Welcome to my MacQuarium Page!

Thanx for visiting and reading my story. If you end up building one of these (or just want to give me a quick email) , please let me know - I get 50 visitors a day to this page and nobody says hello... *sniff*

Here's the story:
One of my wife's friends had a Mac plus that they wanted to throw away, so I told them that I would take it and see if I could find a use for it.
Well, what with the christmas break coming up, and me being Jewish, I decided this was a perfect time to create one of those macquariums i've heard so much about! (Well, I heard about it once or twice two years ago, but that was enuf. ..) So, I searched on the web, and found these directions written by Andy Ihnatko.

I also found a bunch of people who are creating MacQuariums of all shapes and sizes. Stuart Inglis has one, and was nice enough to link back to me. If you've linked to this page and would like me to link back, just let me know and i'd be happy to.

If you'd like a full list that's a little more up to date, try Low End Mac's page on Maquaria

Here's the steps I took to create my macquarium

If you don't want to read all this, you can just skip to the bottom to see where I am now!

1. 12/20/95 - Read the directions Really well a couple times. Its good to have an understanding of what this entails before you begin. (Plus, Andy's put alot of good jokes into it)
2. 12/22/95 - Took a mac-craker, screwdriver, torx whench and pulled apart the mac. This was alot easier than usual, since I knew that I didn't have to be carefull with anything inside!
3. Removed anything that was not part of the frame. I unscrewed the connections for the monitor and the frame housing, and tossed them. I kept the logic board in case I figured out something fun to do with it later.
4. Went out and got a couple of hacksaw blades and a file (as per the manual) and decided to go all out and got a keyhole saw with a pistol grip. Let me tell you, this made it A LOT easier than using those hacksaw blades alone. The saw I got had a reversable blade, so I could saw in both directions, which was really nice for some of those wierd plastic posts.
   

    

   Here's my implements of destruction on display for your admiration:

   
   

5. 12/23/95 - Turned on morning cartoons - starting watching "Meatballs" -hey! its all that was on!
6. Sawed off all the projecting parts of the front part of the case that would interfere with the glass being up against the monitor cut out. This part sucked.

    

   Here's the front after I was all done- everything that is in white had to be cut down

   

7. Sawed out the handle part at the back of the case. This wasn't too bad, since I was able to use a knife to cut my starter holes, instead of needing a drill like the manual suggested. The plastic is soft enough that it didn't take much.
8. Took a breather, watched the end of "Meatballs".
9. Went out to return a gift and get glass. I first went to Builder's Square, and they were able to cut the wood platform for me and the rectangles of glass while I was there. They balked at the diagnal piece tho. Bummer. Oh well, I was warned. I also picked up work gloves, wood glue, and the aquarium sealant.
10. Tried 4 other places to see if they would cut the diagnal piece of the glass. Finally went to Michaels art store, where I begged a framer to cut it for me. Walked out much happier.

     

    Here's the back part of the shell and the Wood frame to lift the tank up:

    

11. Went home, put on work gloves, and taped together the glass. *Wow* it fits!
12. Went down to the basement to bond the glass. This was NOT as easy as Andy made it sound. After a lot of frustration, I got the first three peices connected, then took a break.
13. Added the back and remaining side peice - looking good!
14. 12/24/95 -Went back and sealed the tank with gobs of sealant. Now I have to wait 2 days.
15. Waiting for 48 hours to elapse....
16. 12/26/95 - Took the dry tank into the tub, filled it with water - holds well so far...
17. 10 hours later... Still holding water! I think i'm all set!

