has been a great experiment to your detriment but also entertaining and well articulated and structed. Very much appreciated.
Thank you for revealing your more vulnerable side, it was unexpected but allowed me to appreciate more the work and effort you had put into making this experiment work.
Your friends are awesome for supporting and damn Quincy can floss!
Congratulations on the baby! XD
My favorite part was you in the spaceship talking about failure and perseverance. That's something I really needed to hear right now.
Glad to hear, face it down
Would it make sense to seal the bioreactors, move them outside of the test room, and run two big tubes (one out and one in) to the bioreactors? Among the advantages would be you would be dumping far less heat into the test room. Individual ports would allow a beneficial single point measurement of O2 and CO2.
Wait a minute....Uh.....Are you on a spaceship? If you are hang in there. If you don't respond I'll assume the worst.
CAN YOU HEAR ME MAJOR TOM?
The quality and rigor of this project and specifically this video is a step above your usual great work. I've been waiting for this update for a while!
Aside from how cool this experiment is, can we just appreciate how awesome Joel's production quality has become. Big kudos
Here here!
I know I watched it was was so shocked it looks amazing
yes but obj this vid was too long, padded, repetitive
the homeschooling shows in his inability to even isolate variables and instead just repeat the same experiment over and over until he gets a result he likes
@@maomekat2369 then you are not made for practical science. 90% of it is repitition.
Dude, what a hard work and amazing saga! I hope you can achieve that goal soon!! Best regards from Brazil!
this is probably the only time anything good has ever started with the words "deep inside my basement there's a small, sealed room"
Not exactly. There's also those who grow mushrooms in a sealed room in their basement. (they also need to be very sterile at first, to avoid bad mold growing)
Nah, like the other guy said you can grow mushrooms, weed, or just have a garden in your basement. I'm that weird guy offering fresh beans and peas in the middle of winter
Idk, an isolation chamber for wailing on some drums at 3:40AM without the neighbors noticing id pretty good.
great answers here
Insane. This experiment just gets better and better.
I think both part 1 and 2 are successes. Part 1 demonstrated that it is possible to reduce the CO2 with plant matter. Part 2 showed the limitations of algae and probably the upper limit of what can be achieved with such a limited setup.
If you ever make a part 3 and scale it up, I hope that you can get as many other big names to support you and finally lay the question to rest.
if they do a part 3, it'd be interesting to see an automated cycling system
we already knew that it's possible.
...BUT STILL.....HOW SO MANY BREATHING CREATURES ARE AROUND,THO...
....MAYBE STILL....WRONG DIRECTION,THO
...WHAT I'M PROPOSING,THO.........START ATTEMPTS WITH photosynthesising bacteria ,BECAUSE THEY'RE ACTUALLY THE THINGS THAT PRODUCE OXYGEN....AND CAPTURE MAJOR PART OF CO2
......JUST IMAGINE THE DUDE IS TRYING TO REPLICATE LIFE ON EARTH......BUT MISSES KEY FACTOR ABOUT PLANTS DO CAPTURE SOME OF CO2 ONLY WHEN THEY REST AND IT'S DARK AND THEY ACTUALLY consume OXYGEN THEYVE EXCRETED DURING DAY
I guess there is a reason why we are not using algae to keep astronauts alive in space ships. I knew they were high maintenance, but I had no idea they were so fickle. though I would love to see how far do you need to go to keep someone alive for days with algae alone.
@@danilooliveira6580 infinite amount of time. The problem is not whether it's possible or not. The problem is keeping the perfect balance of making it self sustaining with the perfect condition for it to grow and thrive and later get decomposed into other components. It's the idea of how fragile our ecology is and how everything is in a perfect balance in nature. And that when we destroy that perfect balance, and tip the scale... it would make it a runaway effect that would not be easy to stop... But when everything is in a perfect balance then you would be able to go on for infinite amount of time.
you made me watch a 42min video without me feeling bored for even a single second. Love it!
Not one second!!!!
Was it 42 minutes?!
It did not feel like 42 minutes-
I love your tenacity and energy. I'm a homeless man with depression and anxiety and can only manage one or two positive actions a day. Basic things like exercise or buying water ect. Mostly fear stops me.
