Looking for a great gift for that special queen in your life? Consider buying her and the gang a beautiful disc formicarium, complete with 3 tubing ports, a sanded finish and a hydration water chamber. Small enough to fit in your pocket, but not advisable!
The disc features a very minimalistic chamber that can be used as a stand-alone formicarium, as a three-way connecting port, a heating extension or an additional humidity chamber to a bigger setup.
It can also easily fit inside many out-worlds; making it similar to a simple and easy “tubs and tubes” setup.
Great for medium or larger-sized species needing an upgrade in size from a test tube, or a small-sized species with large worker counts.
We recommend pairing this formicarium with a “Mini Glass Outworld (Outside World)”, a very versatile size as shown in the photos.
Tubing options are 9.5 mm (3/8 inch) or 12.7 mm (1/2 inch).
Light protections options are either or both:
The red film (identical to all other formicariums) is a thick ref light transmission film, a very good choice to protect from natural light, you can see into the formicarium without touching it.
The black plastic cover, the black plastic cover is a black matte 3D printed plastic lid, with the same cutout as the red film, but 1 mm thick and with a small handle at the center to lift easily. Great option to offer complete darkness, only downside are the vibrations you may produce while trying to remove the lid every time you want to see inside.
Specifications and Instructions
Dimensions: 60 x 60 x 25 mm +/- 3%
Features a hole on 3 sides to fit 9.5 mm (3/8-inch) or 12.7 mm (1/2-inch) tubing.
Materials:
Optical glass (2 mm thick) with exceptional transparency mounted with Neodymium magnets.
The frame is 3D printed using PLA plus/pro plastic.
The water chamber is made with a special formulation of porous grout to ensure water transport; inside wall substrate has 3 layers composed of different ratios of unsanded/sanded grout and mineral additives.
Weight: 75 grams +/- 3%
Instructions:
Before introducing any species, please fill-up the water chamber with distilled water to 100% of its capacity; we recommend introducing ants 24 hours after the first initial hydration.
Please read water chamber instructions below for further information on humidity control.
Avoid intense vibrations or impacts as this can crack the grout and glass.
Hydration Chamber Instructions
This formicarium needs very little water under normal conditions. For example, house with an average temperature of 20 Celsius and a relative humidity of 40% would require to fill the water chamber to around 40% capacity once a week.
Please use distilled water or highly purified water to avoid mineral build up or introducing organic materials that can cause mold, fungi or bacterial growth.
Even when the water chamber looks dry, the substrate still retains humidity, it is wise and recommended to only refill the water chamber after 24 to 48 hours of observing the chamber emptying out, if the water chamber remains dry for longer and the environmental humidity is low the internal chamber will dry up eventually.
We suggest observing the glass and grout surfaces for condensation, having some condensation early in the mornings is normal (or with any drop in temperature) but if it is always there or it takes longer to disappear as the day warms up this means you need to add less water and less often. On the contrary, if you never see condensation even with quick reductions in temperature then you may need to add more water and more often.
How to clean
Cleaning your formicarium is very easy. Remove the front glass with a gentle pull to detach the magnets and gently remove all the dry debris, apply slight pressure to avoid cracking the interior substrate.
Once done, we recommend using 3% USP hydrogen peroxide and a very soft brush to clean the grout on the walls; it can be purchased at any pharmacy. The mildly abrasive properties of hydrogen peroxide act as a gentle non-toxic bleach. If you have any hard to remove stains, you can also let it sit submerged in a 50/50% solution of distilled water and hydrogen peroxide for 20 to 60 minutes, once done and ready rinse with distilled water and let it air dry for at least 24 hours without the front glass before it is ready for its next use, alternatively after rinsing you can let it soak in distilled water for 24 hours to ensure all absorbed substances can leak back into the water, changing and rinsing this water often during this time period is recommended, then air dry and use.
Do not use any soaps or acids like vinegar to clean your grout formicarium as such acids eat away the lime, calcium and other minerals in the grout, they could also leave toxic residues within the porous grout.
Hybrid Specifications
The design corresponds to our second generation of “Hybrid” formicariums, an external layer printed with a sturdy frame of plastic sealed with clear glass, an internal layer made of grout, sand and mineral additives. Paired with a watering chamber specially designed to distribute moisture evenly through the chambers.
The exterior layer is very water-resistant and very efficient at retaining humidity, due to the slow evaporation the inner layer maintains very constant levels of humidity, it needs very little water and controlling the dosage of water and frequency determines the overall inner relative humidity of the nest, very little water is needed.
The inner cavity has a sandy and rugged texture, as this provides a better grip for ants with the substrate, similar to the one found on our grout inserts and the most high-quality formicariums on the market.
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