gumball machine betta fish tank build

Discussion in 'Freshwater Fish Tanks' started by el_piraña, Feb 15, 2010.

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  1. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    thanks ktz216 and 2in10. It's getting close now. I'm gonna take a few pictures tonight yet and hopefully get them posted instead of waiting until tomorrow
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    I just read through my thread again and realized that the first page documented the base, bowl and heater, and the next six pages were devoted to the lights...seems a little unbalanced LOL

    I realized I missed something before. I notched out a little bit of the base in order to route the power cord of the heater through. The machine is normally sealed and I didn't want to route the cord through the side or back. I used a nibbler to cut away the metal, I'm not sure if that's the official name of the tool, but that's what we call them at work. It was a little cleaner than using the dremel

    [​IMG]
     
  4. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    I spent about the last 3 1/2 weeks with water in the tank, the last week of which had the heater turned on.

    The temperature rose to about 82 deg, which is on the upper side of what is ok for a betta. Without the heater, the water was in the low 60's.

    I checked the temperature at different times of the day, night, morning - looking for fluctuations. It remained very stable, which probably means the temperature in the room didn't change much either.

    I took the water out and put the marbles in. The marbles are meant to cover the heater and look like gumballs (obviously!) I couldn't find any solid-colored marbles locally, so I bought these off of Amazon.com. They are labeled as Chinese checkers replacement marbles.

    Now for the good part.....pictures! (w/out water)

    The light isn't turned on yet...
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    and now with the lights turned on....
    [​IMG]

    Of course it looks better in real life ;D

    It's hard to believe I got so much light from 4 low power LEDs!
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  5. MoonChaser

    MoonChaser Aiptasia Anemone

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  6. bje

    bje Long-fin Bannerfish

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    such an awesome little betta tank! if you could mass produce this im sure you'd make a killing ;)
     
  7. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    Thanks! I'm a lot happier that it's all coming together now :biggrinbo

    If you only knew how much work this thing has been .....I think it'd need a redesign in order to mass produce!
     
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  9. SkyFire

    SkyFire Clown Trigger

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    Awesome little tank! It's a very cool & fun idea for a kids room.
     
  10. Puffer Chick

    Puffer Chick Giant Squid

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    wow! it turned out so good! lots of hard work in this thing. your betta is going to be very happy :D nice work
     
  11. SkyFire

    SkyFire Clown Trigger

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    So If I put a coin in and turn the knob....do I get a Betta? ;D
     
  12. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    Thanks! It was a lot of work but definitely worth it. Now I just gotta get the fish ;)