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 ). 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 )
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