Hamsternaut back underwater (Patreon)

It only cost me $40 for two rubber gaskets, lol. I could not buy them separately from a P-Trap kit they were part of. They're not offered separately on the Valterra website, or on Amazon. There is no part number printed on them. It would've been cheaper just to buy a spool of TPE filament and print my own gaskets, which I think I'll do going forward.

Tunnel is now water tight. No bubbles at all. There are modest bubble leaks at the backs of the hab modules where the umbilicals enter, I fear they will never be totally water tight ever again, but such is the price of repairability. One heater has seemingly failed, which I don't really believe, I think the problem is at the plug end.

If so, it might mean that was all the problem was with the old heaters to begin with, which would mean this long, difficult, expensive ordeal was for nothing. Except, I guess, learning how to replace critical, hard to remove components. I feel having done this once, next time I'll be able to finish much faster.

A bigger issue is that I suspect the silicone sealant has covered the electrodes to the moisture sensor in the right module. I'll open it up to test in a few days, it's been in the water a week even before the new gaskets were added without taking on water so I don't think there's any realistic danger, but I do eventually want this hab complex back to 100% in all areas.

Other than that, I wonder what the value is of continuing to operate it except so that you guys have hamsters living underwater to look at, live, any time you want. These habs were a testbed and proof of concept. They have long since proven the concept. There is nothing more I feel I can learn from this system. The money used to maintain them would be better spent on an above ground pool kit so I can submerge Megahab.

That will require greatly increased income however. I am deeply thankful for what I make currently. It has let me get back on healthcare, see a doctor about my respiratory problems for the first time in 10 years, get health insurance for my cat, afford car insurance, see the dentist about a filling that's fallen out, and many more improvements to my life.

There is just a big cost jump between operating small habs in an aquarium and operating large ones in a pool or pond that I didn't plan for when I started this project a decade ago because I never thought it would progress even this far.