Inverted Aquariums
January 19, 2017 7:44 PM Subscribe
It's like a fish penthouse where your fish can get above your pond waterline. Some others. The Romaurie effect.
I wonder how the fish like it, or if they even notice a difference?
posted by codacorolla at 7:54 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by codacorolla at 7:54 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Unlike an aquarium, the fish can choose to go in or not. Hard to feel like it's too small if they choose to explore. Neat stuff!
posted by rouftop at 8:05 PM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by rouftop at 8:05 PM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Joakim Ziegler, I'm no physicist, but I think that would only work as long as the total force of air on the surface of the pond was greater than the weight of the water in the tank.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:08 PM on January 19, 2017
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:08 PM on January 19, 2017
Cool! Now do a fish version of a hamster ball!
posted by sourwookie at 8:21 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by sourwookie at 8:21 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
Joakim, what you're proposing would absolutely work! However, I don't think most people's ponds are deep enough for that.
The strength they'd need is about the same as for enduring outside in place, so I don't think that's a factor.
posted by amtho at 8:24 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
The strength they'd need is about the same as for enduring outside in place, so I don't think that's a factor.
posted by amtho at 8:24 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I think that would only work as long as the total force of air on the surface of the pond was greater than the weight of the water in the tank.
I know this conception of things is wrong, but I just had a margarita and am in no condition to explain why it's wrong.
posted by jon1270 at 8:32 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
I know this conception of things is wrong, but I just had a margarita and am in no condition to explain why it's wrong.
posted by jon1270 at 8:32 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
They should add a waterslide out the top, so fish could slide down a shute back into the water.
posted by greenhornet at 8:39 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by greenhornet at 8:39 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
...couldn't you just ... turn it the right side up under the water, and then just lift it up...
You can certainly do it with a glass in your sink, but 50 gallons of water is ~400 lbs.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:40 PM on January 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
You can certainly do it with a glass in your sink, but 50 gallons of water is ~400 lbs.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:40 PM on January 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Yeah, water is heavy, there's no "just" about it. And per above comments, 50gal wouldn't even be that big. Much easier this way.
posted by rhizome at 8:54 PM on January 19, 2017
posted by rhizome at 8:54 PM on January 19, 2017
These are YouTube links, FYI for folks on mobile who may not want the YouTube app opening & autoplaying.
posted by univac at 9:01 PM on January 19, 2017
posted by univac at 9:01 PM on January 19, 2017
Tonight on Top Gear: James Builds An Aquarium...
posted by Cold Lurkey at 9:04 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Cold Lurkey at 9:04 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Presented by Will Rockwell.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:09 PM on January 19, 2017
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:09 PM on January 19, 2017
Yeah, water is heavy, there's no "just" about it.
Those of us in Metric Land know that one cubic metre of water has a mass of one tonne. It's heavy!
A lot of the mass-produced ones seem to be one-piece domes. That'd be a lot more practical for both strength and never having to worry about leaky seams.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:12 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Those of us in Metric Land know that one cubic metre of water has a mass of one tonne. It's heavy!
A lot of the mass-produced ones seem to be one-piece domes. That'd be a lot more practical for both strength and never having to worry about leaky seams.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:12 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Putting food in from the bottom seems inconvenient. They should make them with an open top to just drop the food in.
posted by ckape at 9:36 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by ckape at 9:36 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
I would be worried about oxygen content in a large volume with no exposed surface or aeration...
posted by jim in austin at 9:39 PM on January 19, 2017
posted by jim in austin at 9:39 PM on January 19, 2017
This is cool.
Conscientious aquarium owners worry at least a bit about ample swimming space, no one would support that many fish in such a small space. But apparently their tiny fish brains want the view! Even if only for a bit.
Also I'm more embarrassed than I can say that my memory of high school physics is so rusty I was thinking about the height of the column totally backwards for a while and didn't believe the water "should" stay in there. Even though a water pump works on basically this principle.
Now that I'm back to properly conceptualizing this, I'd like to point out that you could do a fish penthouse 30 feet tall. If I ever buy a 250 million dollar house I'm skipping the wall of candy and using the money I save on a 30 foot tall outdoor glass column on my fish pond.
posted by mark k at 10:32 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Conscientious aquarium owners worry at least a bit about ample swimming space, no one would support that many fish in such a small space. But apparently their tiny fish brains want the view! Even if only for a bit.
Also I'm more embarrassed than I can say that my memory of high school physics is so rusty I was thinking about the height of the column totally backwards for a while and didn't believe the water "should" stay in there. Even though a water pump works on basically this principle.
