Tubes leaking at vial

Do you have any recommendations what to do if media is leaking out between silicone tubing and PEEK tubing (happened to ~7 of the vials)? The photos are after 20s influx or ~15mL of media, so the amount of volume accumulating on the caps is quite small in relation at least and luckily didn’t appear to spill over.

IMG_20190516_133756 IMG_20190516_133744

I also am having issues with the silicone tubing securing the PEEK tubing, even sliding out into the vials during autoclaving (happened to 2 of the vials), despite having at least 1cm of PEEK tubing in the red silicone tubing at the top and a 1 cm securing piece below. The hold seems especially worsened if the nylon caps had needed holes to be drilled through post-3D printing.

Ah that’s unfortunate. I’ve never had issues with the red tubing, but seems like there might be batch variations between the tubing that might be causing slight leaking on the caps. Changing out the tubing would work.

I recommend smaller silicone tubing and probably a smaller barb (see Kishony’s morbidostat paper):

  • Silicone tubing (1 mm inner diameter (i.d.), VWR, cat. no. 60985-708)
  • Female Luer connector (Value Plastics, cat. no. FTLL004-6005)

I know its a hassle having to buy more parts. In the meantime, you might be able to borrow some syringe needles from the Khalil Lab. I’m sure they have some parts to spare, just to get started on some test experiments. I would remember to use silicone septas with the needles, since it helps holding the needles in place. You might need to add an extra needle to vent the vial (or not screw the vial as tight).

https://www.evolver.bio/t/recommendations-for-septas-and-needles/59