|
|
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
A possible scenario for the evolution of the aquarium:
If we start by examining the constraints, I think the 4 biggest are the purchase cost (people don't complain so much about the running costs), the space (large footprint in prime real-estate in the house, and difficult to move), the weight (we want bigger aquariums except for the cost and the space it takes and eventually moving it), and finally the maintenance (primarily cleaning algae off the front glass and water changes). Does that sum it up adequately? Other possible constraints are noise and water cooling (when needed). If we look at the trends, despite the weight, cost & space, aquariums are slowly getting larger, however this makes their best location to be concrete (basement) away from prime viewing area (living room). Also more money is being spent on them, and there are many more complex features available (lighting, filtration, CO2, aquatic gardening going more mainstream etc) If a solution to the constraints existed, then the natural trend would continue towards having larger & more complex aquariums, and I think I have a solution :o). I got the idea from a friend's home theatre system, where one entire wall of the room was dedicated to the TV projection. The aquarium becomes a large moulded tub sitting in a corner of the basement, with an underwater camera controlled by joystick from the living room (controlling x, y, z and focus). 1. Cost goes down (no glass, no manufacturing assembly, reduced shipping cost (lightweight and stackable)). 2. Space is less critical, physically located in low-use area of the house, 'beamed' to living room wall (also frees space upstairs for other things). 3. Moving is relatively easy, drain and throw in the back of a van (not fragile). 4. Weight is a non-issue (no floor reinforcement needed on concrete floor). 5. Algae maintenance? (no glass to clean algae off of, camera could be raised from water when not in use). Perhaps wipe the lens cover periodically. 6. Filter maintenance (simplified as components do not need to be hidden away). 7. Water changes (with external pumps/filters and less restriction on the placement of supply/drain piping, water changes could be greatly simplified, draining from below the gravel (gravel-vacuum) and refilling through filter return lines). 8. Operation (filter/fan noise non-issue, cooling should be non-issue) 9. A bonus would be that the observed fish behaviour would be much more natural (and interesting). Problems 1) Feeding, unlike pond owners, aquarists like to watch the fish eat. I'm assuming this will be an acceptable adaptation, evidenced by pond folks always feeding from a top view. 2) Other tank maintenance (trimming plants, arranging rocks, driftwood etc). This is potentially the biggest constraint. I wouldn't want to hang upside down in the middle of a tub to re-arrange the stuff inside. This would be partly addressed by the tub being moulded into shapes, so much of it would not be movable (tiers for planting, plugs for pushing driftwood into, caves, rockwork etc might even be incorporated into the mould). Another method would be to have a camera feed locally to a small monitor. This would be acceptable, though a bit of a nuisance (though I've worked on large tanks where I had to get out whenever I wanted to see what I'd done, so a monitor would've been handy to have). A monitor would also address the feeding issue (providing a side view on the action). Please note that I'm not selling this concept. I'm just putting circumstances and emerging technology together in a particular application. This will never replace the small counter tanks, only the big 55g+ community tanks in our living rooms (which could now become 400-500g circular pre-moulded tubs). If nothing else, it would be interesting to put 2 or 3 cameras in there, and have the inside of your tub-aquarium projected on to 2 or 3 walls simultaneously. could be very kewl :o) -- www.NetMax.tk |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:22:45 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote: A possible scenario for the evolution of the aquarium: If we start by examining the constraints, I think the 4 biggest are the purchase cost (people don't complain so much about the running costs), the space (large footprint in prime real-estate in the house, and difficult to move), the weight (we want bigger aquariums except for the cost and the space it takes and eventually moving it), and finally the maintenance (primarily cleaning algae off the front glass and water changes). Does that sum it up adequately? Other possible constraints are noise and water cooling (when needed). If we look at the trends, despite the weight, cost & space, aquariums are slowly getting larger, however this makes their best location to be concrete (basement) away from prime viewing area (living room). Also more money is being spent on them, and there are many more complex features available (lighting, filtration, CO2, aquatic gardening going more mainstream etc) If a solution to the constraints existed, then the natural trend would continue towards having larger & more complex aquariums, and I think I have a solution :o). I got the idea from a friend's home theatre system, where one entire wall of the room was dedicated to the TV projection. The aquarium becomes a large moulded tub sitting in a corner of the basement, with an underwater camera controlled by joystick from the living room (controlling x, y, z and focus). 