Now that I'm back to properly conceptualizing this, I'd like to point out that you could do a fish penthouse 30 feet tall. If I ever buy a 250 million dollar house I'm skipping the wall of candy and using the money I save on a 30 foot tall outdoor glass column on my fish pond.
posted by mark k at 10:32 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
If I ever buy a 250 million dollar house I'm skipping the wall of candy and using the money I save on a 30 foot tall outdoor glass column on my fish pond.
If you can buy the house you should be able to have both the wall of candy and the 30' tall glass column on the fish pond. And visitors! You could have them, too.
posted by datawrangler at 12:00 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
If you can buy the house you should be able to have both the wall of candy and the 30' tall glass column on the fish pond. And visitors! You could have them, too.
posted by datawrangler at 12:00 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
Fish: "I can see my ocean from here. *sniff * "
posted by pracowity at 12:42 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by pracowity at 12:42 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
The more elaborate setups let the fish swim from room to room.
I can't help picturing the catastrophe that would ensue if anything ever broke a hole in that bridge. It would be an aquatic Hindenburg.
posted by jon1270 at 4:06 AM on January 20, 2017
I can't help picturing the catastrophe that would ensue if anything ever broke a hole in that bridge. It would be an aquatic Hindenburg.
posted by jon1270 at 4:06 AM on January 20, 2017
the duck in the "Some" Link, who just kinda drifts in sideways trying to figure out how those fish are flying cracked me up.
posted by jrishel at 5:50 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by jrishel at 5:50 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
I now just realized this is a plastic duck and feel like an idiot.
posted by jrishel at 6:35 AM on January 20, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by jrishel at 6:35 AM on January 20, 2017 [8 favorites]
Between the videos in this post and the sea dragon post, I'm all relaxed and calm. I love watching fish just slowly swim around.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 6:52 AM on January 20, 2017
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 6:52 AM on January 20, 2017
There's a restaurant here that has one that goes through a wall and connects two sides of the same indoor pond. I was always amazed by it and refer to it as the "fish elevator." Everytime I eat there I get all excited when one of the fish decides to swim through.
posted by thejanna at 6:54 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by thejanna at 6:54 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
So he's allowed their scouts access to our world in order to prepare for invasion. Nice going, idiot!
posted by sexyrobot at 7:01 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 7:01 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
I wonder if the fish with a bridge are like, Ugh, here come the Shelbyville fish. They're the worst.
I love fish. I love water. I'd love any of these but now I really want a giant Habitrail for fish with lots of differently themed tanks to visit.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:49 AM on January 20, 2017
I love fish. I love water. I'd love any of these but now I really want a giant Habitrail for fish with lots of differently themed tanks to visit.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:49 AM on January 20, 2017
Dear Fish Penthouse,
I never thought I'd be writing a letter like this, but last week my next-door neighbor came home for Spring Break...
posted by rokusan at 9:18 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
I never thought I'd be writing a letter like this, but last week my next-door neighbor came home for Spring Break...
posted by rokusan at 9:18 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]
My friends have been linking me this stuff. They all get the same answer: the Kitty Submarine project is in queue before the Fish Elevator.
posted by ftm at 4:06 PM on January 20, 2017
posted by ftm at 4:06 PM on January 20, 2017
oooh ftm you need to combine the two - a fish elevator so the fish can climb like a kitty, and then a glass tunnel through the fishtank so the kitty can walk through and pretend he's a fish!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:31 PM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:31 PM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
I find it surprising that there's enough power in that shop vac to lift the water up, though maybe I'm missing something about the forces involved.
posted by lucidium at 12:44 PM on January 21, 2017
posted by lucidium at 12:44 PM on January 21, 2017
The shop vac isn't pulling the water up, it's just taking the air out. There are plenty of videos showing people doing it with just hosepipes and their mouths. I'm no hydraulics engineer, but I think it's the water in the pond being pushed down by the weight of the atmosphere, in turn pushing the water up into the aquarium where that downward force no longer exists. But I may be wrong. My brain hurts.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:39 PM on January 21, 2017
posted by Sys Rq at 2:39 PM on January 21, 2017
lucidium: "I find it surprising that there's enough power in that shop vac to lift the water up, though maybe I'm missing something about the forces involved."
