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

[Sblev]

I don't know if this is a thing or possible but... a probe that you can leave in your tank and it will tell you all your parameters via an app. 

[Socqua]

On 11/5/2020 at 10:51 PM, MeggersNCat said:

My dream aquarium product is a heater or heater controller where I can simulate day and night. Just like lights that can create a sun rise and sun set why not have a heater or heater controller that will do that? So that mid day the tank will be at it's warmest and at night it's at it's coldest but still stays within a preset range. 

You can do that with the Inkbird temperature controllers:

Amazon.com: Inkbird ITC-306A WiFi Temperature Controller, Wi-Fi Aquarium Thermostat Heater Controller 120V~1200W Temperature Control with Two Probes only for Heater Aquarium Breeding Reptiles Hatching: Pet Supplies

 

I just have it set to a constant temperature and sync'ed with alexa. You can set scenes though and control different temperatures at different times (or days). There's different models with different capabilities, you can have cooling, dual thermostat meters, etc.

I'm curious though - maybe a question for @Daniel too - is there a benefit to actually changing the temperature? Do the fish prefer a day/night temp swing? We might need someone else's device that can read what a fish is thinking 🙂 . I kind of assumed a standard temperature would be most beneficial.

[Daniel]

2 minutes ago, Socqua said:

I'm curious though - maybe a question for @Daniel too - is there a benefit to actually changing the temperature? Do the fish prefer a day/night temp swing? We might need someone else's device that can read what a fish is thinking 🙂 . I kind of assumed a standard temperature would be most beneficial.

I don't know the answer to whether it is beneficial to have a day night differential. I know that when I take temperatures out in the wild there is a mild day and night swing.

The only two benefits that come to mind are:

• a lower temperature at night would lead to a lower metabolism which would conserve energy for the fish
• a day night temperature cycle might help regulate the fish's internal clock (but this is rank speculation)

[Coronal Mass Ejection Carl]

12 hours ago, Sblev said:

I don't know if this is a thing or possible but... a probe that you can leave in your tank and it will tell you all your parameters via an app. 

EXO3 Water Quality Sonde Rental

WWW.FONDRIEST.COM

---

Multi-Parameter Water Quality Sonde

$250 per day to rent. They don't list the price to buy one but I imagine it's pretty high.

[JettsPapa]

Last year someone posted on another aquarium forum I belong to that when he was younger he had a filter that you had to prime to get started, but then siphoning action somehow kept it working without a power source.  He promised to find out more information about it and post it, but somehow he faded away and never did.

It's too bad.  I've always wanted a perpetual motion machine.  It wouldn't even have to be aquarium related.

[pedrofisk]

3 hours ago, Daniel said:

I don't know the answer to whether it is beneficial to have a day night differential. I know that when I take temperatures out in the wild there is a mild day and night swing.

The only two benefits that come to mind are:

• a lower temperature at night would lead to a lower metabolism which would conserve energy for the fish
• a day night temperature cycle might help regulate the fish's internal clock (but this is rank speculation)

I remember the Baily Brothers back on their old podcast talking about in their first fish room (in San Diego mind you) their father made them turn all the heaters off at night. They thought in retrospect the fish they breed then were more hearty.

[Tiffany]

On 10/1/2020 at 4:50 PM, Bill Smith said:

OMG, we need to make this happen! What an idea! I'll bet it could be done. I have an extra Jehmco box filter; let's get together and start playing with this!

Omg!! I swear I was just thinking about this!!

[Jeff]

My latest and greatest idea: stands for all different sized tanks that come in a box, unassembled. Thus, making it cheaper to buy a stand. Pre-made stands are crazy expensive by themselves.

I'm not a DIY kind of guy. Every YT vid I've ever watched on how to make a stand is confusing to me. And I know I'd screw it up, if I tried. It's just my luck with fixing / making things. Just not my forte. 

Something like a piece of furniture you buy at a big box store, that provides you all the pieces (including nails, screws, everything) and instructions on how to build said stand.

 

[FishyJames]

I wish there was a product to remove pest snails and at the same time destroy algae.

[Streetwise]

More plants will help outcompete snails and algae!

[HenryC]

Probably something that can safely sedate fish in order to catch them easier! Absolute pain to catch danios un a planted tank.

[Tanked]

If my tank is so dark, why are the fish wearing dark glasses?

I want an economical device for poor people to measure the quality and quantity of light in their tanks. LFSs near me don't use/lend them.  and unless you have a fish room or grow plants for sale, the ROI isn't worth it for the average hobbyist.

 

[starsman20]

I'd like to have a light mount that moved the light out of the way when the lid opens and back when it closes. Half the time i forget and have 2 lights in back and none in front.

[AdamTill]

On 8/1/2020 at 5:57 PM, Pat.Shaw said:

Thanks yall! I will have to double check my internet/router.

Anything Alexa enabled will work for that. I have a ton of voice routines around the tank. Bonus that they all work with wet hands 🙂

Alexa, “it’s water change time”: stop filters, turn on all lights, stop circulation pumps, turn off heater (also reverse)

”show me the fish”: front light off, rear light on (often want a peak during a light off cycle”

”time to feed the fish”: stop circulation pump for 10 mins

etc.