Looking for work or actually bettering my life takes every two to four days.
You're awesome, because unlike me, you only see set backs as something to solve. I on the other hand get more afraid.
You're doing a great job of entertaining and educating the world of youtube.
Be blessed and keep on doing you. You are exceptional. ✌️
I was surprised to hear the number 19.5% for your lower limit O2. I was a submarine officer and I spent about 5 months of a 6 month deployment at about 18% oxygen. On subs they keep the oxygen low...for fire suppression purposes primarily. Some think it's to keep the load on the oxygen generator lower, but once the consumption plateaus, the load on the O2 generator is the same no matter the baseline level.
If you do future content may be worth trying to talk to a submariner, particularly a doc or someone from the Washington office which may have a subject matter expert. Could also try talking to a NASA rep since I bet they keep the oxygen level lower for similar fire suppression reasons. Love the content!
I'm pretty sure that the ISS is a 100% oxygen atmosphere. I know it was common for all space craft way back when, I don't know if it still is though.
Decreasing O2 levels and increasing CO2 levels probably both have a (cumulative) effect on the consciousness of a human. And they probably need to be considered together. I wouldn't be surprised if they can only reach 18% oxygen in a submarine by keeping the CO2 way below 10000ppmor, probably even below 5000ppm.
It might even make sense to _increase_ the amount of oxygen in the chamber before the test, if that allows you to also go to something like 20000ppm CO2. Because those CO2 levels could then allow the algae to produce oxygen twice as well. That is, if the added toxicity of the oxygen on the algae doesn't nullify the improvement from the increased CO2 levels.
@@jypsridic Not since Apollo 1. Because incineration is considered a failure state.
You're pressurized slightly, yes???
@@jypsridic The ISS is pressurized with normal air composition (21% oxygen) at near atmospheric pressure. This is for fire safety; pure oxygen at 0.21 atm is still much more hazardous than regular air, due to the lack of inert nitrogen which robs the fire of heat. However, the space suits the astronauts use are pressurized to a few psi of pure oxygen. Before switching to them, astronauts must spend several hours breathing pure oxygen to avoid decompression sickness (much like scuba divers returning from long, deep dives)
everyone knows spiders consume 3-4 times more oxygen than the a human, on average
it's common knowledge in fact
the average adult swallows 8 spiders a year in their sleep. That means you'd consume up to 32 times more oxygen and it increases every year!
@@ebiooo cursed knowledge
@@ebiooo
Georg shares the truth
scientifically proven
"I've got a toilet"
zooms in on a bucket with "caution" written on it
At least it didn't say "warm food"
@@ggkol8745 damn dude
Super interesting experiment. I think it was a success for science!
I wonder if we'll get an improved version someday, but for now, thank you for all the efforts that went into this experiment! Well done!
Billionaires aren't going to colonise Mars, it's going to be youtubers working together with their plasma drives and algae powered CO2 scrubbers
no the rich are gonna pay someone 5$/hr to do it for them lol
Nobody is going to colonize Mars, humans can't live there for multiple reasons, mostly the different gravity. We can't acclimate. Until a TH-camr creates artificial gravity, then forget it.
Then they'll realize they're trapped there and their only way to survive is to assemble iPhones for their Earth masters 18 hours a day in exchange for food and supplies.
Even billionaire won't be going to Mars, only people that have no genetic conditions will survive the time in space without developing any cancer and dying in space as cancer grows 10 to 20 times faster in space then on earth
Billionaires want all the poors off of Earth. They *are* going to colonize Mars.. just.. vicariously.
I don't know if this was the intended vibe, but your cutaway explanatory portions in the video feels a la 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' show - exceptional production, appropriate pacing and a perfectly digestible amount of info.
Holy hell, man, I hope you looked at this one and were proud, I fail to articulate appropriately the talent you've honed into skill here. 🎉
“As long as you’re not doing something because of your fear of the possible consequence, then you are living as if that consequence is reality”
Well damn Joel I want that on a poster
I always enjoy your videos, thank you. Your videos really inspire me and give me enthusiasm to pursue my engineering degree.
