Lighting alone is pretty expensive. Sounds like it would be very expensive
to make a hood with all these features. I could easily see it costing way
more than the tank it would go on. I know I am always looking for a deal, I
doubt I would buy something that was more expensive than the alternatives.
If you're aiming for the high end crowd, perhaps they use canister filters
etc that generally go below the tank. There appears to be a lot of
complicated stuff on your list, you would need a lot of customer support
that your competitors might not.

I would guess you'd make it for larger aquariums, my guess is the larger you
go the more non uniform the sizes of the aquariums will be. Odd sizes, bow
front, hexagon? I know the gap on the aquaclear 70 filter I bought was too
small to fit over the rim on my 75 gallon aquarium. Will aquarium dimensions
be consistent enough for you to market something that works well enough with
everything to mass produce. There's probably about 20 different sizes of
aquariums at petsmart and most of them have a specific canopy. My guess is
you'd have to sell it as a combo with specific aquariums, or get stores to
do so.

It seems you have two items devoted to food storage and automated feeding. I
would guess most aquarium owners would enjoy feeding the fish themselves.
And have the fish get excited when they come up to the tank. I would also
rather leave my food in the container it came in anyway. Though I suppose I
do not buy food in bulk.

What are the reasons heaters and filters are not integrated today? It seems
like a good idea, do heater elements burn out much more quickly than the
lifespan of your typical filter. Why not make a hob filter with space for a
heater component if that's the obstacle.

I didn't see an air pump on your list.


"NetMax" wrote in message
...
I'm going to make a prediction that the next major leap in aquarium design
will be the canopy. I've watched technologies evolve, filters, filter
media, heaters, lighting technologies, feeding systems and water parameter
related equipment. Occasionally some of these technologies have imbedded
themselves into the canopy. For example, 8 years ago, an Italian aquarium
manufacturer had an auto-feeder built into a canopy with T6 fluorescent
lighting. They were a little ahead of their time. Marineland has a line
of tanks with their filters built into the canopy, and the design has
persisted, even with many drawbacks.

The canopy of the future will resemble what we have today, but will be
much bigger, possibly 8 to 12" thick. It will incorporate things like:

1. Filter system
- integrated biowheel, and sponge media which would be serviced through a
hatch in the canopy.
- backwash capability into overflows (see para. 7. below)

2. Storage
- nets, test kits etc

3. Heater
- why use precious aquarium real-estate for an unsightly heater

4. Food storage
- empty/mix all your dried fish foods, pellets, flakes, freeze-dried etc
into a compartment which is sealed when the hatch is closed.
- there is a screw-type feeder with rubber blades (to keep humidity away
from the food) operated/programmed from a keypad (integrated into the
canopy)
- level indicator (proximity switch) provides visual indicator of low food
levels (ie: by reversing light operation to get your attention)
- filters would automatically turn off for 10 minutes during feeding

5. Light System
- staged lighting, programmed from same keypad
- dawn/dusk lights, small halogen making a spot light effect, with ripples
shadowing the substrate, used to transition to/from nightfall and daylight
main lighting
- main lights (two CF groups, morning 1/2 on, mid-day all on, and evening
1/2 on again)
- programmed variability (cloudy periods) to reduce algae (currently done
with timers set to 1 hour off)
- twilight lighting (typically red or actinic) not programmed, set
manually, for those bottle of wine by the fire late evenings.

6. Ventilation & Cooling
- all that lighting will require that the ballasts are in a separate
vented area (separate from the air under the canopy)
- stainless steel tubing (with cooling fins) replaces conventional hoses,
allowing atmospheric cooling using a small fan triggered by a
thermocouple.

7. Water/Atmospheric control
- pH regulated through CO2 injected inside canopy (or skip to next item)
- low pH amber/tannic appearance through black-water concentrate pellets,
or processed/compressed leaf pellets
- kH regulated through baking soda pellets
- continuous monitoring of conductivity (TDS control)
- plumbed directly into home's DWV and cold water supply line (for
continuous water changes through a drip system)
- thermocouple (replaces thermometer), to activate dynamic cooling
(para.6) and reduce lighting to cool as required. (heater's thermocouple
would be a separate unit in-line with heating elements).
- backwash cycle which would pulse water in through the gravel, trapping
mulm in screens located near overflow pipes

8. Power distribution
- plug the canopy in and all peripherals connect to canopy's integrated
GFI protected power bar.

9. Water Purification option
- clear plastic bell fits on top of canopy (semi-integrated), housing
various bog/terrestrial plants whose roots would strip out any remaining
NO3 from non-planted tanks (silk plants would make a come back, but some
people will always want real plants).

10. Live Food option
- habitat section in canopy for growing small creatures (ie: white worms
in earth, feeding off decay from mechanical filtration stage, or mysis
shrimp hatchery etc). Hatchery occupants will randomly 'escape' into main
tank to be eaten.


Did I miss anything? Today, this equipment & electronics exist
separately, much of it in high volume consumer goods, except for:
a) the canopy itself (fairly straightforward mould with several options
and expansion panels to include odd sized aquarium dimensions).
b) the canopy horizontal filter (plastic moulds) utilizing twin
(redundancy) generic powerheads
c) the controller and fairly straightforward programming
d) integration of all the components

Alone, I could prototype this in about 6 years (it is that easy), so a
group of people could probably get one into pre-production testing in 12
months, and into production, 6 months after that.

The question is, would it sell. Would you buy one? Is it complete,
anything missing?
--
www.NetMax.tk