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Old TV to Aquarium Build


Guppy Guy
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I know I know, It’s been way too long since I have started an aquarium project, (and the last one didn’t exactly go according to plan 😬. (Click here to see my gumball machine aquarium build) This time though, I am using a pre-made tank with the filter built in, so it hopefully won’t be as hard to get working as the last one. 

The TV is a mid-90s Daywood a friend gave me, and the tank is one of those marineland 3 gallon portrait tanks. I have already gutted the tv, and cut the unnecessary supports so the tank will fit. The next thing to do will be to wire up the light to the original power button, and figure out how to secure it inside the TV while making tank accessibility easy for routine maintenance

I am super exited about this project, and I am more then happy to hear your ideas! I hope this comes out better then the gumball machine (a success assuming it doesn’t leak 😂)

Here is an image of the tv when I first got it, after I gutted it, and the tank I am using.

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On 1/14/2023 at 11:45 PM, Odd Duck said:

Something very cool about TV tanks. Do you already have a spot in mind for it?

Of course! I just broke down the 10 gallon tank in my room to give to my brother, so now there is an empty spot there. I want the sound of trickling water back in my room, so the sooner I get it done, the better 😀

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On 1/15/2023 at 12:58 PM, Guppy Guy said:

Of course! I just broke down the 10 gallon tank in my room to give to my brother, so now there is an empty spot there. I want the sound of trickling water back in my room, so the sooner I get it done, the better 😀

Excellent!

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I had a great idea today. I was thinking that aquarium maintenance would be practically impossible if I had to take apart the TV every single time, so I cut the bottom off! I attached an animated image of the before and after.

Since the tank isn’t resting on the TV base anymore (which is good as a tabletop is more stable then plastic), it is a little low. Luckily, I have plenty of wood, so I can set the tank on a piece to raise it up about an inch. I will cut that closer to the end so it won’t get in my way.

The next task is to cut a hole for feeding, as well as wire up the light. I have a cool idea for that so stay tuned! (See what I did there? 📺 😂)

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I have started the light control. Since there are 2 sides of this story, I split them below. The “Regular Person” part is super simple and basic, and the “nerdy like me 🙃” section goes into much more detail about parts and the design process. This is only the very beginning, and it will likely be a few days to complete. I tried to keep the descriptions simple, so let me know how I did. Enjoy!

Details for the regular person:

The light and controller use different power sources, so I have to use a transistor to control the power like a digital switch. This is repeated for both channels (white and blue). Currently, I am using a button for testing, but this will be connected to a small computer in the final version.

Details for the nerdy like me 🙃:

The light is a 12 volt strip, but the microcontroller I am planning to use is 5 volts. This requires the use of a transistor (BC337 if you were wondering) to switch the power, and because there is 2 channels (white and blue), this happens twice. Due to the nature of transistors, there is a total of 4 pull-up resistors (one on the base and one on the emitter. The collector doesn’t need one) to ensure that there is no ghosting.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I finally finished the prototype circuit. That was painful. I had to learn how to use a darlington transistor configuration, and trust me, its as difficult as it sounds 😂. The attached gif is me testing it out, and seeing that it (thankfully) works.

Now I have to import the schematic into the computer, and learn how to mill a PCB. I will give that a few attempts, and if it fails, I will just have to solder it all by hand.

I know that hardware I used is complicated, but it gives me the freedom to fine tune light setting from the software, and even add a built in timer in the future if I wanted to. Plus, all those components cost me less than $5 since I made it myself, so that is a bonus as well. Let me know what you think so far!

 

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  • 2 months later...

I promise I haven’t forgotten about this!

Sorry its been so long, but in the last 2 months, I taught myself how to manufacture my own Printed Circuit Board (PCB) on my CNC machine, and it wasn’t easy. This final result took about 20-ish tries to get correct, so thanks for bearing with me. Now that it is finally working, I should be able to move a lot faster with the rest of this project. 

This is the entire light control PCB, and it does nothing but control the lights. Basically, I took the circuit from the last update and put it on a final circuit board. The best part about this circuit is that I can re-program the control chip anytime I want and make it do anything I want. It is still pretty basic (only on/off), but I can incorporate timers and brightness control in the future. If someone wants more information, PM me and I will share the source files.  

 

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This is such a cool project! Back when I was a kid we had one of those huge big screen tube tvs. After it stopped working my dad always said he was going to convert it to a big terrarium or aquarium, but ended up being one of those dad projects that never happened lol. Can't wait to see more of this process!

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On 4/12/2023 at 5:36 PM, BeeGryphon said:

This is such a cool project! Back when I was a kid we had one of those huge big screen tube tvs. After it stopped working my dad always said he was going to convert it to a big terrarium or aquarium, but ended up being one of those dad projects that never happened lol. Can't wait to see more of this process!

That has happened with some of my other projects. I now force myself to have no more then three projects currently going on at once, or else I will never get anything done. (Don't ask me how I know! 🤣) This makes sure that there's always enough stuff to do so I will stay busy (if waiting on paint to dry or parts to come in the mail, I can work on something else). Currently, those three projects are the TV aquarium, fixing various electronics (just finished modding my iPod classic from 2005. It has Bluetooth now! 🤣), and deciding whether or not I want to try my hand with a small guppy pond (only thing holding me back is the 100 degree summers here in SC. I'll think of something though!).

Also, is it just me, or is the projects to do list seemingly endless?!

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