fishtank

[Silenti_etc]

If you were to do this, it would have to be huge. Like someone said earlier in the thread, Whisp I think it was you, even a betta wants to be in something at least several gallons.

Walmart sells a fake 'tv aquarium' in their home decor section next to the lava lights and plasma globes. Its the size of a 14" LCD monitor, uses an air pump to bounce around 3-4 brightly colored plastic fish and is only ~1in or less front to back. Seal up all the air gaps with epoxy or silicone and there you go.


Or use a large aquarium, a 40g breeder would be perfect, and build a submersed 'Atlantis' like compartment for a mini-itx system in it. You'd have to duct it and have some decent cfm blowing through that thing and be anal retentive about making it waterproof.

I'm envisioning paul's "Metropolios" mod inside a fish tank. That could possibly work.

And Whisp, anything moving water with an impellor causes that micro mist. Even fully submerged filters or external canister filters. The impellor causes massive pressure differentials on either side of a moving blade forcing any dissolved gas out of solution, its called the "_________" prinicpal (i dont know who its named after, im sure google holds the answers.) Just evaporation wouldn't cause that film to coat the wall behind a fish tank.

[Whisp]

I would like to see some writing on that since i still dont agree. how a submersible unit makes mist under a couple gallon of water is beyond me. In my opinion it would just be absorb back into the water before it even hit surface.

Also I have had a tank sitting in the same spot for over two years and never cleaned the unit it self or the wall and its pretty clean. Couple white spots but I dont think that would be an issue inside a system. Dust is probbaly more harmful and builds up a lot quicker. And like i said earlier just goop on some die electric greease and that issue solved.

[Silenti_etc]

it makes a mist of bubbles, not just a mist of water. When these bubbles break the surface they cause the mist.

I will dig around for some literature today.


[edit: replaced 'air' with 'water' at the end of first sentance]

[Whisp]

I agree about an impeller making bubbles.. like a submarine. But I dont think it is enoughto be a serious issue unlike an air rock. I think it also depends on how the configuration of the filtration system is setup.

also if the mist is such a huge issue have a chamber that isnt totally flooded so when the so called mist breaks the air its in an enclosed unit. That solves that issue lol

Anyways I still think this setup is possible and if I was rich i would set it up myself.

[Silenti_etc]

You can't seal up the tank the fish are in. They would suffocate in less than a few hours.

[ninja]

Well if this can be done, I think what you are planning to do is also possible. good luck with it!

http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/...421///aqaurium

Sorry for the page-language, couldn't find one in english...

if you want i can translate it to english

grtz

[Whisp]

You can't seal up the tank the fish are in. They would suffocate in less than a few hours.

Well you would need a hole that your hand can at least get in since you need to feed and vacuum. That is why I suggested sand earlier since all the gunk stays at the top. As for sufficating I dont think that will happen if you balance your enviroment. Get some seachem oynx sand for your substrate and plant some plants. Since bulb is only so big for this probably wont be more then 2 watts per gallon so no need for a C02 for the plants. Now since have plants you want to get rid of any carbon based filters since they will take nutrients away from the plants.

Now I am running an acrylic setup.

Only a 6 gallon but this isn't the only aquarium I have had. Its an eclipse 6 with built in filter and such. But the thing about it is that it is good to modify the setup. As I mentioned I don't want carbon so ripped that filter out. Also removed the bio wheel that adds air and is for your healthy bateria farm since I will be using something else for the bacteria buildup and I have plants for the air for the fish.

I switched those items mentioned earlier with filter sponge, seachem matrix biofilter support medium and filter floss. Filter sponge is for the big gunk then it goes to the matrx bio media to build up my bacteria colony and also helps with removing amonia, nitrites and nitrates. After all that have the filter floss which removes fine stuff and helps keep the water clear.

For the water intake I modded that too since I wanted a skimmer because at one point I had a shield guard I modded on the water out so current wasnt high. I have the shiled off now but still nice and that was easy by using a hose and putting a hole in the intake and strap with a zip tie.

So there we have a environment with everything needed to keep healthy. All I do is a water change every week to a 2 weeks and maybe once a month vacuum because I have two cories running around eating all the scrap food and the poop is fertilizer for the plants.

I also added some plant food spikes under the plants. Pack of 6 like 7 bucks cdn and they last a year per each stick so they help out. Also can add some iron rich liquid fertilizer if you have plants like java moss.

Also for the setup you could modify by adding a piece of acrylic to the top to make it sealed with just a flat piece and a rubber seal. Need to get into it so needs to be removeable to change to clean the filter sponge and replace the filter floss.

As for temperatures as I mentioned you dont have to do it like mine. You could use canisters with an enheim pumps and add a chiller so that temp never gets high to kill the fish. You could also seal this environment in with a lid and i would recommend outside the case on the top. You would need a full tower for this. Biggest one you could find. Or maybe even a cube case since in that one you could make it one side is the awurium and the other the computer.

