Pac Man Fish Tank

A Pac-man themed fish tank constructed with glass. The design is based on Pac-man for android devices. you can see the screenshot of the same here.

Step 1: Materials and Tools Required

Materials Required

Glass 5 mm

• 2 pieces of 10" x 12"  (for the front and back walls of tank)
• 2 pieces of 10" x 4" (for top and bottom of tank)
• 2 pieces of 12" x 4" ( for sides of tank)

5 mm glass for the maze

• 12 pieces of 1" x 4"
• 12 pieces 3/4" x 4"
• 5 pieces of 2" x 4"
• 2 pieces of 21/2" x 4"
• 6 pieces of 11/4" x 4"

2 mm glass for the maze

• 14 pieces of 1" x 4"
• 1 piece of 2" x 4"

It is advisable to have the height of all pieces required for the maze a thread's width less than 4" for proper setting of the front glass without any gap

Other materials

• A square foot of press board for assembling
• Araldite Epoxy resin adhesive or Gorilla glue
• Anabond Instant adhesive
• Marker pen
• Steel ruler
• An old container for mixing glue
• A small stick for applying adhesive
• Fish tank air pump
• Air pipe

Step 2: Construct Base

You need to construct the sides of the tank other than the front and top portions

• Place the backside glass piece on a press board
• Place the side boards in position
• Insert spacers inside the tank to keep the shape and tie the pieces with a thread
• You can also use Anabond instant clue to keep the pieces from falling apart
• Apply any epoxy based water-resistant adhesive on all the joints
• Allow the joints to set for about 24 hours

There are few "T" and "U" shaped pieces required for the tank. These pieces can be glued together and can be kept separately for the adhesive to set in. 

Step 3: Guide Lines

Drawing guide lines on press board will help in building the maze. Here I have drawn guide lines for the spacing and for the 5 mm thickness of glass. You need not to draw the entire maze on the board. The tank being built can be moved over the guide lines while fixing the individual pieces.

Step 4: Build the Maze

We can start building the maze from the bottom. Here I have used the guide lines as reference and glued down the glass pieces to form the maze.

Epoxy resin adhesives take longer to cure. you can not hold down each piece till the adhesive sets. So, place each piece at the required spot and apply little amount of Anabond instant glue. the instant glue will take only few seconds to dry up. Now you can apply epoxy resin adhesive to each joint and make them water resistant.

Step 5: Glue Sharp Edges

Apply epoxy resin adhesive to all exposed sharp edges of the glass pieces, which may harm the fishes. This will make the edges smooth and will help in easy movement of the fishes.

Step 6: Add Front Cover

Now we can add the front cover. Apply epoxy resin adhesive on front side of all the pieces and the place the glass. You can keep some weight on top till the adhesive dries up.

Thoroughly inspect all the joints before proceeding further and make sure all joints are completely water proofed.

Step 7: Wash and Test for Leakage

When all the glued pieces are well dried we can check for leakage and also wash the tank to remove any traces of chemicals from the adhesives used.

Step 8: Add Fish

You can add water and fishes to the tank. I got very tiny fishes which can move through the maze without any difficulty. These fishes also do not grow large and are suitable for this type of tank.

You can also add an air pump and filtration unit to the tank. 

Comments

[NugyNugNugs]

This would confuse the fish and stress them out. Do not use this.

[NugyNugNugs]

If you do end up making it then take out some of the obstacles and make a clear path for them to swim up.

[tylerkat]

There are literally 100's of dead spots in that tank where the water will never move due to all the angles.

[meteorainc]

To solve the cleaning problem, you should glue the maze pieces on a separate piece of glass, this can slide into the square fish tank. You can remove the maze for cleaning while leaving the fish in the tank as well!

Another cool feature is to add a back light where the mazes pieces will glow blue (depending on light color you choose).

Start by printing out a piece of black paper with the maze pattern scale to size of your fish tank. This maze pattern can be use as a template for linning up the glass maze pieces together. Cut out the maze pattern (blue parts in the picture) on the black paper. Glue the black piece of paper on the fish tank, lining up the cutout with the glass maze pieces. Add a blue light to the back for a cool effect, the maze pieces will glow blue.

You can also add UV light, some white / neon orange fishes will glow under the blue UV light adding extra effect.

[antoniraj]

thank you for the suggestion. I can not do any modification in this one. However, I will incorporate your suggestion in a future project

[Simran Sharma]

nice

[antoniraj]

thanks...

[zwhenry]

I recommend you add some softer edges to the inside pieces of the maze... Those edges could really hurt your fish. Even a tiny nick could be devastating if it gets infected with fungus.

[samalert]

I also own a fish tank(Ible) and maintaining one is very hard. Now the theme is very good but cleaning the same is not so great. Imagine the same tank after few months when algae start blooming it will be a nightmare.

[antoniraj]

you are right... cleaning the tank will pose a problem. The tank has to be emptied for cleaning everytime

[wrongname]

for cleaning the tank you can use some water snails. and a tank filter

[anguauberwald]

Snails will not clean the tank! They produce waste along with the fish. They will eat some algae, but will contribute to the overall bio-load of the tank, thus making it less clean. The only way to keep a tank clean is through manual cleaning, partial water changes and well-maintained water peramiters.

[DragonTamer458]

I think he meant clean the algae off the walls. and snails bioload is so small it's negligible. But yes, of course you still have to change the water.

[antoniraj]

I will add a tank filter soon. I am not aware of water snails being used to clean tank. thanks for the suggestion

[wrongname]

i have a turtle and abig tank. once i received a jar full of tank snails from a friend and i dropped them in the tank. they are not cleaning the water, but for sure they are cleaning the glass. they are crawling and eating the algae. unfortunately my turtle eat them all, like sushi. :)

[truuuuuuuuuuuust]

Please don't do that. You shouldn't empty a tank completely for cleaning ever if possible. For starters, you're going to need a filter to keep the tank clean, but it won't do much work until the tank has been cycled. Aquariums need to undergo the cycling process in order to create a colony of beneficial bacteria and balance out your water levels to prevent fish deaths. I'm sorry, but this tank design may be very unique and cool, but it probably won't work in the long term- which is what you should aim for when keeping fish.

http://www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium

[DragonTamer458]

Two things: Black background and a pipe connecting either side so the fish can swim out one side and in the other. Otherwise, I love it. Good luck cleaning it.

[design4ever]

I would so make this if I had fish I would just edit it a bit

[jckozzie]

You can also use a magnet cleaner to scrub any algae... plus snails will help a bunch! :)

[marydecorator]

I'm not sure I fully approve of this one, but the idea was quite cool