Then, for maximum material efficiency, just boil the results to get rid of the water and put it any leftover oil back in the tank. There's no need to try to get it all out since that won't happen anyway. Later on down the road (probably years from now), just drain off the water. Such home modification generally stipulates the use of an aquarium made from either acrylic or non-tempered glass, but both are easy to find (10gal and smaller are generally non-tempered, as a rule). A few drops of a water-based dye that isn't solvent in oil (food coloring?) to better visually differentiate the layers might be fun, too. Keeping the board(s) elevated a bit, with a little drain valve under the layer of rocks should fix that up neatly enough. Not that this is likely to be a big deal straight away, but it could eventually become one. Any water which condenses in the system (and it will, especially if you're pumping non-dry atmospheric air through it for show) will settle to a layer at the bottom, and may eventually become ruinous to any electronics it finds. The fish arent real, and the mineral oil doesnt evaporate, so you never have to clean the tank, assuming you keep ambient dust out.īut one should be aware of the effects of condensation. Something that wont sound like a jet engine, has heavy thermal mass to dissipate the heat of the system, has a continual supply of lubricant for the ball-bearing CPU fan, and makes an interesting accent to the room all in one go. Populate the tank with those mechanical bobbing fish, and some bubbler toys.įill the tank with the mineral oil, drop in some aquarium bubbler stones for dramatic effect, and place a blacklight in the aquarium tank light of the cover. You can put a cable switch box in there to serve as the port end connect point, so your normal AV and HID cables arent hanging out of the "water". Where the charcoal filter would be in the tank filter, use wireties to control the cabling. Route cables up and out the top through a repurposed aquarium filter tube.
(I would suggest something in a tiny form factor, like a mini ITX, since you can use a beefy wall wart to power it, rather than a full blown PSU.) Put the systemboard, including the heatsink and fan, directly into the aquarium. Put some shiny black light aquarium rocks in the bottom. Buy several large 4 liter cans of shop grade mineral oil (It doesnt have the "perfume" normally found in baby oil, which is also mineral oil), and a small aquarium.