"fish lover" wrote in message
...
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:
snip

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.

Agreed. as the filter and pump is integrated into the canopy, there
should be no cut-outs or visible plumbing to see.

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.

I don't understand why they don't build canister filters out of clear
plastic. They have been doing this for years with many HOBs. I like and
dislike the filter media on the Eclipse. It's great that you see it and
can change it without turning the pump off (or am I thinking of the Hagen
mini-tanks?), but gravity-fed water doesn't utilize filter media as
efficiently as force-fed. In itself, this can be a good thing, as the
detritus does not penetrate as deeply into the media, so it is less
likely to become clogged beyond repair, but it requires a significantly
greater surface area with different grades of filtering material (can't
have everything clog the surface of the first filter encountered). The
approach may be to filter the particulates down through several stages of
different densities of washable foam media, starting with a coarse open
cell and ending with a fine closed cell sponge. Engineering a good
design would be time consuming, (and take a lot of space) but the result
could be an extremely robust and user friendly system. Most of the
under-surface of the canopy's top could be dedicated to filtration mats,
easily accessible from above and exposed to air (some minimal ventialtion
with louvers opposite from the vents for the lighting ballasts). I would
be curious to see what powerpacks are economically available by the time
I do this. It might not be unreasonably to include a tiny dc powerhead
running off of a 12V lantern battery (perhaps making this powerhead the
only pump, and the battery on a continuous recharge circuit from the ac
mains?).

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.

Definitely. This is a technology which will be less expensive and more
accurate than anything else soon. My inclination would be to have a
small readout, but a wide flat multi-colour LED which would remain green
for a set temperature range, turning yellow for anything slightly outside
that range, and red for anything else. Realistically, this is what we
need. In the trade, I rarely read thermometers (it would take too long
with over a hundred tanks). I would simply touch the glass as I walked
by for an approximate range.

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.

This is something that has so far gotten mixed reviews. My concern is
that heat and humidity are the worst enemies of fish food, breaking down
the vitamins and promoting mold. If the food is not exposed, then I
would need to ensure the storage area did not get too warm. I might not
specifically design a storage area, but I would keep one in mind as there
is usually odd shaped cavities which could be utilized for storage with
little or no design compromises.

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.

You might be surprised to learn what an engineering challenge that can
actually be, with the tolerances of mass production. The $$$ that car
manufacturers put into finding the precise material, shape, reinforcing,
and sound that moving parts make is almost unbelievable, and this is not
just car doors, but down to the way the cup holder progressively pops up
and out like it was motorized.

Rather than increasing the costs by running high tolerances and many
little parts, I'd try to take a more holistic approach with the design,
keeping it simply, relatively easy to assemble, less little plastic
do-dads to break, and use strips of urethane pads on two-sided tape (or
wedged into a groove) just as you have suggested. It should feel as
solid and professional as it looks, and works.

thanks for the feedback!
--
www.NetMax.tk

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

Good luck.