Senior Project = Case Fish?

[veo_darkness13]

So, it's my senior high school year and since I'm dual enrolled getting my computer engineering degree at the same time I have to do a senior project on something in that general region... Last year the "biggest" project was a kid putting together a machine and showing it off... <_< So, thinking I might do something a little more extravagant I decided I'd try to pull off something I've been wanting to do for a while.

 

I was thinking of making a wooden case from scratch, just putting in a basic non $1k computer, and building an extra area on top and sliding in a fish tank. Kind of like this - Aqua Tank except wooden and with a pre-built fish tank. I was thinking more or less along the theme of making computer more "home-friendly".

 

Any advice and links are beyond appreciated, thanks. Or if you think I should just scrap the idea and go for something else that's great too, any advice is atleast something to build off of...

[cchalogamer]

Sounds like a very good idea...If you lived near me i would be more than happy to help....but last time i checked the closest OCC member that i didnt meet before seeing them on OCC lives about 1hr away.

 

As for the PC, make sure it's atleast modern, bc alot of ppl look at it and will instantly say it's a Piece or crap if it's not pretty speedy, and yes alot of n00b would say it was a POS if you were running windows 2000 pro and a 3800+....mainly bc it's not XP and it's not an Intel...humm

 

Im pretty sure you can come out cheaper than that guy...Not to mention explaingin to people what your doing tends to help get cheaper/free parts.

 

I asume you ahve access to a woodworking shop of some sorts to be attempting this aswell? bc if not dont even start with wood bc it'll take you 100% longer than planned, and be a total pain in the @$$

[Kamikaze_Badger]

Make sure you plan things out well, including temps. Fishies don't like 50C water.

[veo_darkness13]

I planned on lots of fans from the start, a must. I found a nice little review-type creation I'll probably be keeping very close throughout the whole process. Wooden Case

 

So I'll probably end up with something very near that, but with more fans continue it vertically and insert a little fishy tank. I was thinking of also making the very top wood with hinges so it could be swung open and the fish could be easily fed. Just a thought.

[henbenley]

I would suggest putting the fish tank at the bottom of the case for a few reasons:

1. Heat Rises and you dont want to cook your fishies.

2. If some water leaks or anything it wont land on top of your computer.

 

Thats just what I'm thinking. An even better idea would be to watercool the computer using the water from the fishtank, but I'm not sure if that would work too well.

[Kamikaze_Badger]

The fish wouldn't survive in efficient watercooling liquids, nor would the contaminates be very conductive.

[hardnrg]

algae and fish poop aren't such great watercooling additives

[Kamikaze_Badger]

Aye, you should try using a cat.

[RichMayo]

One piece of advice from my fish tank experience (of course, it's a 37 gallon fish tank so you may not experience this as badly):

 

The tank and water are very heavy. If you put the tank on the top, your final construction is going to be very top-heavy. Be sure to build a wide, stable wooden base if you do this.

 

Alternatively, you could build a "desktop" aquarium/case and put the aquarium at the bottom. This would reduce heat transfer from the case to the water, but would make access to the fish tank workings a tad more difficult.

 

Regardless of your preferred arrangement, go to a home center and buy a sheet of thin insulation material. Install it between the computer and fish tank.

 

Finally, to repeat what other folks have already said, don't make fish water cooling -- for too many reasons to go into here....

 

 

 

Good luck, and post pictures!!

R.

[OptikaliLLusion]

Maybe you can borrow a few pages from KB's book of homemade phase change. That'll keep the fish nice and cool

 

Seriously though, good luck with this. We hope pics will be provided

[Sylo]

I rember seeing a post awhile back about someone that put all his computer parts inside a fish tank and he filled it with some kind of no conductive oil that would keep the cpu cool. You could not put real fish in it but it looked cool. He had the little colored rocks and some of those pirate decorations at the bottom, might be worth looking into since you would not have to keep anything alive.

[martymcfly]

that would be cool. That liquid was probably fluorinert.