Ideas on a tank for mental hospital?

[nurserachett]

Hi all!
I am a nurse in a new psych hospital in Massachusetts. Despite all the money spent on nonsense, the place feels barren and depressing to me. No plants or nature anywhere. The people here are Really Really mentally Ill. Some are violent on occasion, often for reasons well beyond their control. I don't know one that I think is faking.
Anywho, I would like to put a tank in the common area. I'm sure I don't have to tell you folks how therapeutic it could be. There are a lot if windows between rooms, and I was thinking it could be built into or against these?. I am trying to figure out how to present this plan to administration in a way that will convince them it is both safe, and cheap. I am a tank amateur so any ideas would be greatly appreciated. If this works, maybe we could add more/bigger tanks and really spice the place up! Thanks 4 reading.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to the site. Sounds like a great idea. Define cheap though... depending on what type and size aquarium, you're looking at $500 minimum for something really small and simple, all the way up to thousands (read as SEVERAL thousand) for a bigger, more extravagant tank (like a high tech planted or reef tank).

 

[emerald76]

IMO, here's what you'd need to start-

20 gallon or more tank
Good lights(go to amazon.com)
A HOB filter
Sand
Some branchy driftwood
Stones
Easy plants

Then you could make a simple Iwagumi tank, very calming.
I'll add a stock in a minute.

 

[nurserachett]

I was more wondering about how to make it so people couldn't pee in it / put their head / fist through it / use it to electrocute themselves / otherwise destroy it. I have no doubt that a patient will get into a fight with a person or fish or evil spirit, and the tank will be a liability. It definitely needs to be shatterproof, locked, and secured to a wall. It would help if wires & tubes were secured/covered/unreachable.

Thanks again for ideas!

 

[Ian086]

I was more wondering about how to make it so people couldn't pee in it / put their head / fist through it / use it to electrocute themselves / otherwise destroy it. I have no doubt that a patient will get into a fight with a person or fish or evil spirit, and the tank will be a liability. It definitely needs to be shatterproof, locked, and secured to a wall. It would help if wires & tubes were secured/covered/unreachable.

Thanks again for ideas!

I wonder if an Administer come on board and maybe use contacts to encourage a local or national pet store or tank builders to maybe donate a tank and equipment to the cause. If it got a bit of local press, it could be good for both parties... Just a thought!!!!

 

[jcolon]

I was more wondering about how to make it so people couldn't pee in it / put their head / fist through it / use it to electrocute themselves / otherwise destroy it. I have no doubt that a patient will get into a fight with a person or fish or evil spirit, and the tank will be a liability. It definitely needs to be shatterproof, locked, and secured to a wall. It would help if wires & tubes were secured/covered/unreachable.

Thanks again for ideas!

A tank to those standards would probably need to be acrylic and housed in a case ... or in a wall cutout so you only view it from one side. This will not come cheap ... Maybe getting donations as mentioned before's the way to go.

 

[emerald76]

You could get Tanked to make you a safe (like a money safe, ever seen that episode?) tank. Lol just kidding.
I'd encase all wires in PVC piping, minimum.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Acrylic for sure. You will also need to find fish that aren't scared easily. I can imagine all the banging and yelling at the fish... Maybe you could do something like this:

20 gallon Acrylic tank. In cased in another acrylic box that has a couple locks on it. Then all the wires, lights, etc would be in cased. I think it would be fairly person proof at that point. But not cheap.

For fish, I would do 3 female bettas. Once they get used to all the people they will do fine. Then you could add 6 cory cats. Then for a schooling fish (10) would add, well, I am not sure... Really most tetras would be OK as long as you have enough plants. Silk might be best because it is less maintenance..