Beer Cans

[wizfiz]

Now that I got your attention to read this post, Ill first give some background info. I am in college in an apartment now with a 37gal tank in my room and in May I am moving into a house with 5 other people. Me and one of the guys got this brilliant idea. We had been pondering the idea of building a bar in the house, which has a lot of room and a nice bar would look awesome. So, why not build a bar with a fish tank inside?

The bar would be pretty big with plenty of room to put a 37gal tank inside, and since I already have a tank in my room, I want to get a new tank for the bar, which brings me to my question. The tank in my room is a regular tank with plants and community fish and what not, but I want this "bartank" to be special. Im thinking underwater college party, with all the decorations being empty beer cans, mini kegs, bottles, etc. So, would putting aluminum cans in the tank affect the pH or any other bad things?

Also, I want some cool mean looking fish for the tank, any ideas? Im in a small college town so the fish supply is limited. Im thinking bala sharks, reedfish, maybe blue rams. I dunno.

And finally, if anyone has experience building something like this, or putting tanks in walls or anything similar, please let me know.

Thanks

 

[Chilly Willy]

I just had a flash back of me 10 years ago. Damn time flies when you get a woman pregnant....huh I mean yeah beer cans in water good question can't answer it though.

 

[Melody]

+ =


hehe...Chilly... too funny...

naw... I would be interested to know this. I wouldnt be afraid of the can its self, but of the inks/plastics used to print the labels... Put ont in a bucket and let it sit. for a long time, see what happens

 

[lyquidphyre]

5 guys + drinks from the bar + other people = bad place for a fish tank
I personally wouldn't do that for the shear fact someone could get super drunk and could break the tank. Also, that would be A LOT of stress for your fish depending on how the bar is built. Clanking glasses, beerfridge door shutting etc etc
What if someone were drunk and wanted to poor alcohol in the tank?

Also, how long do you plan on being in the house? You don't want to go to all this trouble and have to tear it down in a 6 months to a year

Now, don't think i "just don't get it" or something.. because i am a 21 year old college student myself... and ive been to parties were people get out of hand and I sure wouldn't want my fish tank in the middle of it all

 

[lyquidphyre]

Beer cans could rust and if not properly cleaned could have harmful effects on the fish

I know someone in here has bottles in their tank... maybe they will chime in on how they cleaned em

but like i said, I wouldn't risk having an aquarium in a situation like that

 

[austinsdad]

Fish would freak IMO. Never good for fish health to have so much going on around'm. I second the bad idea suggestion.

 

[fishfirst]

I wouldn't put it in the bar, but I do a tank for a local resturant/bar and they don't have many problems with the fish being stressed. If you put it down there, I'd put it behind the bar and up out of the way, and definately not near, or better yet, behind speakers. Being in college myself, I know where your coming from. That would be PIMP! also beer bottles will work if they are labeless... (that means rubbing all that glue off of it too) and they are soaked in bleach and then rinsed over and over and over. I don't know of any "mini kegs" for decorations... but you could make a bar out of some slate or some other flat rock... how big is the tank gonna be? I would also maybe use some kind of night light for your fish, so they don't have to stay up until the party ends, but its still lit up somewhat.

 

[poppab02]

Maybe using beer bottles with labels that are stamped onto the bottle--like for instance Corona would work. I think that taking the labels off would entirely ruin the entire point of having them in there in the first place. As for cans, openned cans would be a no-no since the opening is way to sharp and anything that tries to swim in is going to be cut up bad. I know that aluminum will leech but I'm not sure whether it will be at a rate to wory about. I would also think about including bar glasses like martini, etc. Or even a glass from the local bar if at all possible.

As for putting it in the bar. I would say to include a thick piece of plexiglass or something in front of it built into the bar to protect the tank instead of leaving it unrotected. And a black cloth or something else used to block out the fish if they get too stressed is a must. Also, make sure your bar is extremely steady and well built. Any type of unsteadiness and you are going to have serious fish stress and a mess on your hands.

 

[foma2000]

that would be way cool. first of all. beer cans wont work. thell rust and release toxens into the tank. beer bottles would be fine though. get all the glue off, soak them in bleach overnight, rinse them, then soak them in vinigar overnight just to be shure. i think it would be way better for the tank to be in the wall near the bar. but if it is in the bar,
1) make shure it has a very very secure (maby with a lock) so people wont mess with it when there drunk, maby make it so that the top of the bar goes over it and you can only see it from the frunt and side.
2) depending on the size, build it out of glass thats way thicker then nessasary. like 1/2 to an inch acrillic. its more expencive, but then theres no way some one will acedently break it. the thick acrillic will also dampen any sounds, and will make it so that you can polish out any hevy scraches with out seriously compremising structual integrity (wow bit words)
3)keep it away from any refridurator. the back or refridurators get pritty hot.
other then that it sounds way cool.