1. Cost goes down (no glass, no manufacturing assembly, reduced shipping cost (lightweight and stackable)). 2. Space is less critical, physically located in low-use area of the house, 'beamed' to living room wall (also frees space upstairs for other things). 3. Moving is relatively easy, drain and throw in the back of a van (not fragile). 4. Weight is a non-issue (no floor reinforcement needed on concrete floor). 5. Algae maintenance? (no glass to clean algae off of, camera could be raised from water when not in use). Perhaps wipe the lens cover periodically. 6. Filter maintenance (simplified as components do not need to be hidden away). 7. Water changes (with external pumps/filters and less restriction on the placement of supply/drain piping, water changes could be greatly simplified, draining from below the gravel (gravel-vacuum) and refilling through filter return lines). 8. Operation (filter/fan noise non-issue, cooling should be non-issue) 9. A bonus would be that the observed fish behaviour would be much more natural (and interesting). Problems 1) Feeding, unlike pond owners, aquarists like to watch the fish eat. I'm assuming this will be an acceptable adaptation, evidenced by pond folks always feeding from a top view. 2) Other tank maintenance (trimming plants, arranging rocks, driftwood etc). This is potentially the biggest constraint. I wouldn't want to hang upside down in the middle of a tub to re-arrange the stuff inside. This would be partly addressed by the tub being moulded into shapes, so much of it would not be movable (tiers for planting, plugs for pushing driftwood into, caves, rockwork etc might even be incorporated into the mould). Another method would be to have a camera feed locally to a small monitor. This would be acceptable, though a bit of a nuisance (though I've worked on large tanks where I had to get out whenever I wanted to see what I'd done, so a monitor would've been handy to have). A monitor would also address the feeding issue (providing a side view on the action). Please note that I'm not selling this concept. I'm just putting circumstances and emerging technology together in a particular application. This will never replace the small counter tanks, only the big 55g+ community tanks in our living rooms (which could now become 400-500g circular pre-moulded tubs). If nothing else, it would be interesting to put 2 or 3 cameras in there, and have the inside of your tub-aquarium projected on to 2 or 3 walls simultaneously. could be very kewl :o) Then, why have a personal aquarium, a community aquarium could suffice. Maybe one connected to the net, so people all over the world could enjoy it. then someone could come up with the idea of having a small instence of an aquarium in your very own living room, and start the whole thing over. Besides, I don't have a basement. |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
"Charles" wrote in message ... then someone could come up with the idea of having a small instence of an aquarium in your very own living room, and start the whole thing over. Besides, I don't have a basement. ========================= Neither do we. Few people I know have basements here because of the rock so close to the surface. And seeing something like a movie is a not like actually viewing the fish through a piece of glass in front of you. -- Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995... Aquariums since 1952 My Pond & Aquarium Pages: NEW PAGE: Aquariums: http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastada...ium-Page4.html http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy ~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
From: "NetMax" Subject: Future scenario for the home aquarium. Date: Sunday, January 15, 2006 9:22 PM A possible scenario for the evolution of the aquarium: =========== Brevity snip! You have too much time on your hands. ;-) How about inventing some kind of heater for betta bowls to sit on and be heated? You know, like a heat tape that runs along the window sill, table or shelf with the bowls sitting on them. I'll be your first customer. -- Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995... Aquariums since 1952 My Pond & Aquarium Pages: NEW PAGE: Aquariums: http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastada...ium-Page4.html http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy ~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
I don't think you'd actually want the tank very deep, maybe 2-3'
max, max. Easier to clean, lighting is far less of an issue, easier and cheaper to build. If you have fairly large x and y movement you don't care z is less than super showtank height. Lots of small camera heads would be cool too, in all axes, you could pipe the images to displays all over a room and with enough of them it'd feel like you're moving in the tank. -- Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org 1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net 633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
You have too much time on your hands. ;-) How about inventing some kind of
