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The Fish-TV

Back in 1992 I was driving my VW around the Maple Leaf area near my then house, and ran across a decrepit 1970's console TV set with a sign saying "Free" on it, and couldn't resist (even though it was only a cheesy 1970's plastic-and-laminate approximation of the former glory of the 1960's fine wood consoles)... pulled out the electronics, converted the top into a fliptop lid with a piano hinge, and built into it a custom acrylic 30-gallon tank with black back (this was before I learned how to bend acrylic, so it was a basic box). Being the plant fanatic that I am, I eventually had four 24" fluorescent lights on the sucker, as well as CO2 injection. Definitely was more fun to watch than the TV itself (which we kept on top of the Fish-TV). To this day it still ranks as my absolute favorite project of the tanks I've had. (I also built a little 1-gallon Black & white companion tank which was going to have only black neon tetras in it). Alas, it was too damn bulky to move into my new apartment when I moved, so I ended up selling it for a ridiculous $150 (which about covered the cost of the acrylic and certainly none of my work in creating it) to a friend of one of my former housemates; it probably sits gathering dust in an attic now; I should have kept it.

Here is a photograph of the Fish-TV in all its glory just a month before being sold. Plants seen (mostly left-to-right) are Lobelia cardinalis, Saururus cernuus, Echinodorus sp., Hygrophila corymbosa, Hygrophila polysperma, Alternanthera sp., and Valisneria spiralis. There's a few angelfish in there too. :)

	Up to Almost Affordable Aquarium (Olson) Plant People Plants The Krib	This page was last updated 29 October 1998