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

[Streetwise]

The Apex Neptune is effectively an aquarium robot, and you can control so much stuff, even dosing. Check out all the modules available:

https://www.neptunesystems.com

We have a thread about the system:

I mostly just use mine for monitoring and alerts, including a leak detection kit.

[Tanked]

On 7/27/2021 at 3:13 PM, CT_ said:

Out of curiosity, whats economical to you? I but you could use hobbyist stuff to get it done for under 100$

Economical in my case is well under $100.00.  I am talking about a camera for an average aquarium. The technology exists, but nobody is offering  one.  Wifi cameras and webcams start around $30. The actual camera is not more than 1"x1"x1".  How hard can it be to put a basic wifi camera into a watertight box? No extras, just a good camera and viewing system.  $50. tops.

[Keeg]

I just read through all of this thread, my ideas don't seem as cool as a lot of you but I wish there was a siphon that can suck any kind of substrate, I find that mine constantly sucks up sand even when I kink the hose when I see it starting to rise, it would be cool to see a siphon that can suck up the crap but not find sand for larger aquariums. And my other thought would be an artificial sand turner. I am constantly turning the sand during water changes because I don't want toxic gas build up, it would be like a little robotic triangle or tiny magnetic block like for algae but doesn't sink going under the substrate constantly. I know there's things like Malaysian trumpet snails but I don't want to deal with that issue either lol. 

[Gideyon]

On 7/28/2021 at 3:03 AM, Keeg said:

I just read through all of this thread, my ideas don't seem as cool as a lot of you but I wish there was a siphon that can suck any kind of substrate, I find that mine constantly sucks up sand even when I kink the hose when I see it starting to rise, it would be cool to see a siphon that can suck up the crap but not find sand for larger aquariums. And my other thought would be an artificial sand turner. I am constantly turning the sand during water changes because I don't want toxic gas build up, it would be like a little robotic triangle or tiny magnetic block like for algae but doesn't sink going under the substrate constantly. I know there's things like Malaysian trumpet snails but I don't want to deal with that issue either lol. 

I've seen "DIY King" make a filter/skimmer/gravel vac. The latter he used to vacuum sand. The grooved edges for the skimmer allowed him to vacuum without sand going up. 

If you make a slow moving plenum, you can keep water moving through the sand so you theoretically don't need to disturb it. But you'd need to tear down the tank you make it. 

[Gideyon]

On 7/27/2021 at 4:29 PM, Streetwise said:

The Apex Neptune is effectively an aquarium robot, and you can control so much stuff, even dosing. Check out all the modules available:

https://www.neptunesystems.com

We have a thread about the system:

I mostly just use mine for monitoring and alerts, including a leak detection kit.

If my fish room was more than one tank, I may have researched this possibility. 

I was thinking of just making a raspberry pi device if the peripherals existed.  Such as water level and temp.  

[Daniel]

On 7/28/2021 at 9:27 AM, Gideyon said:

If my fish room was more than one tank, I may have researched this possibility. 

I was thinking of just making a raspberry pi device if the peripherals existed.  Such as water level and temp.  

You can integrate a Raspberry Pi device with the Seneye sensors, here is how, and then you can read it off your phone as it web based.

[CalmedByFish]

On 7/28/2021 at 2:03 AM, Keeg said:

 it would be cool to see a siphon that can suck up the crap but not find sand for larger aquariums. 

Although it would slow the flow, I wonder if you could stuff a piece of fine filter floss, or sponge with small holes, into the siphon - maybe 6-10" above the substrate. 

[Keeg]

On 7/28/2021 at 8:54 AM, CalmedByFish said:

Although it would slow the flow, I wonder if you could stuff a piece of fine filter floss, or sponge with small holes, into the siphon - maybe 6-10" above the substrate. 

Ive tried everything under the sun, when I do that, some old leaf litter gets suck with it too and then just makes a bigger mess. For a solution I just do my water changes into a bucket instead of directly outside, that way I catch all the sand and get rid of the water like how the old gold pans used to be. 

