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Aquarium PC Mod

I

IceyMyst

n00b
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
10
Hey, I'm planning my first computer mod and I was thinking about building an HTPC into a functional aquarium with living fish and the works. I know it might seem a little extreme especially for my first mod but I'm fairly confident that I can pull this off. My planned design is fairly simple. I'm thinking about building a 20 gallon tank with a sealed compartment made of acrylic for the parts to slide into. I just wanted to know if anyone had any input/suggestions/experiences with a mod of this sort.
 
as i recall i've actually already seen this done. I know i personally use a 200 Watt AT Powersupplie to run part of my aquarium. have you checked out www.reefcentral.com ?

So long as your not using a Marine Saltwater Setup, you really shouldnt have too much of a problem. Though you Might drive your fish crazy at first till the get used to the vibrations of yur computer.

I'e noticed seriouse currosion on the powersupplie that i've used along with my marine setup. unfortunitly i dont have that setup no more due to hurricane Katrina... 2000 Dollars in fish, corals, and live rock died because we had to evacuate.

heres oen tip i can give you. Do not build the aquarium ontop of the computer. Keep in mind basic water weighs 8lbs per gallon. saltwater weighs around 8.7 to 9lbs per gallon, So you dont want all that weight ontop of your system. Also once filled, assembled ad the tank cycled. dont espect to easilly move it.

If your going to do this i'd reccomend using Acrylic for the aquarium as well. it's not easy to bond acrylic to glass. If you do this, use weldon #4 for mending your acryllic together.

Once your acrylic is bonded, you will be able to tell If you have a good bond and tight seal of acrylic by looking down the seams and being able to see through it like glass. After you got your seal, Make sure you watertest it. If no leaks, then empty, dry, and silicone the inside of the aquarium seams with a thin coat of silicone. Le that dry for aleast 48 hours, then watertest again... Make sur eyou use silicone without copper. Especially if you use snails and such in your tank, cause invertibrates cannot handle any copper.

You do it right, you could actally proly light your entire aquarium, and run the computer of duel powersupplies. Except for maby the Hang on back Water filter, and heater.

I hope this helps. I dont know if you are an aquarium enthusiest and know what your doing or not, so i thought i would just cover the bases.

If i can be of any further assistance i would love to help you out on this project, you can get ahold of me on MSN under the name Conrade_55@hotmail.com.
 
sounds like a desaster waiting to happen, altho It sounds good at first, just think about what a single drop of water in the wrong place can do. water cooling setups are safer as there a closed system, but a fish tank needs to be open and that is where the danger is!
 
It could be a problem, if the computer is not sealed off from the tank. Water changes could be a problem. Ohh heres an idea, so long as you have no marine invertibrates in the tank, use the water from the fishtank as a cooling system.
 
Or build a completely custom setup out of acrylic where the PC runs through the center of the aquarium and the fish can swim around it! The idea of having that much water NEAR a PC worries me, much less as PART of the PC, but if you're going to do it, you might as well go all out.

Heh, and then you could use UV CCFLs to light the case and it would clean the water at the same time! (or am I wrong about UV lights killing bacteria, etc in aquariums?)

aquarium.jpg
 
Do it!

Would love to see how this would come out.. you should look into getting a removable motherboard tray from a case that has them and use that to slide the parts into the aquarium.
 
SLiCkFX said:
If you want to take the easy method, get one of these and replace the fake fish with real ones. :D
Click to expand...

someone needs to mod that case to use that as their res
 
This is simple, put your motherboard/components in a glass aquarium tank, fill it with vegetable oil (non-conductive) and then add the fish. Problem solved. :cool:
 
Be sure to get fish that are not temperature sensitive, or if you do, look at a celeron M or VIA
or just get good water cooling. I like the Idea, though. Good luck
 
jaguax said:
This is simple, put your motherboard/components in a glass aquarium tank, fill it with vegetable oil (non-conductive) and then add the fish. Problem solved. :cool:
Click to expand...
That would only work if you were planning to fry the fish and your CPU at the same time :D
 
Diablo2K said:
That would only work if you were planning to fry the fish and your CPU at the same time :D
Click to expand...


i dont think the fish would fair very well but cooking oil does work ,, did you see the Toms hardware video before?
 
Most tropical fish can handel an aoptimal range between 76 to 82 degrees. I've seen guppies handle temps in the range of 90's but i wouldnt test that for too long. With this much water volume, i doubt it would effect the temp of the aquarium much. Although i'd definatly stay away from metal halides as the lighting source for the tank.

As for the UV lighting, I dont think the UV lights for the comp, and Ones for aquariums are the same thing. The UV lights on an aquarium are atualy able to give you a sunburn, as are te metal halides. my 250watt MH lights on my marine tank have tanned my arms from actually working in it so much. Got to the point i'd turn them off leaving just the actenic blue 20k lights on to work int eh tank rather than the metal halides.

you are right however that uvlights are conducive to killing bacteria in a tank, but i think the ones in a computer are actually more like Black Lights. not true UV lights.
 
you should use the fish tank as your res.

just hope no fish get sucked thru your waterblocks :p
 
Yeah, have fish able to swim through your cooling tubes! Get fish that are UV-reactive. That would be trippy.
 
they actually do have fish that are UV reactive. the Pseudocromis for example glows a vibrant purple under uv lights. and there are some glass fish that have had dye injected into them that is uv reactive. but the dye wears off. neons are semi uv reactive.
 
GJSNeptune said:
Yeah, have fish able to swim through your cooling tubes! Get fish that are UV-reactive. That would be trippy.
Click to expand...

And lose your CPU because a fish got stuck in the CPU block :p.
 
Conano said:
you are right however that uvlights are conducive to killing bacteria in a tank, but i think the ones in a computer are actually more like Black Lights. not true UV lights.
Click to expand...

Correct, UV lights used for killing bacteria are classified into ragnes (wavelengths) of UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C. UV-C I know at least, can hurt your retina's not just give you a sunburn...
-PHiZ
 
make sure you dont cook your fish. You could do an ant farm, they like the heat and you wouldnt have to worry aobut the water aspect. Love the idea though.
 
The idea with the two plexi-glass tanks one in the other so the fish could swim around the computer would be freakin sweet to see. Maybe even build it Micro-ATX so it would be easier to clean the fish tank and stuff or change the water. But I don' tknow about water cooling using the fish tank water. Bacteria would build up, feces would clog the blocks/pump/radiator and it would be a maintenance nightmare.
 
but if you watercooled it and made it LOOK like it was using the fish tank water... that would be slick! Just hide the reservoir under the tank and have "dummy" hoses coming from the tank to nowhere...
 
hello, good idea. About 3 years ago I built one that was about a 5 gal size. My latest uses a VIA Eden mobo (about 6 1/2" X 7") I dont really know how to post picts well but I have a work Log started if you would like to see.

To all those that say its dangerous, well if ur not careful it is but I used a GFI on the end of the plug (the Black box on the end of a hairdryer cord to prevent shocks) And if the plastic is attached right it will hold just fine. Also the fewer seams the less chance for leaks. I had the side of my case bent into a U shape so 2 seams were eliminated, and the rounded corners look a lot cleaner.
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=12705
 
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