Anyways I believe this could be done with the right equipment. Especially a cube case. You could even make the whole case acrylic and build right from scratch. There is enough templates and such for mounting motherboards and such.

I also have an other tank just as a side note. 3 gallon with 3 plants and two oto's that are quite happy living on there drift wood. I have had bigger tanks in the past but I moved and been too busy for big tanks or want to put the money in.

Oto's are cool since they are friendly and I have a female and a male so they lay eggs and such. And just need to feed them algae disks. Pack of them for 10 bucks is like a year of food for them place they are algae eaters. Very clean system.

I am think of adding some type of lilly pad so they can stick upside down.

[Silenti_etc]

nice setup there. I prefer seachems flourite or flourite red. Onyx comes from a different fracted clay quarry location and contains minerals which will raise your GH and KH. Not a problem with a betta, but more of a problem with the apistogrammas and other dwarf cichlids.

I still contend that computers and fish shouldnt mix. Unless you are computer automating parameters, as some reef keepers do.

There is an article in Aquarium Magazine January 2005 on lighting systems and it goes into the mist situation. Since page scans are illegal, gonna have to buy a copy. There may be versions of the article on that magazines website... if they have one. I know TFH doesnt.

Here are some pics of my planted tank. Its 10 gallons. Has a 36w Coralife Powercompact flouresent light fixture with a 40w 10,000K/6,700K (each half is a different color) CurrentUSA bulb. This tank used to have a pressurized CO2 system with a Milwaukee CO2 regulator & c02 controller. Uses RO'd then DI'd water (RO unit first, output goes through a DI unit. Waste water gets used to water plants, etc). Follows the Estimative Index method of fert dosing as outlined by Tom Barr. This tank was sold off about 4 months ago to pay for a ER visit due to moving my reef tank totally full of water and live rock and corals by myself. Current setup isnt looking nearly as nice at the moment, but I have a gorgeous pair of Kribensis' doing their mating dances while eating all my cherry shrimp($6 a pop) and THEIR babies.

Cardnia Japonica - aka Amano Shrimp

Here is my current setup from about a month or so ago. That black brush algae has totally cleared up. Also added some tropica Sunset Hygro in front of the rotala indica. Gives the kribs in the coconut shell a bit of privacy.

You're point about the water changes made me think of another reason not to get aquariums near a computer. I dont know about you, but I know that I, and every other aquarist friend I have get water everywhere when they do water changes or move stuff around. I tend to drip water all over the place especially when I am planting, pruning, or just pullin stuff out. Not to mention duckweed skimming.

I actually talked to a few other fish keepers about this, encluding a guy I am friends with who has owned a really nice fishstore for ~30 years. They say they wouldn't put a fishtank closer than about 2-3 feet away from a computer, tv or any other electronic device you wouldn't feel safe spraying with a squirt gun. Fish Store guy said that a marine aquarium is one of the best illustrators of water spray. Since the salt is left behind, you can easily tell where the spray has landed. And coming from my own reef systems and working at a store which utilizes a filtration system with no bubblers or even hangontheback filters, the amount of salt that coats everything within a few feet of a the aquarium is pretty ridiculous.

Setting a small (<10g) tank on a desk beside a computer or on top of a desk where the computer sits at the users feet would be fine as long as you practiced some common sence about being careful with water. But any closer than that you are risking very expensive sensitive equipment.

[Whisp]

I am still not worried about spray or water. thats what the grease is for. I wonder what would produce more liquid. Condensation from a mach 2 system or mist from an aquarium!!!

Also I like this aquarium /computer

http://nobispro.com/aquatank/

Anyways It in my opinion that you could do it while others may think you can't. but I have seen it done and believe if the proper precations where made that even bigger and better ones could be made internally.

BTW nice tank. Like the coconut shell.

I am really surprised that seeing your tank that you would make a comment such as they would suffocate when you have live plants. Seems odd lol.


Anyways I think its just the modder in me and how I invision it being done. If I had like 6 grand to blow on a mod like that i would do it.

So far two projects linked so going to link two of their pictures.

[cip]

gully

Ive seen others too and will see if i can find them.

[Whisp]

Btw I was sitting here thinking and something else came up in my mind. I have seen many and I mean many systems that use an external water cooling kit where they made a box for the computer to sit on or its on top or beside the system. Inside that box is a tub and a rad/heatercore. the tub is open and these people are using a submersible pump. All around the system are fans and the computer and such.

I personally know someone that has had a setup like that for three years , has not change the computer parts and the system still works fine.

That would be the same as having an aquarium in my opinion since it has a pump with an impellar on it. I know its not inside but its close enough

Humidity in itself isnt good for a computer but people put water cooling systems in all the time. The reason it is ok is because it sealed properly.

For the submersible you could put a lid on these since I have seen some funny things like a cat hair clogged water block but would be the same as inclosing the filtration system. I have seen many mods wherte they have submersibles in an enclosed box.

Then there is pelts and phase change systems in which you have to protect for those systems agasint condensation and the humidty factor goes up anyways and those systems do just fine too.

Thats just more thoughts on the matter.