heater for betta bowls to sit on and be heated? You know, like a heat tape that runs along the window sill, table or shelf with the bowls sitting on them. I'll be your first customer. Take a 500 - 1500W space heater. Put a glass table over it. Put the jars on there. Adjust the heater between 500 1000 and 1500W as the season changes or get a thermostatically controlled one. That'll heat a small room, too. We do this with a lizard to keep it at the right temperature. I must have arctic bettas because they don't mind the cold, the lizard does though. That'd probably work for a lot of jars. If you jsut had a few I'd probably try to make something out of xmas lights, incandescent ones. One per jar should be enough, jsut make a small base for each and stuff the bulb inside it. Shim it with rock slices to regulate the temperature if it's too warm. -- Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org 1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net 633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
"Charles" wrote in message ... On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:22:45 -0500, "NetMax" wrote: A possible scenario for the evolution of the aquarium: If we start by examining the constraints, I think the 4 biggest are the purchase cost (people don't complain so much about the running costs), the space (large footprint in prime real-estate in the house, and difficult to move), the weight (we want bigger aquariums except for the cost and the space it takes and eventually moving it), and finally the maintenance (primarily cleaning algae off the front glass and water changes). Does that sum it up adequately? Other possible constraints are noise and water cooling (when needed). If we look at the trends, despite the weight, cost & space, aquariums are slowly getting larger, however this makes their best location to be concrete (basement) away from prime viewing area (living room). Also more money is being spent on them, and there are many more complex features available (lighting, filtration, CO2, aquatic gardening going more mainstream etc) If a solution to the constraints existed, then the natural trend would continue towards having larger & more complex aquariums, and I think I have a solution :o). I got the idea from a friend's home theatre system, where one entire wall of the room was dedicated to the TV projection. The aquarium becomes a large moulded tub sitting in a corner of the basement, with an underwater camera controlled by joystick from the living room (controlling x, y, z and focus). 1. Cost goes down (no glass, no manufacturing assembly, reduced shipping cost (lightweight and stackable)). 2. Space is less critical, physically located in low-use area of the house, 'beamed' to living room wall (also frees space upstairs for other things). 3. Moving is relatively easy, drain and throw in the back of a van (not fragile). 4. Weight is a non-issue (no floor reinforcement needed on concrete floor). 5. Algae maintenance? (no glass to clean algae off of, camera could be raised from water when not in use). Perhaps wipe the lens cover periodically. 6. Filter maintenance (simplified as components do not need to be hidden away). 7. Water changes (with external pumps/filters and less restriction on the placement of supply/drain piping, water changes could be greatly simplified, draining from below the gravel (gravel-vacuum) and refilling through filter return lines). 8. Operation (filter/fan noise non-issue, cooling should be non-issue) 9. A bonus would be that the observed fish behaviour would be much more natural (and interesting). Problems 1) Feeding, unlike pond owners, aquarists like to watch the fish eat. I'm assuming this will be an acceptable adaptation, evidenced by pond folks always feeding from a top view. 2) Other tank maintenance (trimming plants, arranging rocks, driftwood etc). This is potentially the biggest constraint. I wouldn't want to hang upside down in the middle of a tub to re-arrange the stuff inside. This would be partly addressed by the tub being moulded into shapes, so much of it would not be movable (tiers for planting, plugs for pushing driftwood into, caves, rockwork etc might even be incorporated into the mould). Another method would be to have a camera feed locally to a small monitor. This would be acceptable, though a bit of a nuisance (though I've worked on large tanks where I had to get out whenever I wanted to see what I'd done, so a monitor would've been handy to have). A monitor would also address the feeding issue (providing a side view on the action). Please note that I'm not selling this concept. I'm just putting circumstances and emerging technology together in a particular application. This will never replace the small counter tanks, only the big 55g+ community tanks in our living rooms (which could now become 400-500g circular pre-moulded tubs). If nothing else, it would be interesting to put 2 or 3 cameras in there, and have the inside of your tub-aquarium projected on to 2 or 3 walls simultaneously. could be very kewl :o) Then, why have a personal aquarium, a community aquarium could suffice. Maybe one connected to the net, so people all over the world could enjoy it. then someone could come up with the idea of having a small instence of an aquarium in your very own living room, and start the whole thing over. Besides, I don't have a basement. Right on. |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 03:45:16 GMT, Charles