Wine makers fermenting containers help remove bio mass easily. It’s basically a cone shaped large plastic drum. It has a wall mounted bracket so the point of the cone is off the ground. To remove bio mass you simply open the big ball valve at the bottom of the container.
This editing and direction is crazy good, I love the forest shots and the old desktop setup. Such a cool cool visual
Thanks! Quincy helped
23:09 and I suddenly realize something, Joel, YOUR BREATH COULD BE INFECTING THE ALGAE! Seriously, the moisture of the human body as it exhales can easily be a disease vector. I bet that the tests could become more effective if you apply a filter to the air intake
Oh god maybe you're right cause covid sure kicked our ass because we breathed at eachother, imagine poor little algae.
@@Lem_Nade_Musiche gave them covid!
@@Lem_Nade_Music *is kicking our ass
it's not over and people are still breathing at each other
Definitely a lurking variable
i doubt human respiratory diseases can even infect a plant.
Thank you for your additional testing...Really enjoy your journey!
To infinity... and beyond. A different video, and I was captivated for the entire thing. Niiiice!
Glad to hear!
@@JoelCreates Why are you not controlling algae concentration in the bioreactors? This is the variable that is making your colonies unreliable. You need to remove algae (easiest by dilution) on an automated schedule if you want to keep them in a somewhat homeostatic environment.
The respiratory biochemistry changes with concentration. It honestly feels like you are leaving this variable uncontrolled to stretch out the series.
16:17 kind of broke my mind and made me realize that even though I act like I have no fears, I have been actually letting fear control me..
I too had a very self reflecting moment and considered how I sometimes take shortcuts or try not to suffer for a project. Suffering isn’t the worst outcome .
Self awareness is a very useful trait. Everyone wants to feel smart sexy cool and invincible, truth is we are people, and the more we tap into who we really are, as our best and most self aware self, I think we actually become much better people overall, by admitting we screw up sometimes!
Fear is not to be conquered, without fear we would blindly leap into the volcano. While it can be a bad idea to let fear drive all the time, it still has some impactful things to say. Fear keeps up alert, it helps us prepare, to plan, even to act. Controlling the effect of fear so that rationality, knowledge, experience, and wisdom can get a word in edgewise....now THAT is a goal more people should work towards. But never ignore fear entirely. I mean, unless you want to count your winnings walking through compton at 3AM believing everyone is a decent person who will respect your personal space, or that simply saying "No" has any power in deflecting an attacker intent on doing you harm.......
@@angelo3926 I used to purposefully experience physical discomfort for the express purpose of acclimatizing myself to it (ive been able to induce cramps in my calves and back from a very young age, its helped me stave off real cramps by recognizing the onset and out maneuvering them in a way. Hasnt always worked, but has enough times Id advocate for others exploring themselves to such an end). Mild discomforts others seem to take issue with, while I notice them dont bother me, its just a part of life, it aint all cotton candy clouds yall...(particularly modern youths who think they have a sensitivity and freak-out just because they notice something....yes I know its a real thing, I also know for a fact many of these people are appropriating the symptoms for their 'im special, im broken' merit badge and as a sufferer of mental issues it offends me deeply when its worn as a damn status symbol for hipsters. Start calling it out so your friends stop that shit, or get over the fact that it actively offends the actual SUFFERERS of the afflictions yall think its funny to play with). Ive applied the same concept to other areas of life, and Im not saying it will make you superman or anything.....but the level to which I apparently can shift to skipping the panic or surprise phase of something really seems to throw my friends for a loop. Of course they usually dont see afterwards when i finally lay down and shake myself to sleep so.......
Without fear, there would be no courage. Without courage, humanity would have fallen to the wolves long ago. It's that determination to stand in the face of a snarling beast, and take a step forward with a snarling of your own that has defined us as a species for milennia. The forest may have thinned and the wolves may be little more than a myth now, the determination remains, buried under the burdens of history, and the loss of close ties.
Finally! I’ve been waiting for this video
I was yelling with you when you spilled the spirulina. That was so frustrating.
