[McCaulsey] found an old TV waiting for garbage pick-up on the side of the curb. He brought it home and gave it a new life as an aquarium.
His technique is a little rough, but the finished look is exactly what he was going for. He picked up the cheapest aquarium set he could find at the pet store. It just happens to have a curved front to it which helps to recreate the look of the original CRT. After removing most of the electrical components he went to work on the plastic fins that were used to mount them. Having somehow misplaced his Dremel tool the work was done with a drill and a 1/4″ paddle bit.
Once the demolition was over he started the rebuild by placing a backer in the tank. This is an underwater image that will save him from having to look at the inside of the TV case through the water. A piece of Styrofoam was used as a base to properly frame the front of the tank. The only thing we can’t tell from the build album is how he will manage to feed the fish without taking everything apart again.
[via Reddit]
Hehe, that was an entertaining read.
1) Cituke’s right, too small for mulm factories (goldfish). At their current size, you *can* keep the water quality adequate with heavy biofiltration and maybe some live plants, but they’ll soon outgrow even that.
2) I have that same tank. I had it on a surface that wasn’t completely flat, and expected it wouldn’t be such a problem with such a small acrylic tank, thinking it would flex. Which it did, but over time it developed stress cracks. While it’s still watertight, I don’t really trust it for long term use, and now keep it in reserve for emergencies. Some additional work on that styrofoam base might be necessary to give it adequate support.
Feeding! What about cleaning, arraigning stuff etc. My two favorite TV programs are live Radar and Fish TV. Don’t forget to put the necessary logo in the bottom right corner, and pop-up ads for Hartz products! I have done with out TV for years but not radio. When I first hooked up a digital box to a computer monitor I was greeted by a GUN going off in my face (just one second of video) knowing there was a radar live feed I clicked, then caught my breath.
you lost me.
And tomorrow on HackaDay we learn more “hacks” aka basic Linux functionality and a follow up to the TVquarium – the Macquarium built off of an SE/30 back in 1990.
Always a nice little project, but since he has a dremel he should have cut off the top and installed some hinges to make tank access easier, just a suggestion.
And hopefully he saved the tuning gear on the TV – after all you can at the very least tune into those recently vacated frequencies and then demodulate it.
Alas, the only TV’s I see pitched around here are PLL style tuners. Blech!
500 channels of nothing but fish.
nice alternative to mopy fish!
Too bad modern panel TV’s don’t match the aspect ratio of the old TV’s (well, okay, in most ways it “is a good thing”). Then some of the humongous furniture “console” TV’s of the past could find new life with a flat screen inside them.
I’ve got 13 channels of fish on the TV to choose from ..
Big whoop! My uncle made one of these in 80’s where you could control pump and lights via knobs.