This has to be one of the most beautiful home aquariums we’ve ever seen. The ASP Space Aquarium is designed to “reinvent your indoor space,” as opposed to just being an accessory with some fish in it off in a corner somewhere. The huge acrylic tanks are shaped like gently curving ellipses, and range in size from 5 to 8 feet across, which is easily large enough to turn them into room dividers. Although you can get them with floor stands, it’s much cooler to mount them from your ceiling. [Spacearium]
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Although these aquariums are beautiful they are the worst aquariums to maintain. I worked with some of these in my aquarium keeping career and they are just brutal to work with and scratch super easy since they are acrylic. The water volume to oxygen level because of the surface area is also very bad drastically reducing the amount of fish that can actualy be kept per volume. I strongly advise not using one of these aquariums even though they look amazing they are an amazing amount of hard work!
I agree what Brent explains,but for me it’s fine to
have such aquariums as long as the owner who likes
to have the kinds of aquariums being explained how
difficult in maintaining,and the cost to do it.
I maintain one of these tanks and I note several big problems with it:
1. the water volume to oxygen ration because of the small surface area (as Brent outlined, this greatly reduces the number of fish you can have in it);
2. Because the tank is hung from the ceiling it is difficult to clean. You need a step ladder and long arms to reach all the way into the tank. Even the most simple maintenance tank becomes a huge chore because of the way it is hung.
3. The tank is advertised as being appropriate for salt water reef tanks. There is no protein skimmer and the filter system is hugely inadequate for a reef tank.
4. Because the tank is so narrow and is visible from both sides, it greatly reduces the types of fish you can have. You can’t have fish that are in the slightest skittish because they will be constantly stressed and die. Although, the tank is advertised with discus fish in it, this tank is completely inappropriate for discus fish not only because they will stress out but because when they reach their full size they will not be able to turn around in the corners of the tank! For this same reason you cannot really keep large fish.
5. If anything mechanically goes wrong it is very expensive to fix because you can’t just run to the store to get a standard part. You have to either manufacture something yourself or you have to get parts shipped from Quebec.
6. Because the tank is so flat and it comes with only one heater (which is sealed into the filter canister) if you have it hanging in an office with air conditioning the heater will not be able to keep up heating the tank. The only solution to this is to put a second heater directly into the tank. Because the tank is so narrow the added technology is very much visible.
7. Also, because the tank is narrow, it is very difficult to create interesting three-dimensional aquascaping.
8. The tank does not come with a lid. You have to specially order that. If you do use it for a salt water set-up the minerals will deposit themselves in the fittings and cause the light to shortwire if you do not purchase the extra lid.
9. Because of the suspension of the tank, and the fact that the light box is suspended seperately from the tank, when cleaning the tank the light box is constantly in the way. Also, the light box will shine a lot of its light into the room and not in the aquarium. This not only hurts your eyes but wastes a lot of light.
10. The fact that the filter is installed so far away from the tank it causes the pump to burn out very fast. Apparently the idea that the filter is pressurized does not prevent this. I have had to replace the pump 3 times in the last 2.5 years.
All in all, as you can tell from my long list of complaints, this tank is an absolute nightmare and I would not recommend anyone to purchase it. The tank does look great but it is VERY high maintenance.
The problems are amplified because the type of people that buy this tank know nothing about aquariums. They are therefore tempted to buy them because they look cool. They therefore end up purchasing and unintentionally killing a ton of fish. As a result, the costs of having one of these tanks skyrockets. Since my company purchased this tank it has cost approximayely $20,000.00.
Carli