This is very odd.  I have a couple of hydrostone nests that are at least eight months old.  They have a few cracks, but nothing this dramatic.

Edited by Myrmicinae, March 1 2015 - 7:16 PM.

That erosion is caused by water constantly moving through that one spot. It dissolves it a lot faster.

It's been about four months now, and the nests with the Hydrostone covered ceramic tiles are still working great. The colonies have really grown and thrived in these setups.
 
I have been in need of something larger for a while now, so I came up with a new design. This new design is fully configurable and expandable, so I can start a colony out in it, and continue to expand it up to five times the size of the original design. Obviously it's going to take more containers and materials, but it might actually be a little easier to make.
 
It will utilize the same line of containers I used in the first design and most all of my other formicarium designs.
 
I'm using the largest container they make for the water tank; I just cut it down a little shorter.
 

 
 
I need to check and see if they actually make some in this size, because the store where I buy them doesn't always carry all the sizes available.
 
All the containers can be hydrated except for the larger one that is meant to be used as the out world. They all have a tile in the bottom, with a Hydrostone covering.
 

 

 

 
 
All of the containers fit nicely into the top of the water tank, and can be arranged any way you like. Any of them can be hydrated simply by removing the plug that will be covering each port, and inserting the sponge.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
The containers will be held together with silicone grommets. Some will be solid, and some will have holes through the middle. This is how you can choose which containers you would like to be used by the ants. I haven't designed the grommets yet so for this prototype I just used silicone plugs and tubing.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
The out world will have a mesh lid sort of like the one used in this prototype. The mesh on the final lids however, will be divided up into three sections for strength.
 

 

 
 
Instead of the grommets being in the viewing area of the sides of the containers, I'm thinking of moving them down below the level of the floor.

Wicked.  How do you add water?

Just pour it right onto the top of the water tank and it will flow down into the ports. They will all have small holes at the top of the water port tubes to allow for the air pressure to stabilize, allowing the water to continue pouring in until it is full. Also, these containers have a lip all around the edge to make them stackable, which also keeps the water from flowing off the sides.

Awesome design Drew! Fun to see how this has progressed.

Thanks. Wait 'till you hear what happened after moving my Acromyrmex into it.

Oh no. 

Has anyone experimented with wick? The type used for reusable lighters and vaping. It basically looks like regular string, but sucks up water. I was thinking of how this could be used. Maybe line the circumference of the fungus chamber with a length of wick and have the end in a water reservoir? Maybe this would maintain constant humidity of the chamber in the same way as your reservoir/sponge but with no water-hydrostone contact.

I've thought about a wick, but didn't want something hanging from the bottoms of the containers. I like to keep things as simple and as simple looking as possible.

After the civil war my colony had, somehow caused by the move, they fully recovered and are glowing growing like crazy. This new design has been working great, except I see one problem arising.
 

 
 
I think I am going to have to look into a different material, or a slightly different design. Probably something closer to what I originally intended--grommet-free.

Edited by dspdrew, June 20 2020 - 10:03 PM.

Why do you always have civil wars breaking out in your Colonies!?

 

 

Also how are your Glowing ants, can you see them in the dark 

Why do you always have civil wars breaking out in your Colonies!?

 

 

Also how are your Glowing ants, can you see them in the dark 

 

I've only had one civil war, and the glowing ants are awesome! Of course I can see them in the dark!

What did you do to make glowing ants? Or is this a joke.

I came up with a MUCH easier way to make the water tanks using 3D printing of course.
 
I designed these inserts for the water ports. They have four very small holes at the top to allow the water levels to equalize, without allowing the water to slosh around and make a mess.
 

 

I'm planning to put the out world on top of all the fungus chambers now, so there will be no need to rearrange anything. This will allow me to permanently or semi-permanently attach all the containers. They will all still have their own lids, so they can still be easily cleaned out separately. Until I come up with a 3D printed connector tube, I'm going to give this a try using vinyl tubing. Hopefully the Acromyrmex can't chew through this too over time.
 
Here's a little test connector I rigged up with vinyl tubing. It's two pieces of larger tube bonded to the edges of the smaller tube to hold it in. I've seen the ants having a lot of trouble trying to get pieces of substrate through the 1/4 inch openings, so I made these 1/2 inch.
 

 

 

I designed the water tank to allow me to use these test tube plugs to block off the unused water ports.
 

 

I finished the second prototype. I have the one in the pictures setup to hydrate only the front three right-most chambers since that's all the room the colony I'm moving into it will need right now.
 

 
 
The nice thing about this, is I can add as many layers of fungus chambers as I want. Obviously only the ones on the very bottom will be hydrated, but the humidity travels through them and builds up pretty well
 

 
 
I wasn't sure if I should make the foraging container connector short or long. These ants can climb very well, so I figured they can just climb across the ceiling and down the sides of the container under the connector. Because of this, I made the connector short, but I'm now seeing that they do fall off the ceiling quite a bit, so I'll be replacing it with a longer tube that reaches the bottom of the fungus chamber. I'll cut an opening for them to crawl into the tube from the floor of the chamber. This should also make it easier to lift up and move the foraging container without pulling the connector tube out completely.
 

 
 
This is what it looks like with the foraging container removed.
 

 

 

 
 
Even though all of these fungus chambers are attached, you can still remove the lids individually.
 

 
 
These are the vinyl tubing connectors I made just for this prototype. I'm working on some 3D printed connectors that might not be permanent the way these are.
 

 

 
 
I'm designing the connector tubes so that the 14mm test tube plugs will fit in them perfectly. If these plugs are put in one side of the connector tubes in the correct chambers, you'll can actually remove them as the colony grows without having to open the occupied chamber. It just all depends on how you want your chambers connected.
 

 
 
I'm moving one of my large colonies into this now, so I'll soon see what works and what doesn't.
 

Those hole cuts are so clean!  How?

 

I need your cutting process and I need your connectors and plugs ASAP.  Take my money, please.

Very interesting.