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

[Streetwise]

The 500 is the largest model, and the only symmetrical one, which is a personal aesthetic requirement. You could run more than one. Let’s continue this in the other thread.

[FishPlanet]

A dream aquarium product that does not exist? Hmmmmm. I think I would like a heater/filter combo. That would be nice. Also, something that cures dropsy 99% of the time. 

[Guppy Guy]

On 10/28/2021 at 11:51 AM, FishPlanet said:

A dream aquarium product that does not exist? Hmmmmm. I think I would like a heater/filter combo.

Have you seen the oase filters? This is their website, but amazon probably has them.

Also, a post in this thread from a few months back showed a small heater inn the bottom of a HOB filter.

I hear you on the dropsy meds though. That would be a good one, as maracyn just doesn’t do the trick. 

[Fergranadino]

On 8/1/2020 at 5:05 PM, Pat.Shaw said:

This has got to be a thing..

A outlet plug that I can hook my filter up to that can be turned off for only a few minutes when I feed and automatically turns it self back on.

When I feed my 75g african cichlid tank I like to unplug the filter so it wont suck up any food. Then I plug it back in when 90% of the food has been consumed. The problem is every so often I forget to plug it back in. 

How about a wifi plug? You connect it to the filter, turn it off /on with your phone and no need to unplug or plug back again. 

[Bill Smith]

On 11/3/2021 at 5:29 PM, Fergranadino said:

How about a wifi plug? You connect it to the filter, turn it off /on with your phone and no need to unplug or plug back again. 

Aquarium Co-Op already sells that:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/type_lights/products/kasa-wifi-light-timer

It works great with filters too.

[Lance]

I'd like to have a product that prevents my goldfish from pulling out my dwarf sagittaria or picking apart my marimo moss balls.

[Cae Walker]

Definitely A magnified strip along the bottom of the Aquarium so I can spot eggs and fry. Or even a magnified sheet that I could Cover the front glass in. I can't see much these days.

[Bill Smith]

On 11/19/2021 at 2:33 PM, Cae Walker said:

Definitely A magnified strip along the bottom of the Aquarium so I can spot eggs and fry. Or even a magnified sheet that I could Cover the front glass in. I can't see much these days.

You're describing a Fresnel lens and a bar magnifier. 🙂

Edited November 19, 2021 by Bill Smith

[Gannon]

Certainly a modular "hang-on-back" aquarium filter where I can change the direction of flow, speed, and intake easily. I also wish that filters like this came with spaces for heaters to keep components safe and hidden to preserve the aesthetic of the tank. 

[drewzero1]

I'd like a one-way background for my peninsula tank so I can see my fish without seeing the mess on the other side of the room 😜

I also like what somebody else said about a robot that can carry 5 gallon buckets.

[glenn anthony]

curved scissors for trimming off dead leaves, but with a mini camera cause i always end up cutting half of a dead leaf and a perfect newly grow one at the same time 

maybe even mini cutters that you can control from your phone or something

[Torrey]

An open source code for 3D printers to make a diffuser "cage" to screw onto the hose for refilling tanks in a manner that doesn't mess up the substrate...

 

[Guppysnail]

A false bottom self heating tank. The false bottom would have an exterior opening to replace heating elements as needed with an attached temperature controller like an inkbird so no heaters in the tank to see or be in the way. 

On 12/1/2021 at 2:51 PM, glenn anthony said:

curved scissors for trimming off dead leaves, but with a mini camera cause i always end up cutting half of a dead leaf and a perfect newly grow one at the same time 

maybe even mini cutters that you can control from your phone or something

This sounds like an aquarium pruning drone. Those would be awesome 

[Bill Smith]

On 12/11/2021 at 12:06 AM, Torrey said:

An open source code for 3D printers to make a diffuser "cage" to screw onto the hose for refilling tanks in a manner that doesn't mess up the substrate...

 

This exists...works great!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1007140

[Robinlikescories]

I wish there was a device that could tell an aggressive Betta to a well behaved one

[Jeff]

Something that can put a colored background on a tank that isn't paint or something you tape on.

