Has anyone ever done a fully automated tank?

[LancsRick]

Emphasis on "fully" here. The reason for my thinking here is that I love the idea of a high tech tank. The colour of the plants, the rate of growth, breadth of plant selection. All of these things are great. Unfortunately none of these things cope well with not having regular maintenance...

Various projects on here have automated different aspects, but has anyone ever brought them all together?

- Dosing for ferts via peristaltic pump
- CO2 via timed solenoid
- Feeding via timer
- Weekly water change via pumps and timers

You'd end up with a tank where only the best bits remained - enjoying the tank, playing around with trimming/plant care, and some more enjoying of the tank.

Just idle thoughts from my strange mind...

 

[ian_m]

And all the detritus/dead leaf/fish poo that has settled behind the bit of hardscape at the back.... how do you automatically hoover that up ?

How do you automatically replant "floaters", how do you trim plants ?

 

[Yo-han]

Impossible, if only for the trimming.

 

[LancsRick]

Sure I mentioned trimming up there!

(Yes, I'm an engineer, there's a certain element of "because I can" to the rationale of this thread!)

 

[Yo-han]

Than yes! Dozens of such tanks in companies showrooms. I maintain one which just pumps in new water a few times a week with an overflow into the drain. Feeding is automated, he only adds frozen food for his discus now and then but they eat granules most of the time. CO2 on pH and ferts by dosing pump. I come by for trimming, vacuuming and cleaning the windows.

 

[aliclarke86]

I kinda like the "work" I get satisfaction from knowing I maintain my tanks.



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[Claire]

My high is almost totally automated at the moment as I'm staying at my parents for the summer holidays instead of my flat at uni. So it has automatic feeder, peristaltic dosing and solenoid co2, but I still need to go in to do water changes, trimming and glass cleaning weekly.

 

[roadmaster]

No getting around cleaning of filter's/media in my view.