Water circulator
achung
Posts: 7
Is there any reason why I couldn't just use my lab's temperature controlled water bath in lieu of a circulator?
achung
Posts: 7
Comments
Having the clearing solution circulate through the chamber is necessary to prevent bubble accumulation in your sample. In addition, it prevents by-product buildup on the electrodes which will alter the composition of the clearing solution (usually indicated by a drop in pH). If the pH is not maintained, clearing will not occur and your sample could become damaged.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6RE82086JGFRzBDa1U2SFQ4Y3M/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6RE82086JGFYTR1Z3hwRldkQ1U/edit?usp=sharing
@achung this is my setup, basically what you described. Fishtank circulator and waterbath. Clears tissue nicely, and the fishtank circulator is more than enough to clear the bubbles out of the tissue.
@raju. As long as your buffer filter and circulator are both left in the bath, the water bath actually controls the temperature of the circulating solution very well.
I actually used a regular perfusion pump we use in lab for short time perfusion and unfortunately the tubing broke after a day of continuous run and the brain got cooked.
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=85322&catid=571
we are having some difficulties performing ETC. The biggest problem seems to be caused by our pump which we use to circulate the Clearing Solution. It cannot provide a sufficient flow rate and temperature. Therefore I was looking for a reasonable and affordable replacement.
Maybe someone can take a look at the link below and give me some advice.
http://www.julabo.com/us/products/heating-circulators/heating-circulators-with-open-bath/ed-5-heating-circulator-with-open-bath
You should look for a circulator with cooling capacity while running ETC. The link you gave seems to only have heating ability.
Yes, the water circulator mentioned in the materials has cooling capacity but to me it seems like this was never really used. I just read that the temperature was set to 40-50°C with a recommended 37°C. It depends on the product which range of temperature it can provide but the one used by the D-Lab has the capacity of cooling below 0°C. Therefore it seems like this wide range was never really used or am I getting it wrong?
Nevertheless the biggest problem with most water circulators seems to be setting of flow rates. Most products only provide 2-4 Setup levels which all seem to be too high because these levels are programmed as a ratio of the maximum flow rate.
I spoke to a staff member of Lauda and he suggested a product which has the same configurations to the one used in Stanford without the great cooling range. Thus, it is much cheaper. He said it will work just fine at the temperatures and the flow rate we are trying to provide.
Here a link to the Lauda product:
http://www.lauda.de/hosting/lauda/website_en.nsf/urlnames/product?OpenDocument&ProductID=090429-20185-CC
I was putting a lot of thought into your comment with the cooling capacity. I guess you wanted to point out the possibility of overheating in the chamber, didn't you?
In our experience with a different set-up including a different pump the heat production in the ETC chamber seemed at least not relevant. In my opinion the water circulator posted in the link above has enough accuracy in temperature. Although it might take a while until it compensates an overheating in the chamber because it misses the cooling capacity.
Additionally I think that a flow rate in the range of 1-3 L per minute is such a big flow compared to the volume of the chamber that it will cool the overheat as well.