I think you're a great example of what TH-cam should be. You're one guy doing a project in your basement and you're showing your friends and getting their thoughts. You're not a corporation trying to manipulate children. Thank you so much for the all work you put into these two great videos.
my suggestion: snails
if there are snails present in the tanks, perhaps they could eat the dead biomass. then, their waste would recycle nutrients back into the water to be used by the algae. look into aquaponics. there might be something useful for this project
This is a useful idea
we need 1 million snails
Snails are indeed very useful in keeping water clean.
They will clean the water but also consume the oxygen you're trying to generate. Something like this may be necessary for a long term test, but the system should work for at least a day without snails if it's going to work at all.
That's a fun idea, and I get where you're coming from, but you have to think about the whole carbon cycle. The CO2 being removed from the air is being sequestered as algae biomass. If snails ate and digested the algae biomass, their breathing would reemit all of the CO2 that had been removed from the air. That's exactly how the carbon cycle works on the huge scale of the Earth: plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and animals, bacteria, and fungus digest those plants and put all the CO2 back in the air.
"my friend with a plant business" we all know what that means lol
It's legal you know.
@@moth.monsterdepends on where you live
@@moth.monster depends on the jurisdiction they are in
@@moth.monster such a passive-aggressive comment
420 ftw
The basswood trick is one that I will remember. Very cool!
Great work as always mate, such a cool idea to explore!
I think the last video was your most commented ever. It must be great to have a project you put so much time in and care so much about do so well.
I've heard so many stories if youtubers who put it so much effort, and then get very few views, and the projects they do quickly going viral, to their frustration. Here, though, passion really being rewarded..
The amount of effort and commitment to all of this. Not just this video but the entire journey of the 1st video as well. This is a huge undertaking. So many complexities & everything takes so much time to find any answers. So awesome to see Plasma channel 🤘🏻
I never saw this experiment as a failure, but a learning process. I've been fascinated by this project from the beginning. Good stuff, Joel!
truth doesnt have to have an entertaining ending imo
Fantastic work
I hope others continue this research to find that good optimum value for everything.
This is what scientific experimentation is all about.
Hey! I'm glad you had that final success towards the end. I just wanted to bring up something that you might already know: almost all plant and fungal species acquire their mass through CO2 absorbed from the air, not from the soil or water. So when you begin your test at an "undersaturated" state, what you're really doing is promoting population growth, which sequesters CO2 directly from the air and forms your biomass, thus reducing CO2. Plainly said, mass of carbon (CO2) into the tanks = mass out (CO2) + accumulation (biomass). You want to minimize mass out and maximize accumulation.
Ideally, what you would do is form a pipeline to remove biomass so that your algae population never reaches a saturation state where it begins to slow population growth while maintaining nutrient levels so that other biological processes or chemical elements are not limited (such as nitrogen or oxygen).
He addressed that. That whole thing about "if you knew your car was going to be at peek performance on Wednesday"
He needs to get a biomass increase of 1 kg per day to fully absorb the co2 He produces
Bio available nitrogen might be the limiting factor for growth, and would have to be monitored closely
just a Fermi estimate to reach steady state in energy, which should mean steady state in C02:
100W for human baseline metabolism + minor activity
by far the highest photosynthetic efficiency are found in cyanobacteria with about 10%. So at least 1000W of visible light needed.
Great LED efficiency is 50%, which brings the needed LEDs power to 2000W, which is 5 times on what you used.
Anything lower, and CO2 is almost guaranteed to grow, but 2000W is probably still a low estimate, because it e.g. assume optimal algae growth, and no light lost outside of the algae.
Thank you so much for your hard work and these pieces of knowledge.
39:54 "Alright I'm done" pivots and walks off full npc style
God I loved that cameo, he seems like an excellent guy.
Hit em with the Oblivion walk cycle
Ive been waiting for part 2 for SOOO long!!! so glad to see you still at the algae!!!
