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jakebrake3202
New Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
 
2010-02-18, 19:07

One day at work 3 years ago we had a G3 snow iMac that died. They asked me to take it out and throw it away because it was beyond repair. I couldn't bear to throw it away so I just took it home figuring I could do something with it someday. A while later I came across a picture of an iMacquarium that someone had made and I knew I had found a use for my iMac friend who would have been on his way to the junkyard. Fast forward through a bunch of planning and design changes and I finally had a working iMacquarium. Everyone who saw it thought it was awesome and soon I was building them for family and friends.

The tank is by far the hardest and most expensive part to construct. A square tank would be no problem but my tank design was far from being square. It had to be as wide as the screen in the front and taper back to fit the shape of the iMac. I also had to curve the face of the tank to fit where the CRT monitor used to be to eliminate the gap that would be there if it were flat. I took my tank design to a local custom plastic manufacturer and asked them if they could build several tanks matching my design. When they said they could I knew I was going to be building a lot of aquariums.

I started collecting dead iMacs from local recyclers, invested in all of the materials and supplies I would need, and started building iMacquariums in my spare time. I designed a little website in iWeb (www.jakeharms.com) and soon I had my first iMacquarium sale to a man in Florida.

In the last 3 years I've built over 75 iMacquariums and shipped them all over the world. It's a great feeling to take something that was on it's way to be destroyed and transform it into something that will be admired in someones living room or office again.

For more information and pictures visit my iMacquarium Website.











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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2010-02-18, 19:27

Originally was flagged (correctly to be honest) as spam and hidden, but this is cool, mac specific, in the right forum and something I thought others might be interested in.

I tried making one of these way back with a Mac+, and it didn't look anywhere near this nice.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
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curiousuburb
Antimatter Man
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
 
2010-02-18, 19:41

Big round rock instead of puck mouse? /facepalm
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2010-02-18, 20:33

That's awesome! I love seeing pics of these things.

Maybe someday I'll do this to my little tangerine iMac DV. A good way to keep it around, in use and continuing its life as a conversation piece (people always loved it when they saw it).
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tomoe
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
 
2010-02-18, 20:36

At school we have an old green colored iMac that is dead and has just been sitting forever...perhaps I can take it off their hands and try this! Then again...fish seem kinda like a PITA to have.

Seen a man standin' over a dead dog lyin' by the highway in a ditch
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled pokin' that dog with a stick
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Capella
Dark Cat of the Sith
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Rochester, NY
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2010-02-18, 22:00

That is all kinds of awesome.
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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2010-02-18, 22:24

Let me just reiterate, these are pretty tough to make look this clean/nice. The cuts have to be perfect, and the sealant needs to be applied just right so you don't get a lot of excess which looks ugly.

The really nice part about these ones though is the curved glass/plastic in the front. Getting it flush like that takes practice, which, if this guy is making these professionally explains why they look so good. Great project to try and do yourself, no doubt, but I wouldn't want people to think they're going to make something that looks this nice. It won't.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2010-02-18, 22:33

The curved tank is really nice. I wish he just sold a kit, as I have an old first-gen Bondi that I wouldn't mind trying this out on. Of course, fish-as-pets is kind of useless, and a huge pain in the ass to boot. Maybe sea monkeys. Or hell, maybe nothing living inside and just use it as a pleasant sounding night-light.

So it goes.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2010-02-19, 16:35

Exactly. Just put some rocks, little sunken ships and old-timey divers, colored gravel and fake plants. All the sounds and prettiness of an aquarium, minus the fickle, pain-in-the-butt fish that constantly die on you.

I had a clear world globe (continent, latitude and longitude lines embossed/raised throughout) aquarium years ago. Had a built-in filter, light, etc. It was quite cool. After several goldfish went to the great lake in the sky, I just said "screw it" and kept it around as mood lighting and the soft bubble sounds were very soothing at night.

Fish. Who needs 'em...
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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2010-02-19, 16:43

Gold fish are particularly hard to keep, which is funny since they're a "starter" fish. They eat and poop too much. Couple of feeder guppies and some live plants and you likely wouldn't even have to feed them. (they'd just eat the plants)

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
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thegeriatric
geri to my friends
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Heaven
 
2010-02-19, 17:33

Something fishy about all this......................Oh wait a mo................
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jakebrake3202
New Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
 
2010-02-19, 17:47

I'm happy to give tips if anyone is trying to build their own. I'm working on putting together a kit as well so people who have their own dead iMac can build one themselves, but I don't have detailed instructions and a video finished yet.

A Betta or a Fancy Guppie or two are good if you are looking for as little maintenance as possible. I've been keeping a Betta and a snail for over 2 years now and the tank hardly ever needs cleaning.
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2010-02-19, 19:55

I'm heartened that you actually stopped back to see if there were any replies to your post.

Keep us updated. If you develop a kit I'd certainly be interested.

So it goes.
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2010-02-20, 00:03

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Gold fish are particularly hard to keep, which is funny since they're a "starter" fish. They eat and poop too much.
I had a very interesting experience years ago wrt to goldfish. I went in to a pet store with a buddy of mine, and we waited patiently while this little kid picked out a couple of goldfish from this huge-ass tank filled with them. He wanted specific fishes, pointing and saying things like "that one! he looks nice!," while the net guy tried to catch that one. When said and done, he got 2 goldfish. 5 bucks his father layed out for the pair, and they both happily exited the store. My buddy was next. "I need a dozen feeders for my Oscar." Same fishes. Same tank. Same scooper. "That'll be 3.50, plus tax."

So it goes.
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jakebrake3202
New Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
 
2010-03-25, 16:17

I have decided to offer an iMacquarium Kit for anyone who wants to build their own iMacquarium. The kit includes all of the hardware needed to turn a slot loading iMac into an iMacquarium. There is more information and a set of instruction videos on my website. The instructions would be helpful even if you wanted to build everything yourself.

www.jakeharms.com
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jakebrake3202
New Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
 
2011-05-19, 16:24

Quote:
Originally Posted by 709 View Post
I'm heartened that you actually stopped back to see if there were any replies to your post.

Keep us updated. If you develop a kit I'd certainly be interested.

It's been a year since the last comment on this thread, but I thought the above comment deserved an update. I have developed a kit. It includes all of the parts needed to turn your own non-working iMac into an iMacquarium. I made a set of video instructions detailing the steps of disassembling the iMac, making the case modifications, and re-assembly using the kit. Hopefully this can help anyone who may want to build their own but may not want to do the tedious work of designing and building a tank from scratch.

http://web.mac.com/capturephotoandvi...arium_Kit.html
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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2011-05-19, 16:28

Recycle an iMac, give a fish a home.

Win and win!
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