Sys Rq has it right. By pulling even a minute vacuum in the inverted aquarium you apply the difference in pressure between the surface of the water in the aquarium and the surface of the water in the pond. So figure .1 psi differential and 2 square feet of water in the aquarium and you have 30 pounds of pressure forcing the water up into the aquarium.
IME even a weedy shop vac can pull a hard enough vacuum to lift a water column at least 50 inches. If you have a wet dry vac you can experiment with your own unit. Fill a 5 gallon water; lift the vac above your head; drop the hose in the bucket; turn on the vac and slowly lower the vac. When water starts flowing into the vac (and not just the hose) measure the height of the vacuum hose connector above the water level and that is the height of the water column your vacuum can pull.
If you have a clear hose you can see the water column height directly without having to mess around with observing when water flows into the vacuum.
And if you have a strong enough air tight container (like the featured aquarium) the mass of the water is not a limiting factor. You could theoretically invert a fiberglas swimming at water level in a lake and then lift the water up into it with a little shop vac if the pool and the supports were strong enough. It would just take a while to evacuate the air.
Around about 20 years ago a lot of people here were converting from fuel oil to natural gas heat and had partially filled tanks either buried underground or in their basements. I made a pretty good buck charging people a nominal fee to remove the oil from their property. I had a couple of the common oval above ground tanks that I could put on my truck. I'd then run a 1/2" vacuum hose from the truck tank to the basement tank and another length of vacuum hose from the truck tank to the intake manifold of the truck. At idle there is a good 20 inches of mercury available below the throttle plate on an engine and that much vacuum will easily lift the oil out of a basement and into the truck. Takes a while compared to a standard pump but I already had the truck.
posted by Mitheral at 4:48 PM on January 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
Sys Rq has it right. By pulling even a minute vacuum in the inverted aquarium you apply the difference in pressure between the surface of the water in the aquarium and the surface of the water in the pond. So figure .1 psi differential and 2 square feet of water in the aquarium and you have 30 pounds of pressure forcing the water up into the aquarium.
IME even a weedy shop vac can pull a hard enough vacuum to lift a water column at least 50 inches. If you have a wet dry vac you can experiment with your own unit. Fill a 5 gallon water; lift the vac above your head; drop the hose in the bucket; turn on the vac and slowly lower the vac. When water starts flowing into the vac (and not just the hose) measure the height of the vacuum hose connector above the water level and that is the height of the water column your vacuum can pull.
If you have a clear hose you can see the water column height directly without having to mess around with observing when water flows into the vacuum.
And if you have a strong enough air tight container (like the featured aquarium) the mass of the water is not a limiting factor. You could theoretically invert a fiberglas swimming at water level in a lake and then lift the water up into it with a little shop vac if the pool and the supports were strong enough. It would just take a while to evacuate the air.
Around about 20 years ago a lot of people here were converting from fuel oil to natural gas heat and had partially filled tanks either buried underground or in their basements. I made a pretty good buck charging people a nominal fee to remove the oil from their property. I had a couple of the common oval above ground tanks that I could put on my truck. I'd then run a 1/2" vacuum hose from the truck tank to the basement tank and another length of vacuum hose from the truck tank to the intake manifold of the truck. At idle there is a good 20 inches of mercury available below the throttle plate on an engine and that much vacuum will easily lift the oil out of a basement and into the truck. Takes a while compared to a standard pump but I already had the truck.
posted by Mitheral at 4:48 PM on January 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
Ah yes, that's helped me grok it. I was just imagining dunking a bucket into a pond and lifting it out upside down, and how heavy it would feel once you reached the surface, which I was confusing with the actual work lifting it.
posted by lucidium at 11:49 AM on January 22, 2017
posted by lucidium at 11:49 AM on January 22, 2017
As someone who's had a bunch of fishtanks, I'm just picturing these as algae-covered boxes within a week. Sunlight+pond water = green growth. You'd have to scrub these things on a almost daily basis. Also, outgassing from the water (the top of the tank is going to be less then atmospheric) is going to eventually cause the water level to fall, meaning you'd periodically need to suck out the "air" from the top of the tank.
posted by Mr. Big Business at 10:57 AM on January 23, 2017
posted by Mr. Big Business at 10:57 AM on January 23, 2017
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I also have to wonder, isn't the whole vacuum and hose thing a bit overkill? If your pond is deep enough to allow it, couldn't you just completely submerge the thing sideways to fill it with water, turn it the right side up under the water, and then just lift it up, and the water will come with? To be fair, I haven't tried, but that seems like it'd work just fine.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:52 PM on January 19, 2017 [3 favorites]