hang on wall plasma aquariums ?????

[slowboattochina]

This is not really a question. I just wanted to post to see if anyone has seen these aquariums, they are selling like hotcakes on ebay and I finally saws one at a chain pet store. They are about the size 40" x 19" x 4 1/2" wide. they are called "Plasma Aquariums" and they go for over 300 dollars! Only 4 1/2 inches wide, 8O what the heck could you keep in there that could turn around except for guppies. I can't see how they could sell these things. IMO nothing would live too long in there. Any thoughts?

 

[Toirtis]

Any thoughts?

You mean aside from the horror of realising that those display photos show the tank with a fantail goldfish, two angels, and an iridescent shark in it?

Guppies would likely show well in one....out of curiousity, how are they heated and filtered (I see neither a heater or filter, so I assume that they are concealed in the end bits)?

 

[slowboattochina]

The heater is supposed to be in the endcaps(submersible) along with a in-the-tank filter? Looks like a fishkill waiting to happen. Not to mention how would you clean it.

 

[QTOFFER]

My biggest concern (aside from the filtration) is the lack of surface area for efficient gas exchange. This is why I don't like those spherical tanks either. They look awesome, but for their size, they can only safely house very few fish.

By my calculations,
Plasma Aquarium (40" x 19" x 4 1/2")
volume = 15 gal
surface area = 180 sq in
surface area:volume ratio = 12

Standard 15 gal tank (24" x 12" x 12")
surface area = 288 sq in
surface area:volume ratio = 19

Oh, and the water alone in the Plasma Aquarium would weigh 126 lbs, so it would have to be attached directly to wall studs.

 

[Toirtis]

My biggest concern (aside from the filtration) is the lack of surface area for efficient gas exchange.

Playing devil's advocate, one could argue that this could be fixed with enough surface agitation, though.

Oh, and the water alone in the Plasma Aquarium would weigh 126 lbs, so it would have to be attached directly to wall studs.

I had almost forgot about that....and add another....I am guessing about 120 lbs for the tank, gravel, etc.....250 lbs hanging on a wall's surface is a bit scary....I would want that puppy bolted into the studs with at least four heavy-gauge 4" screws.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

A nice school of Neon Tetras, or rummynose would go well.

The wieght would concern me, if you can't comfortably pick it up and place it on the wall, then you shouldn't really hang it up. I would be worried about it ripping out of the wall. Best to cut out the wall and mount it in the wall with a proper sill plate.. then put trim around it.. (personally I would never touch one)

@ 40" long, it falls about 8" shy of having 3 studs to hold it, meaning 2 mount points..

 

[Frank_the_Tank]

for like 10x the cost just buy a real plasma screen and that aquarium dvd from best buy.

 

[TomK2]

I just had a guy at work who asked me what I thought about a custom room divider tank, and I think he wanted to make it about 6 or 8 inches wide, and a few feet tall. I told him to forget it, since it would have inadequate surface area. Now I know where he got the idea from! He also wanted to put it in a high light area, high traffic area, and never had a fish tank before. I don't think I was a bad ambassador of aquariums talking him out of it, do you?

 

[Jchillin]

I just had a guy at work who asked me what I thought about a custom room divider tank, and I think he wanted to make it about 6 or 8 inches wide, and a few feet tall. I told him to forget it, since it would have inadequate surface area. Now I know where he got the idea from! He also wanted to put it in a high light area, high traffic area, and never had a fish tank before. I don't think I was a bad ambassador of aquariums talking him out of it, do you?

We do what we must to direct the lost and misdirected.

Good going Tom!

Aquariums hanging on a wall...shessh! What's next, coffee table tanks (oh, they done that already...LOL)

 

[lmw80]

please - I saw a sink tank! it's just rediculous and cruel...all of these aquarium "marvels"

 

[frog girl]

Well if it was heavily planted & had one or 2 shrimp in it it might be kind of cool. Looks pretty silly though.

I am toying with putting a tank in the double sided fireplace that we never use. It would be really wide but not very deep. Perfect for plants.

 

[patryuji]

...if you can't comfortably pick it up and place it on the wall, then you shouldn't really hang it up. I would be worried about it ripping out of the wall...

@ 40" long, it falls about 8" shy of having 3 studs to hold it, meaning 2 mount points..

Plasma TVs weigh about 75-150lbs and only mount to 2 studs (42 to 60 inch). I would guess there are very few people on this message board who could comfortably lift one and place it on a wall by themselves yet they mount those babies to the wall all the time.

Once again what we see here is the common attitude of fish being "disposable" pets and as more of a curiosity then another living creature.

 

[madasafish]

How about those aquarium shoes they had in the 70s. Remember those? Disco Stew on Simpsons wears them once (with very dead goldfish in them). I think that's the ultimate indignity for fish... Oh and on Pimp My Ride, they once put a fish tank in a guy's car. The tank couldn't be opened back up, and they put two large goldfish in it. Messed up. Worst of all, it was in LA--think about how hot that car would get sitting in the LA sun!!!!!!

Yeah, this is another is a string of ridiculous and incredibly-hard-to-maintain tanks that these companies produce. Tanks with really strange dimensions are hard to aerate (as you mentioned Andy), harder to clean, impossible to get fish out of, and completely inflexible for lighting, filtration etc. I think most of these novelty tanks work on under-gravel filtration, and we know how well that works... I'm sure there will be some law suits coming out of this design when the "TV" comes crashing down on the floor due to improper mounting.

 

[Toirtis]

Once again what we see here is the common attitude of fish being "disposable" pets and as more of a curiosity then another living creature.

Sorry, have to disagree....what we see here is someone with a little knowledge of fish (and as we know, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing), and a desire to obtain profit that apparently exceeds their desire to know that they are providing a quality product.

 

[xray]

They actually suggest set it up as a saltwater aquarium. 8O I just fired off an e-mail to them to get a price list. The site I found will mount and set it up for you. They even "give" you the fish. I'm guessing your price is coming close to one of those plasma TV's mentioned earlier. :?

 

[Cichlidlovers]

I recently added a pass through from my livingroom to my kitchen and thought it would be cool to have a built in fish tank, but was told the fish would need at least 12 inches across for turning room and whu. Our setup would have been only 5 inches. Though lots of height and depth. We decided it would be cruel and we didn't want to spend alot of money on a custom tank that could only hold guppies.
So in MHO those plasma aquariums are a waste of money.

 

[Toirtis]

So in MHO those plasma aquariums are a waste of money.

Of course they are....but people love to waste money on things they really should research first.