I don't mean to be sappy, I normally hate sap, but I just gotta say that inspirational stuff about trying things despite your fears actually hit me deep. Failure itself is just a concept, but regardless of how you look at it, if you live without trying you are living as if you had failed; undisputed. It's true. Man that really hits home with me, thank you!
if you find a sap unpalatable, you can always concentrate it into syrup. it’ll end up sweeter, but if the issue is bitter flavors then those will be concentrated as well. hope this helps
Great work man I appreciate all the work you put in and everyone else
16:15 "I needed to know, even if that meant I was wrong"
My friend, welcome to the world of scientific investigation and experimentation.
I think he was suffering from hypoxia with this one
There's always going to be an army of keyboard warriors of all shapes and variations of lacking brain cells. Your work is greatly appreciated and I'm always excited to see your unique take on everything. I've been a couple different flavors of engineer for about 2 decades and I'd rather listen to you than some of the guys I've got to work with everyday. Keep up the incredible work man.
This is legitimately the only video on TH-cam I have ever been excited to wait for
I really appreciate the effort put into this video, this is so awesome tbh
As a homebrewer, I HATE pH meters and strips. One is unreliable, the other imprecise. And additionally, the digital ones just die over time, the probe wears out or something.
Recalibrate! Recalibrate!
Drives me nuts.
I just don't even bother measuring pH. I measure temp and specific gravity and that's it. I've never had any issues as long as I keep temperature steady, but then I only make cider and mead. I guess it's more important for beer, but beer seems more complicated anyway.
I do a lot of hydroponics and it is just cheaper and easier to throw out the medium every week than spend all the hours managing total dissolved solids PH balances hardness. ect. ect.
Such is the mercurial nature of hydrogen ions! Don't blame the tools for not reading them well, blame the atoms for being hard to read!
It’s usually possible to recover them by dipping the probe into conc HCl. It strips off any organic crap stuck on them, and it seems to recalibrate them somehow.
Maybe conc alkali solution might work too, but HCl has always done the job for me, so…
hey joel. you are letting the algae sit in ambient. they are growing to acomedate normal levels of co2, then you are introducing a high amount hoping the efficiency increases to counter your breath. i think the better option is to feed co2 prior to testing to get algae to aclimate and increase in capacity, then replace the co2 source with yourself.
ok but your wife writing "i love you" on the sandwich made my heart melt 🥺
finally the answer I've been waiting for loved the first one, and so happy you are taking this allll the way.
Your showmanship is phenominal! Your intro had me double-check I was watching TH-cam. Same energy as watching the old science channel, awesome work!
Hey, not sure who all caught that bit at the end, but i sure did. That's exciting news, Joel!
That's what I was looking for. That had to be the most low key pregnancy announcement I've ever heard. Concratualtions Joel. You're about to experience a new level of tired.
Man, your dedication is stunning. I often find myself in wild daydreams about things I'd like to try out and I can never make them reality. Your work is really impressive. Thanks for kicking butt!
I just want to say . . . The production quality of this is amazing. The commentary, the cuts to the commentary, the music, the script. It reminds me of watching a show on Discovery, Nat Geo or the like.
42:39 I was hoping you would do this skit. So funny lol.
42:15 You can't just drop a comment like that.
Lol ftw it didn't even click the first time
You should try selectively breeding your algae. You have 4 tanks, create a starter culture from the best tank and eventually super algae. I did this with Yeast and created stuff that could survive like 25% alcohol, Sodium Benzoate and furthermore it it took about a day and a half to ferment. It only took m e like 2 weeks to create this but unfortunately it exploded because I accidently sealed it thinking, Na.... Wont produce that much gas overnight. I was wrong.
I appreciate the level of dedication to this project. I would have quit a long time ago, but I'm also dealing with life and work stresses so that wouldn't help. Great video. Thanks! Also... f those negative comments. ❤ Love yah, bro!
One test you could try is growing a batch of algae fresh from near nothing directly in one of the large tanks filled to the top with water. Then have the room seal and record the rate of change in the CO2. This way you can compare an identify at what "phase" of the algae's growth cycle it is operating most efficiently.
Congratulations on the kid my guy! Love the content, take care of yourself and keep on smiling!
In an atmosphere of shallow, stale content, this video was a breath of fresh air.
Hey Joel! Loved this video and have often had the same idea! Dont give up! Think this sort of thing is a great excercise and something that could be useful!
