TV Fish Tank \ Aquarium

by matda59 in Circuits > Reuse

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TV Fish Tank \ Aquarium

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Hi All,

I thought i would give something back to the internet. Here is the TV Fish Tank \ Aquarium i made.

Warning: Ensure that the TV has been unplugged from mains for a while, it can still hold a charge in the capacitors

Tools:
Gloves
Screwdriver
Hammer
Glass Cutter (possibly)
Sissors
Pliers 


Step 1

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Get yourself a Vintage TV. Heaps of them on EBAY or you may get lucky on hard rubbish.
I got mine on ebay for $40AU dollars a little pricey but it was in really good condition and actually still worked.


Remove the Electronics & Waterproof

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Step 2:

Open the back of the TV and start dismantling the electronics. Try and leave things like the power button so you can use them for things like lights or filters or other controls if possible. Be very careful with the CRT as older models have been known to explode, my CRT had a sticker indicating that it wasn't explosive. At this point make sure you clean the inside of the television and waterproof the inside of the TV with a spray or a paint that contains polyurethane.

Removing the CRT

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Step 3:

You can try and reuse the CRT tube which would look brilliant and then create the rest of the tank around the CRT which is what i tried to do but while smashing the back of the CRT out (with a hammer) a huge crack appeared on the front of the CRT and it was rendered useless. I managed to go to an aquarium and get a tank the exact dimensions i needed. i think it is very important to cover the entire television screen from as many angels as possible so if you do need to put a custom tank in your TV make sure it is bigger than the TV bracket in my opinion they look terrible if the tank isn't big enough or there isn't enough water in the tank.

Placing the Tank Inside.

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Step 4

you will probably need to raise the tank up or at least support the tank on something other than the bottom of the TV. so i got some planks from Bunnings (a Hardware shop) and drilled these into the bottom of the TV. when i got the tank the guy was nice enough to give me a polystyrene base which the tank is resting on.

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Step 5:

At this point you should carefully remove the top of the TV as you will need to do this to fill the tank add gravel, filters etc. this was probably the most difficult tasks as you really are messing with the look of the television. i used solar LED bulbs which are waterproof and cheap and rigged them into the Televisions power Button.

Enjoy!