wrote: On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:22:45 -0500, "NetMax" wrote: A possible scenario for the evolution of the aquarium: If we start by examining the constraints, I think the 4 biggest are the purchase cost (people don't complain so much about the running costs), the space (large footprint in prime real-estate in the house, and difficult to move), the weight (we want bigger aquariums except for the cost and the space it takes and eventually moving it), and finally the maintenance (primarily cleaning algae off the front glass and water changes). Does that sum it up adequately? Other possible constraints are noise and water cooling (when needed). If we look at the trends, despite the weight, cost & space, aquariums are slowly getting larger, however this makes their best location to be concrete (basement) away from prime viewing area (living room). Also more money is being spent on them, and there are many more complex features available (lighting, filtration, CO2, aquatic gardening going more mainstream etc) If a solution to the constraints existed, then the natural trend would continue towards having larger & more complex aquariums, and I think I have a solution :o). I got the idea from a friend's home theatre system, where one entire wall of the room was dedicated to the TV projection. The aquarium becomes a large moulded tub sitting in a corner of the basement, with an underwater camera controlled by joystick from the living room (controlling x, y, z and focus). 1. Cost goes down (no glass, no manufacturing assembly, reduced shipping cost (lightweight and stackable)). 2. Space is less critical, physically located in low-use area of the house, 'beamed' to living room wall (also frees space upstairs for other things). 3. Moving is relatively easy, drain and throw in the back of a van (not fragile). 4. Weight is a non-issue (no floor reinforcement needed on concrete floor). 5. Algae maintenance? (no glass to clean algae off of, camera could be raised from water when not in use). Perhaps wipe the lens cover periodically. 6. Filter maintenance (simplified as components do not need to be hidden away). 7. Water changes (with external pumps/filters and less restriction on the placement of supply/drain piping, water changes could be greatly simplified, draining from below the gravel (gravel-vacuum) and refilling through filter return lines). 8. Operation (filter/fan noise non-issue, cooling should be non-issue) 9. A bonus would be that the observed fish behaviour would be much more natural (and interesting). Problems 1) Feeding, unlike pond owners, aquarists like to watch the fish eat. I'm assuming this will be an acceptable adaptation, evidenced by pond folks always feeding from a top view. 2) Other tank maintenance (trimming plants, arranging rocks, driftwood etc). This is potentially the biggest constraint. I wouldn't want to hang upside down in the middle of a tub to re-arrange the stuff inside. This would be partly addressed by the tub being moulded into shapes, so much of it would not be movable (tiers for planting, plugs for pushing driftwood into, caves, rockwork etc might even be incorporated into the mould). Another method would be to have a camera feed locally to a small monitor. This would be acceptable, though a bit of a nuisance (though I've worked on large tanks where I had to get out whenever I wanted to see what I'd done, so a monitor would've been handy to have). A monitor would also address the feeding issue (providing a side view on the action). Please note that I'm not selling this concept. I'm just putting circumstances and emerging technology together in a particular application. This will never replace the small counter tanks, only the big 55g+ community tanks in our living rooms (which could now become 400-500g circular pre-moulded tubs). If nothing else, it would be interesting to put 2 or 3 cameras in there, and have the inside of your tub-aquarium projected on to 2 or 3 walls simultaneously. could be very kewl :o) Then, why have a personal aquarium, a community aquarium could suffice. Maybe one connected to the net, so people all over the world could enjoy it. search Google "fish web cam" It has been done for years already dick then someone could come up with the idea of having a small instence of an aquarium in your very own living room, and start the whole thing over. Besides, I don't have a basement. |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
NetMax wrote:
A possible scenario for the evolution of the aquarium: If we start by examining the constraints, I think the 4 biggest are the purchase cost (people don't complain so much about the running costs), the space (large footprint in prime real-estate in the house, and difficult to move), the weight (we want bigger aquariums except for the cost and the space it takes and eventually moving it), and finally the maintenance (primarily cleaning algae off the front glass and water changes). Does that sum it up adequately? Other possible constraints are noise and water cooling (when needed). If we look at the trends, despite the weight, cost & space, aquariums are slowly getting larger, however this makes their best location to be concrete (basement) away from prime viewing area (living room). Also more money is being spent on them, and there are many more complex features available (lighting, filtration, CO2, aquatic gardening going more mainstream etc) If a solution to the constraints existed, then the natural trend would continue towards having larger & more complex aquariums, and I think I have a solution :o). I got the idea from a friend's home theatre system, where one entire wall of the room was dedicated to the TV projection. The aquarium becomes a large moulded tub sitting in a corner of the basement, with an underwater camera controlled by joystick from the living room (controlling x, y, z and focus). 