[Rory Waliser]

I wish there was a product like the furbo camera that I could put in my betta tank for when I'm out of town so I could check up on him and throw him individual pellets. I usually just fast him over the weekend, but I think he gets bored when I don't walk in front of the tank to feed him once a day. Every time I come home he greets me with as much enthusiasm as the dog does when I walk in the door.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Rory Waliser

[CT_]

For those who want underwater cameras, whats the advantage vs putting the camera out side of the tank.  I've gotten good results spying on my fish using a camera looking in from the side.

[Daniel]

On 8/2/2021 at 2:47 PM, CT_ said:

For those who want underwater cameras, whats the advantage vs putting the camera out side of the tank.  I've gotten good results spying on my fish using a camera looking in from the side.

Reflections and glare in a nutshell.

That is a good question. I keep honeybees and tropical fish in glass boxes in my home. With my honeybees, I have used a camera to stream video from the outside of the glass observation hive looking in out to YouTube. But some of the biggest obstacles to overcome when videoing through a pane of glass are reflections and glare bouncing off the glass and ruining the shot. Even polarized lens only help marginally. It still takes a long time to properly setup a quality shot for the observation hive.

I have used a wireless underwater camera to stream video from inside some of my aquariums. There was no glare and no reflections, but the video quality of the camera and the bandwidth of the wireless stream was marginal at best, really not good enough. In the end videoing from the outside, using the same reflection minimization techniques I use with the honeybee observation hive yielded the best results.

So in the end I agree with you @CT_, a camera on the outside still yields the highest quality results.

[Tanked]

@Danielalready mentioned the problem with reflections and glare.  You would be amazed at what the camera can see reflected in the glass.  For me the fix is to enclose the camera in a box against the glass.  The setup takes up a lot of space and is not visually appealing in the family room.  For people who want to watch their fish after the lights go out, the IR night vision is useless outside the tank.

[Reksiklove]

 heated walls aquarium to eliminate ugly heater

[CT_]

On 8/7/2021 at 9:17 AM, Reksiklove said:

 heated walls aquarium to eliminate ugly heater

I wonder if those heating wires like on the rear defrost of a car would work...🤔

I'll report back when the rear glass of my aquarium explodes

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by CT_

[Bill Smith]

On 8/7/2021 at 9:17 AM, Reksiklove said:

 heated walls aquarium to eliminate ugly heater

I have had excellent luck burying a compact heater in the media chamber of a HOB filter.

[Chiclid addict]

On 10/1/2020 at 2:20 PM, braids said:

This is one I have contemplated contacting @Cory about - and asking could this be achieved? Could a fillable box "filter" be ADDED/LINKED/STACKED to a sponge filter for those occasions when you need to use a product that you would normally put in a HOB or canister or box filter? I'm thinking for those occasions where you want to polish your water or use a bagged product for water treatment, etc...

I drew this sketch of my idea (don't judge lol!). I wrote that the water exits out the tube, but it could also exit out small openings in the FMB like box filters do.

If this exists already somebody tell me!

If I had a 3D printer I would be willing to bet I could do this pretty easily 

[Crabby]

On 1/15/2021 at 4:45 AM, Aquater said:

Is there already a net that holds water with it.  I raise Dwarf Puffers.  I ordered a wet/net from Aquatic arts but its to small.  Anyone have any ideas?  The little guys have to stay submerged all the time.  If it does not exist yet -- any cleaver ideas folks??
Thanks!

That would be called a container on a stick. Or you could just catch them with a normal net and put them into a container underwater, right?

[Crabby]

Okay, I’ve spent the last couple days reading through this entire thread to see if anyone has the same idea as me, and it appears I’ve come up with something original. 
My dream product would not be a product, but an app or website. It would be called FishHub or AquariaHub, and would be free, with optional subscriptions for bonus features. I don’t know which features I would consider bonuses though, because I want it all!

Essentially, it would be an app/website that compiles all your fishy things. A bit of a home-base for your hobby. It would have forums incorporated into it and would show you notifications for your forums, as well as suggesting topics you may like. It would have the feed from your 4K mini fish submarine. It would have a camera incorporated into it so you can automatically keep all your fish footage in one place. It would have an easy system to store all your water test and change data, with trend lines and everything, and contain a handy note-taking system. It would have reminders to do water changes and algae cleans, and punish you if you didn’t do them by restricting your forum access. It would be connected to all of your automatic wi-fi systems, so you can control it all from one place.

