Any Carpenters in AA?

[Hawkins409]

Plantaholic, I would not make a very effective patent attorney on this project, I'd be too busy taking your idea! Haha. This is very well done. What a great way to organize all of those water test kits we all have. All the things you are storing are a pretty uniform size, thinking about it, I'm surprised there isn't something sold for this purpose.

 

[Plantaholic]

Yeah, totally kidding on the patent idea. An open forum might not be the best place to develop a product... Brookster- if your feeling generous a 10% proprietary fee would be appreciated!
Hawkins- spoken like a true lawyer! Lmao!
I hope everyone can adapt this to something that works for them. I feel if it makes the mundane task of testing even a little easier, it can only benefit the tank and its occupants!

Feel free to post your versions here, its always fun to see different peoples takes on an idea!

 

[Hawkins409]

I described your project to my dad, whose hobby isn't aquariums, but model airplanes. For that hobby, they sell "caddys" to carry all of the gear they need to take into the field when flying. People with more than one aquarium in the house might benefit from being able to take the water test solutions, dechlorinator, water Rx, etc from one aquarium to the next. (Maybe a weather siphoner too...?)

So I was thinking about maybe taking what you did, make it double sided, and turning it into a caddy that you could carry from aquarium to aquarium if you wanted. And maybe make it store a few other things besides water treatment.

Your project would be an inspiration on how to apply it to our hobby's needs.

Some photos of pretty standard model airplane caddys that are sold... One is for chemicals only, the other is for a fuel pump, fuel, battery, chemicals, etc. I'd like to try to combine these ideas...

 

[Hawkins409]

By the way, I ran some searches on the net for something like this, and for any inspired entrepreneurs that may be reading.... I can't find anything like it. Better double check me on that, though.

 

[Lepomis]

Skip the wood in my opinion. I would use delrin or similar if going to make one. I honestly can't see too many wanting to display the test kit stuff so no need for nice woods as the majority of people will store it under in the stand.

I never have used the kits much but always found the main issues to be keeping everything together, protecting the vials from getting broken, and overall just making it as quick as possible to get the stuff and be done. I just use a a Plano Stow Away 3504 to keep all mine in. Holds everything safely until it expires.

 

[Plantaholic]

Working with a plastic would be nice, but after a quick web search, it seems 1 piece costs more than I spent total project.
As far as the tackle box idea, it surely tucks away nicely, but would be no help as far as ease of testing. I am new to Planted tanks, Co2, and ferts, so until I get the PH/GH/Nitrate fluctuations figured out, I am testing pretty often. Having it out or on display, may bug me eventually, but for now it serves as a reminder to keep testing during different times of day.
I did add a 10ml dosing syringe to the set-up to keep water spillage down, and to aid in getting to 5ml of water in the test tubes. I got tired of filling up too much, then pouring out too much, over and over again!!!!!