1. Cost goes down (no glass, no manufacturing assembly, reduced shipping cost (lightweight and stackable)). 2. Space is less critical, physically located in low-use area of the house, 'beamed' to living room wall (also frees space upstairs for other things). 3. Moving is relatively easy, drain and throw in the back of a van (not fragile). 4. Weight is a non-issue (no floor reinforcement needed on concrete floor). 5. Algae maintenance? (no glass to clean algae off of, camera could be raised from water when not in use). Perhaps wipe the lens cover periodically. 6. Filter maintenance (simplified as components do not need to be hidden away). 7. Water changes (with external pumps/filters and less restriction on the placement of supply/drain piping, water changes could be greatly simplified, draining from below the gravel (gravel-vacuum) and refilling through filter return lines). 8. Operation (filter/fan noise non-issue, cooling should be non-issue) 9. A bonus would be that the observed fish behaviour would be much more natural (and interesting). Problems 1) Feeding, unlike pond owners, aquarists like to watch the fish eat. I'm assuming this will be an acceptable adaptation, evidenced by pond folks always feeding from a top view. 2) Other tank maintenance (trimming plants, arranging rocks, driftwood etc). This is potentially the biggest constraint. I wouldn't want to hang upside down in the middle of a tub to re-arrange the stuff inside. This would be partly addressed by the tub being moulded into shapes, so much of it would not be movable (tiers for planting, plugs for pushing driftwood into, caves, rockwork etc might even be incorporated into the mould). Another method would be to have a camera feed locally to a small monitor. This would be acceptable, though a bit of a nuisance (though I've worked on large tanks where I had to get out whenever I wanted to see what I'd done, so a monitor would've been handy to have). A monitor would also address the feeding issue (providing a side view on the action). Please note that I'm not selling this concept. I'm just putting circumstances and emerging technology together in a particular application. This will never replace the small counter tanks, only the big 55g+ community tanks in our living rooms (which could now become 400-500g circular pre-moulded tubs). If nothing else, it would be interesting to put 2 or 3 cameras in there, and have the inside of your tub-aquarium projected on to 2 or 3 walls simultaneously. could be very kewl :o) The drawbacks to this, as I see it, a- 1. I don't have a basement 2. What material would the tub be made of? If not glass or acrylic then what are the impacts on any plants not getting sufficient light? 3. The choice then becomes one of watching TV or movies or watching the fish. In this house I'm sure that I'd be over-ruled and the TV would be on rather than the tank. OK, you could set up a separate system to watch the fish but that would take up as much space, and almost certainly cost more, than having the tank in the first place. 4. We have a house rule, no tank where there is TV - OK I confess I snuck in the 7.5gall Hex but it's not allowed to be anywhere in the line of vision - apparently the lights would detract from the screen. 5. We also have a house rule, no TV where there is a "large" fish tank, as this would detract from watching the fish. The Malawi tank lives in the "office area" and the Community tank I'm about to upgrade lives in the Conservatory....no TVs in either of these rooms. 6. Part of the fun, I find, is sitting watching the tank or walking past one of the tanks and then spotting something happening. Wouldn't work if I was monitoring just certain areas with a camera. So, lots of interesting behaviour would be missed IMO. I think what you are proposing is really a tropical pond which is a fine concept on it's own but couldn't be a replacement for our glass/acrylic tanks.... BTW If you could come up with something to automatically clean algae off of the glass I'm sure that that would catch on much quicker - lol Gill |
Future scenario for the home aquarium.
You would have to have collision detection for the camera's motion
controller. So, there is added cost. I don't know how you could do such a thing. I think infared would be out (fish are cold blooded). I suppose you could use ultrasonics.... Hey you wouldn't want to squash a fish would you?!? I don't have a basement either. SOOoooo, can't we just have a virtual aquarium? They sell SVGA projectors for your computer. Would that work? Space and maintenance wouldn't be an issue. Initial cost would be about the same, I should think. You could water cool your processor if you wanted the "trickle" sound. No? |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:59 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
FishKeepingBanter.com