Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks

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Part I: Basic Hacks, Tools, and Techniques

8. Test the aquarium

Before adding fish and a water pump, you will need to

ensure that the tank is water-tight. Take the tank to your

sink and fill it up with tap water, watching for leaks. If

you see any, note their locations with a marker. Dry out

the areas in question for 30 minutes and then add more

solvent. Retest after you’ve fixed the leak.

Project Demo

If there are no leaks, install the filter plate and add gravel

to the bottom of the tank. Install an air pump and fill

the tank with water. Treat the water according to the

directions on the treatment package. Add fish and enjoy your creation! You

should have something that looks like Figure 2-69.

Upon first seeing your new fish tank, most people will probably do a double

take. They might even comment, “I don’t recall the Mac SE having a color

screensaver.”

Clean and maintain the tank just like a regular fish tank. And don’t forget

to feed your screensaver!

Extensions

• In this hack we concentrated on the Macintosh, but it is quite simple

to use the same techniques to modify an old monitor. You will need to

figure out for yourself how to take apart the case. Please be very careful

when handling the electronics and the tube inside the monitor. Follow

the same precautions as were described for discharging the Mac’s pic-

ture tube.

You will have to design your own Plexiglas enclosure following the same

methods outlined in this hack. Get a little extra acrylic plastic to prac-

tice with before starting on the final project.

These tanks can be quite striking when complete. Figure 2-70 shows a

tank that fits inside a large monitor case.

Figure 2-69:

Completed Macquarium

Project Demo

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43

Chapter 2, How to Build an Aquarium Inside a Macintosh

• To add some realism to your monitor/tank,

you could add a blinking LED to the power

lamp of the monitor.

• In Chapter 15, How to Build an Internet

Coffeemaker, you will hack together a web-

based temperature and water sensor. You could

easily use that hack with your new fish tank to

allow you to monitor the temperature and main-

tain a satisfactory water level for your fish tank

from anywhere in the world.

• If you want to give your fish some company,

you could mount the screen from an old lap-

top computer in the back and run a fish-tank

screensaver. Any color laptop should work.

Simply separate the screen from the base of the laptop, taking care to

protect the thin connection cables between the two. Repack the main

CPU board and keyboard in an enclosure behind the tank, and you are

ready to go. If the laptop has a free USB port, you could even add a web

camera and watch the fish.

• If you want to be able to remotely feed your fish, an inexpensive fish

feeder can be hacked to allow web-based control. The same mini-web

server used in Chapter 15 could be used to trigger a relay that switches

on the feeder.

Figure 2-70:

Large monitor aquarium

Extensions

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