I've tried both, and there's gotta be something that's better. I don't like taping something on - as tape doesn't stick forever. With paint, you always see the brush strokes. 

I want something that I can DIY to make the background of my tank black...to look like the manufacturer did it. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Jeff limo dark window tint?

[Bill Smith]

On 12/11/2021 at 6:49 PM, Jeff said:

Something that can put a colored background on a tank that isn't paint or something you tape on.

I've tried both, and there's gotta be something that's better. I don't like taping something on - as tape doesn't stick forever. With paint, you always see the brush strokes. 

I want something that I can DIY to make the background of my tank black...to look like the manufacturer did it. 

I use this window blackout film. It works great!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077XWJKQZ

You simply cut it to size, wet the back of the tank, lay it on, and squeegee it with a credit card. It dries stuck to the glass, yet removes easily.

[Ken Burke]

I know others have brought up a new kind of HOB, but here we go again.

I would like to radically reimagine the lowly HOB by using a double helix Archimedean Screw to lift water out of the tank.  This would allow moving the motor out of the tank.  It would still self prime after a power failure, and would allow users to adjust the motor’s speed and thus the flow.

The filter’s housing would be 8 or 9 inches deep, 4 inches front to back and extend across the entire tank through 6 or 7 chambers.
 

The first chamber is the sediment chamber. It would allow and heavy particles like sand to settle out before clogging the remainder of the of the filter.  It would also have valve to allow the user to clean out the sediment.  It would also enable rapid water changes it the motor was left on.  
 

The next 2 chambers would be coarse sponge filters, with the water flowing from the bottom to the top.        Imagine the surface area of a 2x3x7 sponge, then double it.  For a 10 gallon tank. The water would flow through the sponges in series.
 

The next chamber would be the mixed media chamber; filled with pumice or ceramic media.  It would also support chemical filtration media as needed.  
 

The 5th chamber would house an internal heater, an air stone, whatever, followed by the polish chamber with a spillway into the tank on the far side of the tank from the pickup.

 

sorry for the long post…. 
 

I would guess that it would give the filtering power of a canister, with the ease of a HOB…..

 

 

 

 

[Jeff]

Awesome! Thanks, @Bill Smith!

[HotTunaCartel]

after using the ACOP powerhead, I wish there was an adjustable ACOP powerhead (60-200 gph) that would fit their sponges 

[Guppy Guy]

On 12/11/2021 at 9:49 PM, Jeff said:

Something that can put a colored background on a tank that isn't paint or something you tape on.

I've tried both, and there's gotta be something that's better. I don't like taping something on - as tape doesn't stick forever. With paint, you always see the brush strokes. 

I want something that I can DIY to make the background of my tank black...to look like the manufacturer did it. 

Have you tried plasti-dip? I haven’t tried it personally, but I know that Cory and many others have done it.

[Jen777]

On 7/21/2020 at 5:41 PM, 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.

Yes, I put a large size of one of those (it's about 2 ft. long) in my pond to catch all the koi and goldfish babies a couple years in a row...then I gave them away.  They work great, but don't forget to put food on the inside.  It never catches them "all" in my pond, but I definitely went from uncountable hundreds (maybe literally 1000+) to 5 that escaped and have now grown up (I'm sure more escaped but were eaten by their parents and the catfish that used to be in the pond at the time).  You can also make a similar trap for pest snails from pop bottles (but for snails, I think hand-picking them out whenever you see them works the best and is the least amount of hassle in the end).

[Jen777]

On 7/22/2020 at 5:18 AM, pedrofisk said:

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.

 

YES!  Exactly what I was thinking!  Even just an auto-dosing pump that was small and unobtrusive enough to put on a 10G, that I could just set up on a schedule, would be great!  And even more fantastic would be something like a little robot to add root tabs in all around your tank on a schedule...something that of course would be "floataway-tab-proof" as well.

I have reminders set up to repeat on a schedule for each tank in my app...but I still haven't gotten the consistency that I want.  

[DeDe]

Rubber net for catfish catching. The aquarium sized nets would be great!