Question Building a Watertank inside a Dark Base Pro 900

[Burigeller]

Hello People,

I want to build a "small" watertank inside an old Dark Base Pro 900 (this may sound mad but the idea got stuck in my head and i would like to give it a shot).
My Plan is to build a small Watercontainer out of glas that covers up half the Cases width (So basically the side window would be covered). I need it to have enough clearance to fit a very basic system behind it and use it as a Aquarium with a build in Homeserver.

Unfortunately i don't how one would even start such a project, so i came here to get an insight from fellow builders.

Things i have figured out so far that would have been an issue-
-Maintaining the Hardware while the Tank+Water is installed
-PCIe Clearance (i dont need any so that kinda solved itself)
I have never worked with Glas before so if you have experience with building a Aquarium yourself let me know.
Ideas and concerns are very welcome.

Thank you all in advance <3

​

 

[USAFRet]

An aquarium?
With actual fish in it?
Inside a PC?

 

[hedwar2011]

An aquarium?
With actual fish in it?
Inside a PC?

I think that's precisely what they meant.

Hello People,

I want to build a "small" watertank inside an old Dark Base Pro 900 (this may sound mad but the idea got stuck in my head and i would like to give it a shot).
My Plan is to build a small Watercontainer out of glas that covers up half the Cases width (So basically the side window would be covered). I need it to have enough clearance to fit a very basic system behind it and use it as a Aquarium with a build in Homeserver.

Unfortunately i don't how one would even start such a project, so i came here to get an insight from fellow builders.

Things i have figured out so far that would have been an issue-
-Maintaining the Hardware while the Tank+Water is installed
-PCIe Clearance (i dont need any so that kinda solved itself)
I have never worked with Glas before so if you have experience with building a Aquarium yourself let me know.
Ideas and concerns are very welcome.

Thank you all in advance <3

​

Google and Youtube will likely be your best friend on this but I would start simple and learn how to build the aquarium first BEFORE trying to fit it into a PC that runs. Doing both at the same time may wind up being counterproductive.

 

[Burigeller]

An aquarium?
With actual fish in it?
Inside a PC?

Correct.

 

[USAFRet]

Correct.

The water will eventually rise to a temp that is incompatible with living fish.

 

[Burigeller]

I think that's precisely what they meant.

Google and Youtube will likely be your best friend on this but I would start simple and learn how to build the aquarium first BEFORE trying to fit it into a PC that runs. Doing both at the same time may wind up being counterproductive.

My dad used to build Aquariums when i was little, i didnt SEEM it was much of a hustle, also i would probably ask a local glasswork place because i dont really have a way to cut the glass at home and it would have to be very precise. Im struggling with the Design the most, How would i mount it? is it gonna be to heavy for the Case? Openings? What about the evaporating water and stuff, are my biggest concerns.

Water and Electricity are not getting along well, but i think if done correctly things could go smoothly.

 

[USAFRet]

My dad used to build Aquariums when i was little, i didnt SEEM it was much of a hustle,

When you are "little", you probably didn't see or recognize all the hassles Dad went through for his first few attempts.

 

[Burigeller]

The water will eventually rise to a temp that is incompatible with living fish.

Its not going to be a full PC. very low end CPU and no GPU. also the Tank will have an external Pump which would help sustaining the Watertemp. at a normal level for fishes. All this PC is going to run is Homeassistant on a Linux OS.

 

[hedwar2011]

This reminds me of that TV show that used to be on where they built custom aquariums for people....

 

[Burigeller]

When you are "little", you probably didn't see or recognize all the hassles Dad went through for his first few attempts.

Dont get me wrong, im sure its tricky, but its no rocket science either. I dont plan to build this overnight, but i dont like wasting time so i would like to start with a Plan and ideally i wouldnt even have to build the tank myself just come up with a plan and measurements and have it build by a professional

 

[USAFRet]

This has been done dozens of times, with varying levels of success.

What research have you done into what other people have built?

 

[Burigeller]

This has been done dozens of times, with varying levels of success.

What research have you done into what other people have built?

Finding someone that build an Aquarium inside a PC case seemed very mad and my research wasnt very informative to be fully honest. I've seen alot of Mineral Oil PCs but that is not what im looking for. The closest i could find would be a PC case that has an Aquarium on top of the actual PC which gets closer to my idea but still not what im looking for.

 

[USAFRet]

Finding someone that build an Aquarium inside a PC case seemed very mad and my research wasnt very informative to be fully honest. I've seen alot of Mineral Oil PCs but that is not what im looking for. The closest i could find would be a PC case that has an Aquarium on top of the actual PC which gets closer to my idea but still not what im looking for.

google "pc aquarium" leads to dozens of examples.

Gigabyte’s Custom PC Houses Fish Above a Submerged System

The submerged PC/fish habitat we spotted at the Aorus booth at Taipei 101 is one of the most captivating system mods we've run across in ages.

www.tomshardware.com

This PC case has a fully functional aquarium inside. What could go wrong?

The MetalFish Y2 fits a small fish tank and a Micro-ATX computer in the same shell.

www.pcworld.com

This PC case with built-in aquarium is a terrible idea

The Y2 fish tank chassis from Metalfish is an aluminum computer case with a built-in fish tank mounted on top that can support micro-ATX or mini-ITX builds....

www.techspot.com

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqku9z-Wesg

 

[Burigeller]

google "pc aquarium" leads to dozens of examples.

Idk why i was struggling so much with finding something that came close to my idea. I believe this is the best way to approch things.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs6WUptcWQw


Thank you all for your help!

 

[beyondlogic]

Hello People,

I want to build a "small" watertank inside an old Dark Base Pro 900 (this may sound mad but the idea got stuck in my head and i would like to give it a shot).
My Plan is to build a small Watercontainer out of glas that covers up half the Cases width (So basically the side window would be covered). I need it to have enough clearance to fit a very basic system behind it and use it as a Aquarium with a build in Homeserver.

Unfortunately i don't how one would even start such a project, so i came here to get an insight from fellow builders.

Things i have figured out so far that would have been an issue-
-Maintaining the Hardware while the Tank+Water is installed
-PCIe Clearance (i dont need any so that kinda solved itself)
I have never worked with Glas before so if you have experience with building a Aquarium yourself let me know.
Ideas and concerns are very welcome.

Thank you all in advance <3

​

personally wouldn't use glass you'd be better with acrylic and a hot air gun to make the shape you deserve and for bonding. its much easier to cut acrylic for holes etc less likely to crack etc and much cheaper.

 

[beyondlogic]

personally wouldn't use glass you'd be better with acrylic and a hot air gun to make the shape you deserve and for bonding. its much easier to cut acrylic for holes etc less likely to crack etc and much cheaper.

other things to consider is acrylic thickness depending on how many gallons of water your using as water apply force to the acrylic. a lot of these YouTube videos i feel are using under thick acrylic

your looking for thicker the better like 13mm to 15mm from what ive tested again depends on size of how much water volume your using.