Home server in a fish tank half-filled with mineral oil and half filled with fish. Any input?

[nightmarevoid]

So a while ago I started a project to build a home server for my family as a place to store music and movies as well as monitor my families computers and store backups. I decided on some pretty weak hardware, since it wasn't going to be used for much, and focused on looks and heat dispersion. I ended up going with a very old 3.4 GHZ Pentium D 945 dual core intel chip on the LGA 775 platform as well as a 430W psu, an evga GT 520 for the occasional video output, and a vantec 6 port sata II raid controller which is going to run 3 1TB western digital red drives in raid 5. now. while home servers aren't impressive, and this one isn't impressive in any way shape or form, I thought that i'd make it look interesting by equipping it with a thermaltake spinQ heatsink, and submerging in fishtank filled on one half with mineral oil, and on the other half with actual fish (I'm adding two panes of plexi-glass with a an air barrier in between for heat. I'm not an idiot). I'm making it look flashy and awesome because I have to put it in a place where everyone will be able to see it, and I wanted it to be pleasing to look at. if the temperatures prove too high, then I probably won't keep fish in the water part of the tank. I would also like to point out that the oil will be cooled by being pumped to the top of the fishtank (it's only half filled) and then pouring down the glass on all sides to cool against the glass. I'm going to try to get as thin a layer as possible to get maximum cooling. anyways, I was wondering of anyone had any ideas they wouldn't mind sharing, or any input as to hardware to use or tips for oil cooling. thanks a bunch, and I'll post pictures here and to a different thread when it's done! (if it's possible, haha)

 

specs so far:

motherboard: MSI core 2 Quad MATX G41M-P34

Storage: 3X WD red 1TB NAS in RAID 5

processor: Intel Pentium D 945 3.4 GHZ

RAM: crucial 2X4GB DDR3 1333 MHZ umbuffered memory

RAID card: Vantec 6-port (only four usable at a time) SATA II controller

GPU: EVGA Geforce GT 520 (just for 1080P video playback capabilities)

CPU heatsink: Thermaltake SpinQ with Blue LED centrifugal fan

PSU: Corsair Builder series CX 430W psu

coolant: a lot of mineral oil. actually, not that much compared to most oil cooled PCs, but it looks like a lot.

 

There seems to be some confusion about the two separated halves. imagine a piece of plexi glass cutting a fish tank in half vertically. one half has mineral oil on it, and the other half has fishies on it. that's what I'm going for. Also, thanks for the positivity 

[Snickerzz]

That would be epic o: you better have seahorses though

[Thorium19]

I demand a build log of this if you do it. Also, some rigid tubing for moving the oil to the top would look awesome. Just don't ask me how to do it.

[BonBon Scott]

Ew. The SpinQ heatsink, not only does it looks like a Bond Villain's weapon, it also sounds like the name for a washing machine.

 

I demand a build log, nonetheless.

[luke_2bossly]

So a while ago I started a project to build a home server for my family as a place to store music and movies as well as monitor my families computers and store backups. I decided on some pretty weak hardware, since it wasn't going to be used for much, and focused on looks and heat dispersion. I ended up going with a very old 3.4 GHZ Pentium D 945 dual core intel chip on the LGA 775 platform as well as a 430W psu, an evga GT 520 for the occasional video output, and a vantec 6 port sata II raid controller which is going to run 3 1TB western digital red drives in raid 5. now. while home servers aren't impressive, and this one isn't impressive in any way shape or form, I thought that i'd make it look interesting by equipping it with a thermaltake spinQ heatsink, and submerging in fishtank filled on one half with mineral oil, and on the other half with actual fish (I'm adding two panes of plexi-glass with a an air barrier in between for heat. I'm not an idiot). I'm making it look flashy and awesome because I have to put it in a place where everyone will be able to see it, and I wanted it to be pleasing to look at. if the temperatures prove too high, then I probably won't keep fish in the water part of the tank. I would also like to point out that the oil will be cooled by being pumped to the top of the fishtank (it's only half filled) and then pouring down the glass on all sides to cool against the glass. I'm going to try to get as thin a layer as possible to get maximum cooling. anyways, I was wondering of anyone had any ideas they wouldn't mind sharing, or any input as to hardware to use or tips for oil cooling. thanks a bunch, and I'll post pictures here and to a different thread when it's done! (if it's possible, haha)

 

specs so far:

motherboard: MSI core 2 Quad MATX G41M-P34

Storage: 3X WD red 1TB NAS in RAID 5

processor: Intel Pentium D 945 3.4 GHZ

RAM: crucial 2X4GB DDR3 1333 MHZ umbuffered memory

RAID card: Vantec 6-port (only four usable at a time) SATA II controller

GPU: EVGA Geforce GT 520 (just for 1080P video playback capabilities)

CPU heatsink: Thermaltake SpinQ with Blue LED centrifugal fan

PSU: Corsair Builder series CX 430W psu

coolant: a lot of mineral oil. actually, not that much compared to most oil cooled PCs, but it looks like a lot.