I also have a custom private skill that records water readings and a few things if I speak them out

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by AdamTill

[AdamTill]

6 hours ago, Tanked said:

If my tank is so dark, why are the fish wearing dark glasses?

I want an economical device for poor people to measure the quality and quantity of light in their tanks. LFSs near me don't use/lend them.  and unless you have a fish room or grow plants for sale, the ROI isn't worth it for the average hobbyist.

 

My fish club bought one to lend out...then announced you needed a $200 refundable deposit and a club rep had to babysit it. No thanks, I’ll get my own one day...

[AdamTill]

My requests are simple...a circulation pump that takes a foam filter cartridge to protect the intake, and a sponge filter with an elbow on the uplift tube. I diy both

[AdamTill]

On 12/11/2020 at 11:56 AM, Daniel said:

I don't know the answer to whether it is beneficial to have a day night differential. I know that when I take temperatures out in the wild there is a mild day and night swing.

The only two benefits that come to mind are:

• a lower temperature at night would lead to a lower metabolism which would conserve energy for the fish
• a day night temperature cycle might help regulate the fish's internal clock (but this is rank speculation)

You could do that with two heaters and two smart switches. Use Alexa etc to turn one on and the other off at sunrise, sunset (which she adjusts for your lat/lon already). Also handy for aquarium and Christmas lights etc 

Edited December 18, 2020 by AdamTill

[Daniel]

46 minutes ago, AdamTill said:

You could do that with two heaters and two smart switches. Use Alexa etc to turn one on and the other off at sunrise, sunset (which she adjusts for your lat/lon already). Also handy for aquarium and Christmas lights etc 

I use an even easier solution. Under-powered heaters. The aquariums lights add 2 - 3 °F during daylight hours allowing the aquariums to reach almost 79°F. But when the lights go off at night the aquariums drop back to 75 - 76°F. Here are three 40 gallon aquariums I am currently tracking below:

By using 50 watt heaters in a 40 gallon aquariums the heaters run continuously. This results in a sine wave like day night differential. And because the lights are on a seasonal schedule that tracks local sunrise and sunset turning on a minute later each morning and turning off a minute earlier each evening (at least for a few more days until this process will reverse) the heating sine wave follows this seasonal lighting schedule.

 

[AdamTill]

Nice, easier on the heaters too with fewer on off cycles.

[Ken]

8 hours ago, Tanked said:

If my tank is so dark, why are the fish wearing dark glasses?

I want an economical device for poor people to measure the quality and quantity of light in their tanks. LFSs near me don't use/lend them.  and unless you have a fish room or grow plants for sale, the ROI isn't worth it for the average hobbyist.

 

There's someone advertising in our local want ads that will come and measure your PAR for $20 a tank. I don't know if that's a thing anywhere else.

[Coronal Mass Ejection Carl]

2 hours ago, Daniel said:

And because the lights are on a seasonal schedule that tracks local sunrise and sunset turning on a minute later each morning and turning off a minute earlier each evening (at least for a few more days until this process will reverse) the heating sine wave follows this seasonal lighting schedule.

How do you do this? I wasn't aware of any commercial lights that do this.

 

[AdamTill]

51 minutes ago, Coronal Mass Ejection Carl said:

How do you do this? I wasn't aware of any commercial lights that do this.

 

Maybe the Apex is smart enough?

I used to do this with wifi switches using home automation. Alexa will do it. I now just like to have the lights on each morning when I get up.

You still need to make sure you have some sort of siesta or limit to avoid an algae farm, but the start of the period slides with the morning light.

I did it to avoid photo shock (ie, turning a bright light on in a dark tank).

It’s even more slick with the Fluval 3.0s that dim on slowly.

So like so...

Edited December 19, 2020 by AdamTill

[Daniel]

8 hours ago, Coronal Mass Ejection Carl said:

How do you do this? I wasn't aware of any commercial lights that do this.

 

The Neptune Apex has a 'Season Table'

I tell the outlet(s) for the lights to use this code:

Which turns the lights on and off according to the dates and times in the 'Season Table'.

[Maggie]

@DanielI am curious. Do you set the lights on-off according to the number of daylight hours in your area, or do you set them according to the daylight hours of the fishes' native habitat? I am curious because in Guam, for example, there is only about an hour difference in daylight hours over the course of a year, where here in the mid-Atlantic we have a whole lot more daylight hours in the summer. 

[Daniel]

2 hours ago, Maggie said:

@DanielI am curious. Do you set the lights on-off according to the number of daylight hours in your area, or do you set them according to the daylight hours of the fishes' native habitat? I am curious because in Guam, for example, there is only about an hour difference in daylight hours over the course of a year, where here in the mid-Atlantic we have a whole lot more daylight hours in the summer. 

My current settings are more equatorial. Even though I live 35° from the equator my settings are for a location 15° from the equator which is actually very similar to Guam! This is more appropriate for the tropical species I keep in the aquariums under lights controlled by the season table.

I don't know that this make any difference to my fish, I just do it because I can.

My pygmy sunfish are in the 1930s aquarium which gets its light from the south window it sits next to. Since the pygmy sunfish are native to my latitude the day night cycles are just what they are evolved to expect. I wish I could say I thought all this through when I was first setting everything up, but in reality it didn't occur to me until later.