What's your dream aquarium product that doesn’t exist?

[pedrofisk]

For fun, because I am genuinely curious and maybe to inspire @Cory, what's your dream aquarium product that doesn’t exist?

One that just occurred to me is a quick test strip for Ammonia.

The one thing I do worry most about is an Ammonia spike due to an irregularity (dead fish etc) that I might not notice right away. My issue is my aquariums have to be negligent resistant because I have three young kids and pre-virus traveled for work a lot. So regular water changes can be spotty. I've tried those in tank circle ones but they always expire before doing anything (which is good I guess) and I am never going back to test tube drop testing. I burnt out on that years ago.

Let's hear about your non-existent dream product!

 

(desktop aquarium added for post thumbnail)

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by pedrofisk
photo added for post thumbnail!

[Daniel]

I wish there was an underwater remote controlled submarine 4k camera that would swim in my aquarium and stream the results back to my phone. I could watch fish breed and check on fry from anywhere. And if I were in a boring meeting, I could get out my phone and watch my fish instead.

[Bill Smith]

20 minutes ago, pedrofisk said:

One that just occurred to me is a quick test strip for Ammonia.

Tetra makes those! I use them all the time! Dip for 10 seconds, read immediately!

https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-EasyStrips-Ammonia-Aquarium-25-Count/dp/B0053PQZ9C

Okay, this is gonna be a GREAT thread. I sense more such "actually that does exist" answers will be coming.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Bill Smith

[pedrofisk]

13 minutes ago, Bill Smith said:

Tetra makes those! I use them all the time! Dip for 10 seconds, read immediately!

https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-EasyStrips-Ammonia-Aquarium-25-Count/dp/B0053PQZ9C

Okay, this is gonna be a GREAT thread. I sense more such "actually that does exist" answers will be coming.

Yes, I use those and they are great but they don't have Ammonia on them. In fact using one on my cherry shrimp aquarium was my inspiration for this thread.

[Daniel]

39 minutes ago, Bill Smith said:

Okay, this is gonna be a GREAT thread. I sense more such "actually that does exist" answers will be coming.

@Bill Smith, if anyone could make my 4k streaming camera submarine, I expected it would be you. Let me know when you are ready, and I will help you test out the prototype.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Daniel
Making sure Bill Smith knew which Bill I was talking about

[TheDukeAnumber1]

19 minutes ago, pedrofisk said:

Yes, I use those and they are great but they don't have Ammonia on them. In fact using one on my cherry shrimp aquarium was my inspiration for this thread.

https://www.petsmart.com/fish/food-and-care/water-quality-testers/tetra-6-n-1-aquarium-water-test-stips-17476.html

They come in a separate bottle on their own strips.

 

I would like a net that is invisible to fish eyes.

Edited July 21, 2020 by TheDukeAnumber1

[pedrofisk]

22 minutes ago, TheDukeAnumber1 said:

https://www.petsmart.com/fish/food-and-care/water-quality-testers/tetra-6-n-1-aquarium-water-test-stips-17476.html

They come in a separate bottle on their own strips.

 

I would like a net that is invisible to fish eyes.

Well look at that, problem solved. Now I have to dream something else up. Thanks!

[MickS77]

Mine exists but not for freshwater. Automatic water tester like the Neptune Trident. Automatic daily testing of nitrate, ammonia, nitrite, ph, Gh, kh with text alerts for high readings. 

[Daniel]

Just now, MickS77 said:

Mine exists but not for freshwater. Automatic water tester like the Neptune Trident. Automatic daily testing of nitrate, ammonia, nitrite, ph, Gh, kh with text alerts for high readings. 

Oooh! I want that too!. Don't think it would make my tanks any better, but oh the possibilities of playing with a new toy like that! We could probably hack it to make it work in freshwater. There is a guy named Harry who shows how to make the Neptune stuff do anything you want it to do. The Neptune stuff is infinitely hackable.

[Bill Smith]

56 minutes ago, pedrofisk said:

Yes, I use those and they are great but they don't have Ammonia on them. In fact using one on my cherry shrimp aquarium was my inspiration for this thread.

You are referring to the 6-in-1 strips. Tetra makes them BOTH. Ammonia is not on the 6-in-1 strips because of a chemical incompatibility. The ammonia strips are sold separately. You dip longer, read faster than the 6-in-1 strips.

See for yourself!
https://www.amazon.com/Tetra-EasyStrips-Ammonia-Aquarium-25-Count/dp/B0053PQZ9C

[Brandy]

I dream of a distributed, invisible, water change system. One that I can turn a valve and change the water in a given tank, while I am doing something else.

Of course, could be done in a rack system, but not throughout my apartment...I have considered options but all of them involve snaking plumbing through walls, and somehow housing an aged water tank, in a closet? 

Ah, the pitfalls of renting.

[Pete]

I want a heater / HOB filter combo. It makes sense to me. Both are items you size to the tank volume, so why not combine them? It'd be sweet to come up with an aftermarket impeller / heater insert that would work in an Aquaclear so you only have one plug to plug in. 