SHOW ME PICTURE NOW!!!!

[Vitalius]

Not sure if Mineral Oil is toxic to fish or not...

@nightmarevoid You can probably get better hardware off of Ebay if you look around. I got some pretty epic hardware for $265 (two 4 core Xeons, 32GB of ECC RAM, & a motherboard for it all). 

Just saying. As long as the sellers are trusted and ebay's buyer protection is on it, you should be fine.

[BonBon Scott]

Not sure if Mineral Oil is toxic to fish or not...

 

I think he's doing a dual-chamber design, one with Mineral Oil and one with Fish water.

[1823alex]

I'd just be worried the fish would get sucked into a fan and get well you get my point D;

[Admiaczking]

That would be epic o: you better have seahorses though

dude pet seahorses would be so cool

[nightmarevoid]

That would be epic o: you better have seahorses though

The problem is that the second half of the fishtank is less than 20 Gal, so saltwater would be a nightmare to maintain. do you know of any freshwater sea horses?

[Vitalius]

I think he's doing a dual-chamber design, one with Mineral Oil and one with Fish water.

I thought he was going to have the Mineral Oil & water in the same chamber. Oil & water don't mix (obviously), and I'm pretty sure Mineral Oil is more dense than water, so it'd be stuck on the bottom (where the PC components would be and the fish wouldn't go due to ... well ... dying and all that). Then a pump could pump the oil to the top and it'd be like a slow motion waterfall in the chamber. Like a lava lamp, but different. 

Not sure though. Heat + Convection could really mess that whole plan up. 

It's a wee bit insane though.

[BonBon Scott]

I thought he was going to have the Mineral Oil & water in the same chamber. Oil & water don't mix (obviously), and I'm pretty sure Mineral Oil is more dense than water, so it'd be stuck on the bottom (where the PC components would be and the fish wouldn't go due to ... well ... dying and all that). Then a pump could pump the oil to the top and it'd be like a slow motion waterfall in the chamber. Like a lava lamp, but different. 

Not sure though. Heat + Convection could really mess that whole plan up. 

It's a wee bit insane though.

 

Yep. I don't think I would every try to be that inventive with a build of mine. I'll stick it into a bog-standard case and that's me done.

[SeriouslyMikey]

Not sure if Mineral Oil is toxic to fish or not...

 

That was my first thought. 

[legopc]

eh are you sure thats a good raid card... i would personaly get a second hand one from ebay for like 20-40 dollars and then just get an lsi one 

[nightmarevoid]

eh are you sure thats a good raid card... i would personaly get a second hand one from ebay for like 20-40 dollars and then just get an lsi one 

It probably isn't, but I put all of the components together outside of the system on a test bench and everything worked just fine, except for a DOA drive which I replaced. the reviews said the card takes a while to rebuild a drive, but are there cards that don't? plus it works  just fine for my needs, especially since I need it to use a PCI slot, not PCI express.

[nightmarevoid]

I thought he was going to have the Mineral Oil & water in the same chamber. Oil & water don't mix (obviously), and I'm pretty sure Mineral Oil is more dense than water, so it'd be stuck on the bottom (where the PC components would be and the fish wouldn't go due to ... well ... dying and all that). Then a pump could pump the oil to the top and it'd be like a slow motion waterfall in the chamber. Like a lava lamp, but different. 

Not sure though. Heat + Convection could really mess that whole plan up. 

It's a wee bit insane though.

I seriously thought about that When I first got the idea, but it seemed impossible, and considering I've had fish who starved themselves to death by staring at their own reflections, I would be placing far too much trust in the fish not to swim down into the oil.

[Snickerzz]

dude pet seahorses would be so cool

yesh

 

The problem is that the second half of the fishtank is less than 20 Gal, so saltwater would be a nightmare to maintain. do you know of any freshwater sea horses?

yes