Has anyone turned a glass carboy into a fish tank?

Cuz I think it would be cool.

why would you waste a carboy like that?

Cuz it would be cool, duh.

you would need small fish to get em in there. and dont even think about the little sunken pirate ship

It would work fine but I wouldn't use any stone in the bottom, I'd put it on top of a light box. Filtration would be the touchy part. You'd probably want an external canister filter with just in/out tubing.

Well, when those little buggers inevitable shuffle off this mortal coil, how you gonna get them out?

What's better for a fish tank -- glass or PET ?

Would be a pain to clean... Clever idea though!

The only problem I see is won't the beer eventually kill the fish?!?!? And frankly, I wouldn't want to waste 5 gallons of delicious beer on a few guppies.

Brilliant, I get it. Then you can turn your 20 gallon aquarium into a fermentor!

It would certainly be fun to watch fermentation in an open 55 gallon glass box.

the_bird said:

Well, when those little buggers inevitable shuffle off this mortal coil, how you gonna get them out?

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A really big blow off tube. Duh!

Bobby_M said:

It would certainly be fun to watch fermentation in an open 55 gallon glass box.

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I have access to a 110 gallon tank. It's empty, but needs to be cleaned. If you provide the wort I'll provide the container

So what if the fish grows, you can't get it out anymore..


Ooops..i guess the-bird already made that point.. sorry.

Something like this, only glass? You had me curious.

BTW, I considered how cheap a 10 gallon aquarium is and thought that would make a great fermenter. The light exclusion should be considered tho. Can you imagine watching your yeast working away like it was a television!

Elfmaze said:

you would need small fish to get em in there. and dont even think about the little sunken pirate ship

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As soon as I read that I started thinking about the McKenzie Brothers putting a mouse in their beer...

DubbelDach said:

Would be a pain to clean... Clever idea though!

The only problem I see is won't the beer eventually kill the fish?!?!? And frankly, I wouldn't want to waste 5 gallons of delicious beer on a few guppies.

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Just do an oxyclean soak, cleans the fish well too.

Actually someone mentioned just the other day that they grew up with a carboy fishtank and it was cool.

I did this years ago with a 5 gal plastic water bottle, we had been usig as a penny bank. I put a goldfish in it that my daughter won at the state fair, figuring it would only live a few days. About 3 years later it went belly up and had grown to large to fit out the top. let's just say it was no fun gettng it out. It was cool looking and a great conversation piece though.

Did you leave the pennies in? That would be cool.

I Saw this terrarium at the local county faire this past summer:

(Edit: I re-sized but it keeps posting as huge!)

Huh, so how'd they cut the hole in the carboy without the whole thing shattering?

the_bird said:

Huh, so how'd they cut the hole in the carboy without the whole thing shattering?

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Color me puzzled as well.

Cutting glass isn't too bad as long as you have the right tools and the glass isn't tempered.

i was thinking cut the carboy along the top, where it starts to curve up. you'd then want to shroud the cuts, like a glass patio table. you could hinge it, so you can get in and out of it to clean and scoop up dead fishies. course, i don't know what taking the top off the carboy will do to its ability to hold water.

uglygoat said:

i was thinking cut the carboy along the top, where it starts to curve up. you'd then want to shroud the cuts, like a glass patio table. you could hinge it, so you can get in and out of it to clean and scoop up dead fishies. course, i don't know what taking the top off the carboy will do to its ability to hold water.

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Looks like the plastic one in Brew-Happy's post holds up well.

I'd be more fearful that in a glass one with the top cut off, the slightest tap would send the thing to tatters. Leaving poor little timmy bloodied, confused, and terrified of fish for the remainder of his life.

You guys gave me an idea. I'm going to empty my 180 gallon fish tank. Setup a lambic in there and then get that guy from Sierra Nevada to come to my house with the big thing that looks like a pizza peel and move my krausen around!

the_bird said:

Well, when those little buggers inevitable shuffle off this mortal coil, how you gonna get them out?

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That plastic bag trick posted here somewhere

Like a few other people said I was sort of thinking of doing the opposite. My parents have a spare fish tank, and open fermenting sounds pretty cool. Plus, being able to watch the whole thing certainly adds to the 'neat' factor.

I know with fish bowls you're not supposed to fill up pass the widest point, probably wouldn't want to eliminate headspace or those little fish would run out of o2.

Nice to see this thread go to work while I was gone camping. Brewing Clamper, I was thinking about doing something like that, sideways, with a mixed terrariam/aqurium dealio (i think it's called a vivarium). The number one fantasy now is filling a 12 gallon glass carboy with water, sticking a plant on top, introducing some pond organisms to do their thing, add some tiny fish, some snails to clean the glass, and see just how self sustainable the enviroment could be.