     

    Here's my tank on display

    

18. Went to the pet store, got gravel, filter w/out air pump (recurculates the water), plastic plant, fish food. Filter doesn't fit! :^(. Looks like I'll have to use the air pump
19. 12/30/95 Still sidetracked! I'm hoping to return the pump on monday, whoops! New years! I'll return it on tuesday. I should get the camera on tuesday also, so i'll have some pictures to show you!
20. 1/8/96 Storm of the Millenium (well, maybe not for colorado, but it sure freaked out the Cincinatians (how do you say that?). I got a chance to go out and get the rest of my tank supplies, except for the fish, and I finally took pictures!
21. 1/9/96 Installed the filter, air stone (maybe got one too big! and plastic plant. Added an (empty) disk for atmosphere:^) Filled it with water- WOW - that's close to the top but it covers the front screen! Ran it for 24 hours, but we're going away this weekend, so I'll wait to get fish until we get back.
22. 2/1/96 Well, as you can tell, I haven't gotten my fish yet, but we're really going to get it this weekend! I haven't had any luck in getting a light tho. Kinda bummed about that. WIthout the light, the pictures won't come out very well. Also, someone's checked out the quicktake, so I have to wait until it comes back for the final pics!
    
23. 2/3/96 I did it! - I finally got 2 goldfish - one darka nd one bright gold. They kinda sat at the bottom for a day, but now their up and exploring the place! I'm feeding them twice a day, but right now they wait until it falls on their heads to eat it. Hopefully soon the'll come up to the top.
    Right now, they sit underneath the mointor cut-out line, and pop up every once in a while. But that will make for a good reaction by an observer who sees a computer, and then a fish pops up!
    Now I'm just waiting for the camera to take some pictures. No light yet, tho... :^(
    
24. 2/4/96 Alas, disaster has struck! There is a 1.5" space between the glass of the tank and the back of the plastic frame. The more energetic fish of the two decided to go exploring, and must have tripped on the back of the tank, falling into the space below. Hopefully, the fall killed him before he had a chance to suffer. We are now exploring a way to secure the back so our remaining fish might limit his wanderings.

    In a somewhat related note, I discovered that the now-open ports at the bottom of the shell are quite ideal for tripped-fish removal.

25. 2/8/96 It was nice while it lasted...
    We've lost our second fish. He was going great for a couple days, jumping around and being very active. Then he started doing a sidestroke for a half a day, then backflipped on us. Very depressing. We'll try again with a beta when Heidi gets back...

     

26. 3/14/96 Well, it took a long time, but we got some new fish! We got 4 white cloud tetra, and their really dinky, but at least they are active! I feel better about this second try...

     

27. 3/20/96 *sigh*, I guess it wasn't meant to be. we lost our four tetra the same way - over the side. I guess the deal is they like playing in the bubbles, and the bubbles then carry them up to the top, and I guess they sometimes go alittle over the top, so to speak...
    I went out and bought a wire mesh to go over the top to prevent this from happening again, but its not perfect. I'm waiting until after our honeymoon to look at this more in depth. This will be the last journal entry for a while.
    Have fun!
     
28. 2/23/98 Ok, so i'm really lame! Its been a year now (well, two years) and i still haven't put the photo of the completed tank up. Well, after I gave up (see above, if you didn't read the whole thing), I took it into work, and sat it on a desk. We then filled it with water and a bubbling air filter, so it would look nice when people came in it would look nice. Then someone brought one of those expanding foam frogs and through it in, and that was fun for a while, but then it started to grow fungus & such, and I didn't feel like cleaning it since there wasn't a big sink at the office. So now its up on the top shelf of a bookcase, and its all dry with some dried algae on it, and it doesn't look really good and i would be really embarassed to have it up on the web (becuase you can tell i'm sooo shy and reserved...)
     
29. 11/8/02 - There aren't words to describe the frustration some of my visitors expressed at not being able to see the finished product. :( But here's the story - since the last posting we've moved, bought a house, had a kid, etc, and the macquarium is still in a box in the garage. I can't take it out and clean it since that would remind my wife that its there and she'll make me get rid of it. So i'm waiting until I finally have some room to put it in either a)in a nice area with it cleaned and shiney and such or b)in a closet that nobody ever looks in so that my wife won't be reminded of it when she walks by...

But I'll try really hard and see if I can get a photo up once and for all - thanx to all who signed the guestbook for the encouragement!

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