On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 20:43:27 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

"fish lover" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 00:35:36 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

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)

snip

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.

snip


I think one of the biggest thing about putting filter system in the
conopy is the heat from the lighting system. Also, electricty and
water dose not like each other. There is a chance of short there if
something going wrong. The makers maybe liable in that case. Killing
the fish is one thing, killing the person care for the fish will be a
big liability. Even if you put the cooling system in the canopy that
solve the heating problem, you will have to deal with the addiditonal
noise created by the cooling system.

Agreed, conventional fans would not waterproof inexpensively. The canopy
would need to exhaust its heat through a conventional chimney effect,
with low side air intakes and an exhaust at the top rear of the canopy.
Thanks fish lover, that gets rid of another annoying failure-prone
noise-generating moving part.

The filter's pump would be a conventional powerhead, so there is no
hazard there (underwater rated).

The heater could be a conventional submersible heater, or it would be
something similar if I was inclined to drag this through a UL-CSA
underwriter's approval.

For lights, hopefully something like the sealed T8(?) fluorescent lights
which use no barrier between them and the water (one less thing to clean
calcium deposits off of), but in a CF configuration. I think similar
enough applications already exist to be able to use one or modify it
slightly.


Few more things I can think of may help:
1. I would prefer to have the intake/return water pipes built into the
canopy. I hate to cut all kind of holes into my tank cover to fit in
the pipes.
2. As for the filter system, I would like to have something allows
easy change of media without stopping the filter system. That's one of
the things I hate about the cannister filter system. Also, you may
want to leave the filter media exposed to air so a pro ling power
outage will not kill all your good bacterias. I'm worred one of these
days my cannister filter systems will be dead after an hour or so of
power outage.
3. Since you are building the system anyway, you may want to add some
of the monitor devices such as digital temputure display (I just
bought one on ebay for $5 plus S&H). Really neat thing.
4. Your idea of having a small storage area for fish food and things
like that is eally good. I keep my fish food on top of my tank and
they just don't look good. Too much storage may not needed. Just a
small area to keep the dry food and things.
5. One thing you may want to keep in mind is to reduce any possible
sudden noise from all the moving parts of the canopy. Some fish are
sensitive to that. If you open a door to reach soemthing in the canopy
and it ratles, that may not be good for the fish. Adding a soft pad to
some of the doors may be a good idea. Slide doors or open from the
sides maybe better than the doors that open up and down.

Hey, maybe one of these days I can buy one from you!

Good luck.