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A few months back I was looking through some pictures of case mods at various websites when the idea came to me, "why not put a fish tank in a the top of a full tower case?" I decided to research it some and see if the idea would work. Since I had never attempted any form of case modding, I had a lot to learn. I read a variety of articles on things such as cutting holes, painting, adding LEDs, and making Plexiglas windows. I decided to give it a try.

The construction of this case began in the middle of October 2001 and continued until May 6th, 2002. The primary goal of construction was to place a fish tank in the top of a full tower case. The design of the actual case purchased was the determining factor on how this would be done. The first step of this project was selecting a case to use. The idea was to have a fish tank that could be easily removed from the case for cleaning, and the area would be completely isolated to prevent leakage if any spills occurred. During the initial design phase it was decided to add a cold cathode light to the inside, with a window on the bottom. Along the way other modifications were added to the design, such as the funnel on the front, and the hinge on the side. Below are a few pictures taken during the first half of the construction process. During the painting phase and subsequent building after that, picture taking was forgotten.

Here are some pictures of the finished product. The final case has a total of 5 Plexiglas windows. One window is placed on the bottom of the left side and has a blue tint to it. Another window is located on the front of the bezel, with two more located on either side of the case near the top. The last window is actually a sliding window and is on the top of the case to allow for feeding of the residents (fishies). A thermocouple is placed inside the top of the tank to monitor the temperature, which is displayed in Degrees C on the LCD display. Two switches next to the LCD display are used to control the lighting in the tank. 3 White LEDs on top of the aquarium are used to light everything up, while a UV LED can be turned on to give the fish a slight glow. A blue cold cathode light was added to the bottom of the case for added effect, along with blue round IDE cables on the inside. Since the both side of the case are permanently fastened (to insure that the top is completely isolated), removable access ports are found on each side of the case for accessing the screws on the CD and floppy drive. Also a hinge was placed about mid-section to allow for access to quick and easy access to the inside of the case. The fish tank, which is about 2 gallons, was created out of acrylic glass and designed to be easily removed from the case. The tank is a separate piece and has handled for moving it around. A removable top is placed on the aquarium to prevent spill-over incase the case gets bumped and the water sloshes. All the LEDs are attached to the top of the aquarium with removable connections to the switches on the front of the case.

Neon Tetra's were selected as the fish to use for this project because of their small size (< 1"), their relatively large temperature range, and the fact that they tend to stick together in schools. Initially 5 tetra's were placed in the tank, but after a while that number will be increased to 10.

The following list includes the costs of nearly everything that I bought for this project. Some purchases are what I would call "investment" items, such as the soldering iron, Digital Multimeter, and any tools that I'll be able to use for additional projects. There are also a few things that I purchased that were not necessarily used, or would not be used on future projects (such as the noise blocker).

Since this was the first case mod that I have ever done, it took me a lot longer to complete the project than I had expected when I started it 6 months ago. It was a side project that drifted to many locations throughout the house, from the garage, to the porch, to the living room, and to the dining room, before being completed. A big thanks goes out to my parents who had to live with the parts floating around the house for the past 6 months. I would also like the thank my brother, Chris, who was there helping me every step of the way and this project would not have been completed without him supporting me. With that aside, I would like to comment on the project in general. It's definitely a time consuming process modifying a case, but I learned a lot things that would make a future project go by much quicker. Another reason this project took so long to complete was because of the shear number of mods being done at one time. Instead of just making one window, or one fan whole, there were a lot of things being done. The LEDs were fun to learn as well and while I'm not an expert at them, they turned out to be much easier to understand than I thought they would be when I started. Please feel free to fill out my guest book and if you have any questions or comments that you would like to direct to me, please email me at aquatank@nobispro.com.

(added May 18th, 2002)

1. What if you wanted to use the fish tank as a reservoir for water cooling?

   A) I briefly considered the idea, however it would require a rather large radiator to keep the water near ambient when it returned to the tank and it would most likely harm the fish.

2. Why doesn't the heat from the PC make the water hot enough to kill the fish?

   A) The location of the tank is isolated from all the components that generate heat. Several fans are placed in the case as well to move the air though. When the computer has been on for a long period of time, there is a slight increase in the water temperature, but not enough to exceed to livable range of the fish. One of the reasons that I selected the neon tetra was because of it's small size and it's rather large temperature range (23C-28C).

3. Does the weight of the water make the case slightly top heavy?

   A) The case is pretty heavy anyways due to the sound damping material. The weight of the water is pretty well distributed at the top so it doesn't make the case unstable at all.

4. What happens if the tank leaks?

   A) The tank has been designed to be a completely separate piece. It even has handles and a top that goes on it to prevent water leakage if there is sloshing in the case due to sudden impacts or being bumped around. Theoretically the tank can be lifted out and dumped into the top of the case and the water should stay there. I designed the top section of the case to be sealed and isolated from the rest of the case. I do not plan on testing this, but if the tank was to fail then everything should be alright. The tank is also pretty robust because I used a solvent to "weld" the pieces of Plexiglas together. This actually forms a very strong bond and is difficult to break, especially considering that there is only about a 1/2 psi pressure difference between the bottom of the case and ambient pressure.

Contact me - aquatank@nobispro.com

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