Current thoughts and theories following this video (other comment mentioned 'wasting' and tend to agree): consider the following.
1. Install small condensate pump or some such at the bottom of the barrel, set to remove maybe 1 gallon per hour. These are common on things like HVAC units and dont cost a lot. Elevate the drums slightly and run plastic tubing from below barrels to above.
2. Discharge pumped algae material into a filtration system (carbon/cycled media from fish tanks might be best. Could use small canister filter with physical filtration to remove some of the algae, carbon/bacteria to remove waste products like ammonia).
3. Overflow into barrels.
Think this would smooth out your upward trend and prolong the experiment. Seriously itching to play with something like this personally! Best of luck!
15:34 I completely disagree with this take. When it comes to science any outcome is interesting. that's because you're venturing in territory that hasn't been deeply explored before. yeah maybe a lot of people here would prefer a better ending, but those are people who have an attention span of 5 seconds. if the experiment is successful or failed, both outcomes will be very interesting and cool
Science actually does really well when there is failure cuz it’s possible to learn so much from it
Those with attention span of 5 seconds ☝️🤓
26:16 yea it’s 85%. It’s 78%.
YOOOOOO PART TWO IS HERE🎉🎉🎉
This video is great, and I've loved the series! It's also one of the most inspiring videos, as in "hey, I could do cool things and make videos". Amazing work, thank you!
3:39 Please *BE CAREFUL* that you don't accidentally lock yourself in the Biomass Chamber and transform into SWAP THING! _Even though that would be a cool video_
NO! You're going to give him ideas!
Lol 😂😂😂😂 like a goose bumps episode 😂
With this level of dedication, you are going to be a good dad.
I bet the algae in the last test consumed so much CO2 specifically because the tanks were almost empty, so they had a ton of room to just keep growing, and using up CO2 in the process of growing. Maybe constantly remocing algae to keep the population low will keep it in that state?
Alright so I had basically typed this up before and stopped as you hit your realization that something was off and wanted to see if you were able to correct it but since I didn't hear it addressed directly figured I'd throw my two pennies in the mix. But first since this is going to be a long long long comment for most people I'll say this for those who have a TL;DR need. Joel you did great, don't beat yourself up and think of this as a win/success. The system you are trying to create might as well be a separate "world" for the level of complexity at hand since you are trying to essentially give yourself a self sufficient living space. Thank you for the video and the inspiration you gave to those who saw this and decided to try more science in their lives as well.
1. Typical aftershave contains ingredients known as isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) or ethyl alcohol that are similar to what's used in hand sanitizer or household cleaners like rubbing alcohol. These ingredients kill bacteria or toxins on your face after a shave. While you mentioned putting it on the night before I did notice in the follow up test where you had better results you went "natural" shall we say? So I hope that is one variable taken down for any would be followers on this experiment, while I cannot say it was the cause and effect it's something that technically could be a HUGE variable for those just doing a daily routine prior to carrying out something similar to this.
2. Sorry to hear about your starter on the second algae variant I would have loved to see how it did by comparison but yeah as it has been stated these should be viewed as small worlds rather than "a jug of green." The level of complexity you (those who are interested in this endeavor) need to comprehend is almost baffling if you've never stopped to think about the scale. You need to create and manage a whole ecosystem, the food of the algae, the PH of the water and the oxygen of the human in the experiment is just the beginning. As stated anything tipping the scale could be terrible. If you are going to ever attempt this experiment you NEED to document EVERYTHING. Sorry for the caps but I literally cannot stress enough how difficult this is to get right and understand why it went better once vs another time. Because your body has it's own waste those can also affect the system. Technically just having a toilet in the equation adds another as when you flush you are technically cycling in air from out of the system. Your meals need to be accounted for, not just because what you bring into the system can change the air's acidity or steal some of the byproduct from you and the algae but also what you've been eating prior to the experiment to include sauces spices etc as all of the components will have an effect on the body which will therefore have an effect on the environment. Your clothing could also introduce variables in that static build-up could jolt equipment into failing etc. Movement can hasten the CO2 buildup as well as the aforementioned "yapping" (I don't think it was meant to be an insult on what you do for a living but you did get quite a few toxic comments, all I can say to add to it is that you "could have" done the talking later as a voice over while using a pen/pencil and paper in the system to essentially give your moment to moment reactions).