[H.K.Luterman]

Dream aquarium product: a little container you program to catch certain fish (like, platties, guppies, etc), and then you just set it in your tank and AMAZINGLY all the fish of that type just go swim inside, making removal fast and easy. But until that's invented I guess I'll have to begrudgingly tear my aquariums apart and chase fish with a net in each hand. X3 

[Bill Smith]

36 minutes ago, Pete said:

I want a heater / HOB filter combo. It makes sense to me. Both are items you size to the tank volume, so why not combine them? It'd be sweet to come up with an aftermarket impeller / heater insert that would work in an Aquaclear so you only have one plug to plug in. 

You mean like this? 😉

Not single plug-in, but effective!

[Daniel]

14 minutes ago, H.K.Luterman said:

Dream aquarium product: a little container you program to catch certain fish (like, platties, guppies, etc), and then you just set it in your tank and AMAZINGLY all the fish of that type just go swim inside, making removal fast and easy. But until that's invented I guess I'll have to begrudgingly tear my aquariums apart and chase fish with a net in each hand. X3 

I once put Endler's in my big tank and they bred like guppies! I regretted it but there was no way to get them out again short of draining all 500 gallons. I got one of these minnow traps

and within a few days I had captured the last female, which put an end to the endless Endler's population explosion.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Daniel
grammar

[Bill Smith]

8 minutes ago, Daniel said:

and within a few days I had captured the last female, which put an end to the endless Endler's population explosion.

What did you bait it with?

[Daniel]

I think flake food (maybe). They were pretty curious and tended to wander in. My memory was they would be in the trap in the mornings. I wish I had those Endlers back now. Sometimes when something is working well you don't appreciate what you've got. The other way to catch the Endler females was to net them at night when they were sleeping, but that wasn't effective enough to eradicate them.

[H.K.Luterman]

2 hours ago, Daniel said:

I once put Endler's in my big tank and they bred like guppies! I regretted it but there was no way to get them out again short of draining all 500 gallons. I got one of these minnow traps

and within a few days I had captured the last female, which put an end to the endless Endler's population explosion.

I thought about getting something like that! I tried making a little home made trap out of a plastic water bottle, but I kept catching my betta over and over and not the fish I wanted. X3 NEXT TIME I guess I'll set up the quarantine tank and let my betta chill in there while I try to catch out fish!

[pedrofisk]

I used to use one of those minnow traps, to catch minnows!

[DaveSamsell]

6 hours ago, pedrofisk said:

For fun, because I am genuinely curious and maybe to inspire @Cory, what's your dream aquarium product that doesn’t exist?

 

 

One that just occurred to me is a quick test strip for Ammonia.

The one thing I do worry most about is an Ammonia spike due to an irregularity (dead fish etc) that I might not notice right away. My issue is my aquariums have to be negligent resistant because I have three young kids and pre-virus traveled for work a lot. So regular water changes can be spotty. I've tried those in tank circle ones but they always expire before doing anything (which is good I guess) and I am never going back to test tube drop testing. I burnt out on that years ago.

Let's hear about your non-existent dream product!

 

 

 

How about an automatic, ultrasonic biofilm/algae scraper.  With fully adjustable parameters not to damage silicone seals, remove programmed levels of layers of build-up & an alert when completed.  Well, at least I can dream..  🤔😏

[gcalberto]

6 hours ago, pedrofisk said:

For fun, because I am genuinely curious and maybe to inspire @Cory, what's your dream aquarium product that doesn’t exist?

 

 

One that just occurred to me is a quick test strip for Ammonia.

The one thing I do worry most about is an Ammonia spike due to an irregularity (dead fish etc) that I might not notice right away. My issue is my aquariums have to be negligent resistant because I have three young kids and pre-virus traveled for work a lot. So regular water changes can be spotty. I've tried those in tank circle ones but they always expire before doing anything (which is good I guess) and I am never going back to test tube drop testing. I burnt out on that years ago.

Let's hear about your non-existent dream product!

 

 

 

I'd love some sort of substance that acted like activated charcoal, but was able to absorb nitrates, so that you either wouldn't need to do water changes or would have to do them a lot less frequently. I sometimes travel for work, and my roommate feeds the fish, but he can't do water changes, which is sometimes a problem. I do use seachem purigem, but i'm not sure how effective it is at decreasing the need for water changes

[Frost]

5 hours ago, Pete said:

I want a heater / HOB filter combo

Kinda surprised Oase hasn't done this one yet, they've done canisters and internals with them

Maybe they'll get to it

[pedrofisk]

Since my first dream product turned out to already exist (thanks everyone!) here is another:

An auto-dosing pump for planted aquariums that first measures for various fertilizer concentrations in the aquarium and then auto-doses the correct missing ferts. So I would probably just set up with Easy Green and Iron but for someone doing Estimative Index (EI) Fertilization Method it could be more options. Maybe throw in an auto-water change if the concentrations get too high for EI as long as I am fantasizing.

[Diego]

An AI algorithm monitoring my tank via a video camera, classifing all species (animal and plants) and monitor them in time for changes. The AI will warn me of changes in color, pattern, size, behavior so I can early detect problems. It does not need to be very complicated, similar to what we have today on phones for face unlock combine with Google Lens. This could be an app on your phone but better if in a dedicated device attached to the tank or inside Daniel's submarine (which I like that too!). 

Edited July 22, 2020 by Diego

[DaveSamsell]

I have an idea for an aquarium related item.  Have to get a few more parts for it.  Should be ready in a week or two.  It's a secret till then.  Will post when completed.  👍