 

[Chilly Willy]

I'm all for partying but I think I'd keep my fish out of it and just blow pot into the dogs face....huh I mean yeah beer cans in water good question can't answer it though.

 

[lyquidphyre]

HAHAHAHAH thats HORRIBLE chilly

shame on you!

 

[frog girl]

Aluminum beer cans don't rust in water. The will form a layer of aluminum oxide that will prevent further degredation. I used to work in a toxicology lab unlike (copper, lead, zinc etc.) aluminum doesn't have any well known toxic side effects. There was one study that linked high brain aluminum levels to alzheimers in humans but it did not show that aluminum was causal & was not repeatable. Don't worry about the beer cans except for sharp edges. You could put them in the tank without removing the beer.

I would recommend maybe shot glasses instead though. Or martinee glasses full of various colored sand & cool stirrers.

Try not to stress out the fish though.

have fun

 

[Frank_the_Tank]

I could see someone getting drunk and something bad happening to the fish. But on another note, get some glass pints and fill them up with brown gravel, with a cream colored gravel on top....instant gravel beer.

 

[lyquidphyre]

i thought the rim was made of a rusty material?

For some reason I have a memory of a rusted beer can

The martinee glass thing is a neat idea!

 

[foma2000]

wow. i was dead wrong about the aluminium can. thanks frog girl. the odd thing is i remember that from chemistry. correct me if im wrong(and this has nothing to do with the topic) but doesn't mercury "eat away" at the aluminium oxide coating and cause the aluminium to disenagrate rapidly? just checking

 

[JohnPaul]

I'm going to disagree with Frog Girl here. I also have a science background (grad degree in environmental chemistry), and even if it doesn't happen quickly, alumnimum *will* leach into the water, especially if the water is from a municipal water source and contains flouride. (One study has shown that water flouridated at 1 ppm increases the rate of aluminum leaching into the water 1000-fold).

And aluminum has been demonstrated to have a wide variety of toxic effect on fishes, amphibians, and other aquatic organisms; its acute toxicity varies quite a bit from one species of fish to another. For example, it is classified as only "moderately toxic" to the loach family, but "highly toxic" to goldfish. (Toxicity data from the US EPA; a concise summary can be found in the "ecotoxicity" section of the following web page http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC33881#Ecotoxicity ).

In short: bad, bad idea to put beer cans in an aquarium. Really bad idea.

P.S. -- Frog Girls was correct in saying there is really no solid data linking aluminum to human toxicity, or at least nothing compared to most other metals, though there is a lot about the presence of aluminum in the brains of those patients that is yet to be understood.

 

[wizfiz]

We had the idea of putting a piece of acylic in front so no one could bump the glass, so thats going to happen for sure. And yes, the bar is planned on being very sturdy, its going to have to hold a lot of weight from the water, and possibly people on top. The black cloth is a good idea too. The tank will have no way to get to it unless you are behind the bar, which is in a corner so no unauthorized persons would really be back there. The kegerator is going to be seperate from the bar with hoses running up into a tap on top, so the fridge coils wont be anywhere near the tank to heat it up. Corona bottles are also a great idea I think. The mini kegs I was thinking of are the Heinekin (sp?) mini keg cans, although Im not sure if they have labels or not..

Thanks for all the responses, it got me thinking some..

 

[wizfiz]

Oh and the idea about the martini glasses and beer gravel are awesome ideas, that will definately happen.

 

[silvi-p]

Hi guys,

I'm still quite sceptical about it. But anyways, don't forget to put in enough live plants (around all the decoration....) and then, there's the topic of bottles: water gets virtually stuck in there and won't circulate any more. If anything goes into the bottle except water (like fish poo, old leaves) and the water cannot circulate, it might have bad effects. It happened to me once with a hollow sort of rock decoration- when I took it out, the water smelled really bad. Also, maybe you have to look from time to time so that fish won't get trapped inside the deco. Don't know if they're that stupid, but hey, you never know.

greets
silvia

 

[chrism]

Could you not coat the beer can with something? Some type of clear fish safe varnish?

I love this idea, possibly some brackish puffers? Other than that i like convicts... all depends on tank size i guess... i love my tiger barb tank at the mo