Dome is all i get

[razerface]

Redoing my first one to learn.  well,,,i had it once,,then messed it up. I added water from my RO system,,thinking it would work as good as distilled. I started adding salt until it domed,,,added more and it flowed! I added 2 drops of dishsoap which did not seem to do anything.

I decided that the wax was dropping too fast, so i thought if i added more salt, it would float down slower. That was the last time it worked. No matter what i do now,,all i get is a dome. It got so it was 1 big ball hanging about 1/4 inch off the bottom.

I poured the water out and started over. Now, no matter how much salt i add,,it won't do anything but dome up. I draw water out and dissolve epson in it, then when i pour it back in, there is an eruption in the lava,,,it goes up and looks great,,slowing sinking and dropping little bombs on the way down,,,but after getting down,,,goes back to doming.

What should i try next?

[Brad]

i would keep adding salt until it flows.  it may seem like a lot, but it sounds like you need more.  don't add any more soap until you get it flowing for a few days.

[Tim Gill]

I don't know how much salt is in it now but yea add more untill it starts to flow at least.

Have you tried to used a high saturation of salt solution this may help as you don't have to add much of it to get it working.

It seams that on your first attempt the lamp could be too cool so that's probably why the wax was sinking fast.

[razerface]

Brad, I added more.

Tim, no, the lamp was hot,,but the lava dropped fast.

Now that I added more salt,, the lava goes up verrrrrry slowly in a BIG round glob,,,then drops bombs till it sinks. Just let it do that for a few days?

[Tim Gill]

More salt still but it is getting there, also how big is the globe

[Brad]

i agree with tim - it needs more salt (i.e. increase the density of the water).