Keeping fish as a hobby is something that we see happening every now and then. However, talk to some fish owners and you would realize that most of them are annoyed by the cleaning process of the fish tank. Owing to this fact, a young designer has come up with a fish tank that, as per her claims, shall never require cleaning. The water in the tank won’t have to be replaced and the owner shall not have to change the filter either.
The tank, spherical in nature, will only require owners to fill up water every now and then while feeding the fish. Suzy Shelley, a graduate from Loughborough University, has created this fish tank which has a 15-liter tank installed with technology that allows for the fish, plants and bacteria to ‘work together to create a balanced ecosystem.’
The tank has been named ‘Avo’ and accompanies a self-cleaning filter. This filter ‘never needs replacing’ and the continuously moving bed helps in recycling old bacteria into food for plant and creates space for new bacteria so that it can grow.
As per Noux, the company behind Avo, “Harmful ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are naturally removed from the water, meaning the water never needs changing.” Avo has been incorporated with smart LED lighting which has been improved for plant photosynthesis and growth and hence leads to the clear water.
The lighting changes color to facilitate the process; it is soft red in the morning and white during the day. It changes to blue in evening. The tank has been designed so that it is ideal for tropical fish with a water temperature of 27°C, which is kept constant. The heating elements have been placed so that convection currents build up and ensure that nutrients are received by the roots of plants. The plants have been ‘planted’ in 7 trays so that maintenance can be carried out and simply be shifted to give the tank a new look. It took Ms. Shelley more than 4 years to complete the development of this fish tank which is currently raising funds on Kickstarter.
Avo can be ordered for a pledge of $242 while the shipping is due in July 2015. Out of $96,892 goal of funds, $72,669 have been raised and 52 days are still left before the process ends. In the words of Ms. Shelley, “I’ve always kept fish and it was a steep learning curve in the early days – trying to maintain a tank properly, making sure my fish were healthy and had a clean tank. Fish keeping isn’t as easy as most people think…there’s important bacteria in the tank that need to be maintained, plus there’s the weekly water changes and smelly filter cleaning needed to maintain a healthy tank. I decided I’d design something that takes the stress out of keeping tropical fish and makes fish keeping simple, beautiful and above all enjoyable. Avo is packed full of technology and clever design features that make it really, really easy to keep fish.”
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