Sly
Nov 11, 2005, 05:31 AM
Ok, I’m going to sell my Macquarium . This has been a labor of love taking many many hours. When I started this project I set myself the following challenges: I wanted to make the Macintosh Plus look as unmolested and original as possible when finished, I did not want horrible bits stuck on the top that ruin the lines of the computer. I also did not want to hack the Macintosh innards around more than I had to this makes things much harder than the normal way of cutting out everything in sight! I also decided that I wanted to use the original Macintosh drive / logic board carrier to hold the tank, every other conversion I have seen uses lumps of wood to hold the tank up, you can not put lumps of wood in a Mac in my opinion! I wanted the front of the Macquarium to look just like the original screen, I did not want the tank to be visible and recessed in to the case. I wanted the water level to be higher than the top of the screen so you can not see an air gap at the top of the tank.
The tank dimensions had to be redesigned completely from the published plans to accommodate these requirements. I think you will see from the photos that I have managed to complete the Macaquariam to very high standards meeting all of my design requirements. It took me four months of hard work and many dead ends to get this to work properly, many times I wished I had stuck to the tried and tested plans!
This Macquarium features: underwater up lighting, bubble screen, heater and carbon filter. The tank itself is made from 6mm aquarium glass, ground edges, bonded with aquarium grade sealant. Because I have left most of the internal moldings it is still possible to fix the front to the back casing with the original screws, this may sound a minor thing but you will find with the standard design the front will not stay on as it relies on an interference fit with the back case The shape of the case changes when the tank is full so the front falls off, most people just jam it on with bits of paper and the like, not with this Macquarium! All the pump wires and cables where designed to be held inside the case so only the power cable exits through the original holes at the back.
Unfortunately I am not as good at looking after fish as I am at building the tank, My Siamese fighting Fish “Claris” died after 3 months, I know it’s my fault (I won’t go in to why) and I am not proud of it, sorry Claris :( It goes with out saying that I have cleaned everything up washed the gravel etc. This Macquarium comes with everything you will need apart from fish and water. I have no idea what it is worth, but I can tell you I spent £138 on construction and aquarium equipment including the purchase of the Mac Plus. I am open to offers, or would exchange for a good working G3 Powerbook or ibook depending on the spec.
The tank dimensions had to be redesigned completely from the published plans to accommodate these requirements. I think you will see from the photos that I have managed to complete the Macaquariam to very high standards meeting all of my design requirements. It took me four months of hard work and many dead ends to get this to work properly, many times I wished I had stuck to the tried and tested plans!
This Macquarium features: underwater up lighting, bubble screen, heater and carbon filter. The tank itself is made from 6mm aquarium glass, ground edges, bonded with aquarium grade sealant. Because I have left most of the internal moldings it is still possible to fix the front to the back casing with the original screws, this may sound a minor thing but you will find with the standard design the front will not stay on as it relies on an interference fit with the back case The shape of the case changes when the tank is full so the front falls off, most people just jam it on with bits of paper and the like, not with this Macquarium! All the pump wires and cables where designed to be held inside the case so only the power cable exits through the original holes at the back.
Unfortunately I am not as good at looking after fish as I am at building the tank, My Siamese fighting Fish “Claris” died after 3 months, I know it’s my fault (I won’t go in to why) and I am not proud of it, sorry Claris :( It goes with out saying that I have cleaned everything up washed the gravel etc. This Macquarium comes with everything you will need apart from fish and water. I have no idea what it is worth, but I can tell you I spent £138 on construction and aquarium equipment including the purchase of the Mac Plus. I am open to offers, or would exchange for a good working G3 Powerbook or ibook depending on the spec.