Bonus potential variable: Take it with a huge grain of boulderous salt...but there was a study by Dr Masaru Emoto, "the molecular structure of water is influenced by the words and feelings that are directed towards it. In his studies, Emoto found that water exposed to positive words and intentions formed beautiful, symmetrical crystalline structures when the water was frozen, while water exposed to negative words and intentions formed disorganized, asymmetrical structures." While that snippet isn't 1 to 1 for this experiment in the actual document they talked about how "thinking toxic things 'at' the water" it would essentially lead to water that was overall more acidic and other results that were scientifically measured. I haven't looked at it in almost five years if I'm remembering correctly (gee I wonder what was happening at the time to give me such a specific yet general time "landmark"). But theoretically IF TRUE this means just being in a foul mood and/or being agitated at the algae, water, situation could make the results skew. The test also showed that the same yet opposite was true in that good thoughts would lead to "better" water for lack of concise verbiage. So you could also technically skew the results the other way as well. So if you wanted to truly do a full test on this unfortunately you need to have someone purely impartial and technically unaware (see blind scientific studies for guidelines on the general concept) while likely ALSO having a proctor/observer who's only job is to open the door, "if something goes wrong" without explaining what the situation is in the room (again see the guidelines for a dual blind study in this case).
As for the one manufacturing (for lack of a better term given the nature of the experiment), you will need to be able to remain neutral the whole time you are setting up this experiment and document any and all cross contaminants in order to try and pin down what variables could be at play. For examples from this video: when you sprayed down everything did you use tap water in your pressure washer, was the bin everything was in contaminated by other chemicals previously, when the jugs were "open" to outside air what was that like (inside, outside, controlled air from pressurized tanks and if so what was the mixture) and did you use containers that were new or already used? In both cases you will likely need to account for any potential coatings on the inside as many companies will treat their containers depending on what is supposed to go on them. So for instance a fuel jug would have contaminants from the fuel as well as might have treated plastic/metal to prevent the fuel from spoiling or leeching and both will have to be removed which might take different steps depending on the chemicals at hand so that you can account specifically for the container's composition with how well your algae mixture is doing.
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Clearly I could go on and on and on for those who aren't aware of how complex this seemingly simple test was. So again all I'll leave it on is you did a great job and even if you didn't get the results you wanted and even if you tried to control for the perceived failures of the first test Joel I think you should mark this down as a win for all the people you got to think about something this abstract yet practical given the scientific goals many people especially in the west have for the future while also lacking the patience or understanding of the undertaking of the endeavors at hand. Nothing is ever perfect all we can do is try our hardest to account for everything double check our work and hope for the best.
I love these videos they teach - smart- people more about nature, don’t listen to the hate, they could literally just look at some other video instead of ranting about something they know nothing about. ❤
These algae videos have been my favorite videos you've made
Before I watch, Just wanted to say I watched part one a few months ago at like 1 am while in the middle of a 20 day work week. I have been checking in periodically for part 2.
What a treat to see it show up on my feed!!! Thanks!!!
Same popped it after watched some other video and I was like part 2 !! Almost lost the video before I almost existed out of the page
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to run these experiments and share all you've learned. It's a fascinating topic! Ignore the detractors and know that there are many more of us who want to see you succeed.
I appreciate this series because I made a tiny soundproof home office a few years ago. It took me a while to realize that is mostly air tight too. It get hey up to 10,000 ppm in one day of work, so I've thought about getting some plants so I don't have to open the window
Best way to cheaply sound proof a room?
LETS GO PART TWO. I wouldn't shut up about this video to my wife when the first one came out. She is going to hear about this later lmao.
Now imagine this frustration but for 5+ years, and add people discouraging and criticizing you constantly, and you have yourself a Ph.D. YAAAY 🎉🎉
Don't forget the incessant need to let everyone else know about the accolade
That's when you really get one of those