Additionally, it would have social media access, so you would receive only aquatic based social media notifications, whether from YT, Instagram, Facebook, or anything else. And it would also have a free breeder function, where you can put up your fish or other aquatic animals that you breed or plan to breed, as well as amounts and prices, and it will send out automatic messages to all the fish stores in your area. Part of this would include an inbuilt aquabid type feature where you can organise easy sales to hobbyists, but without having to handle a confusing website. 
There could even be a feature that identifies things in your aquarium, such as fish species, plants, types of algae, or diseases, and then refers you to a guide on that thing. 

And finally, it would have an information section that compiles the most relevant and useful/knowledgeable sources on the internet into a single search function. You would have an option to sign up as a resource via whatever forum/s you use, and if someone was having trouble with something specific that you have selected as a point of expertise, it would direct them straight to you.

I know that this is technically possible, but I can’t imagine anyone going to the effort of creating something like this. As useful as it would be, nobody has the time, so while most things I’ve mentioned exist in some capacity, I doubt they will ever be a part of a single system. 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Crabby

[Crabby]

And for a reasonable dream product, I’d like a product for doing a gravel vac on a tank with super fine sand. 
Or a tiny 1080p wide-angle camera with a light on it, stuck to a stick, so I can look around my tank and behind my driftwood, or into my breeding caves. 
Or a breeder box system that has segments, and you can add segments together to house all your fry in one tank. Maybe with little notches for planter pots so you can reduce waste. Or little clear baskets for moss to go in, without going everywhere. It just needs to be made of a clear plastic, and built nicely enough that it could go in a bit of a display tank without looking too bad. 

[Gideyon]

I've been wanting to create a database of fishes, containing care parameters, links to care guides, etc.  

It'll be filled in by the community, like a wiki.  But preferably limited to fish keepers (not sure how to regulate that).   

The reason why is that I keep struggling to find info on fish for a given environment.  It'll be nice to search for fish with a certain temp, water hardness, minimum tank size, etc.   

I could easily create one, but it costs money.  So my dream is for someone else to create it. 

[Gestaltgal]

On 8/2/2021 at 1:28 PM, Rory Waliser said:

I wish there was a product like the furbo camera that I could put in my betta tank for when I'm out of town so I could check up on him and throw him individual pellets. I usually just fast him over the weekend, but I think he gets bored when I don't walk in front of the tank to feed him once a day. Every time I come home he greets me with as much enthusiasm as the dog does when I walk in the door.

YES!  THIS!  I would love to treat my fish while I'm away and get to watch them. When I have to leave town, I miss my morning coffee next to my aquarium. I would totally stream in from my fish in the mornings!

[Jimfish98]

My request would start with @Cory adjusting the easy planters. Different shapes, ones that hold two planters, a log version. Maybe an app that you can could select your plant type, take a picture, and it tells you what is wrong with it from too much light, not enough light, low iron levels, etc. 

[mommygourami]

A fish mind reader or some sort of way to definitively answer the "what's wrong with my fish?" Question. 

[Tanked]

On 8/10/2021 at 8:15 PM, Crabby said:

Or a tiny 1080p wide-angle camera with a light on it, stuck to a stick, so I can look around my tank and behind my driftwood, or into my breeding caves. 

Not your dream product, but a good place to start.

Examination cameras / endoscopes start around $30- $$$.  I use the wifi model connected to my phone/desktop. They also come in USB models.  Calling it an endoscope implies that it is waterproof, but I won't swear to it.  It isn't 1080p, and adding a stick would be a definite improvement for vertical alignment. I haven't had any problems with mine, and for looking behind the scenes, it works.

[Patrick_G]

Here’s a scope from Amazon

DEPSTECH Dual Lens Industrial Endoscope, 1080P Digital Borescope Inspection Camera with 7.9mm IP67 Waterproof Camera, Sewer Camera with 4.3" LCD Screen, 7 LED Lights,16.5FT Semi-Rigid Cable, 32GB Card https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0928Q3T42/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_S22SQ7G8Z3FDXGVKM7HP