I had an Idea.  I want to upgrade my goldfish to a bigger tank, and I'd like to get some water sound in the living room.  I'd like an open top tank, with some bamboo or mangroves growing out of it.  I'd like a waterfall or something, also.  I'm going to get an Eheim canister, and that could run the water feature. 

I have room for a 36" wide tank, so I thought I'd get a 50 (36" x 18" x 19" tall) or a 65 (36" x 18" x 25" tall) .  If I go with the 65, I won't fill it all the way.   So I don't have room for a huge rock feature, I'm thinking of running the outflow of the filter through a bamboo pipe or pump handle onto something to get the water noise.  I don't think that I want the water to just pee into the tank. 

Any ideas?

What about going with a small preform or getting some pond liner and making something like this:

http://www.victoria-adventure.org/water_gardening_images/james_indoor_pond/page1.html

or

Google: Indoor ponds,  tons of hits.

Let me know what direction you go.

There was a thread somewhere I read of a guy who made an Indoor Rainforest like room that had a waterfall and pond.  I think it might have been on Aquarticles

I'd considered something like this, but I don't have the space right now.  I also want to keep the fish in the living room where I can see them all the time.  I might do something larger and more ambitious in the future if this goes well.

Sorry, I forgot to use "Quote" on my last post.  I meant that I'd considered the indoor pond with a liner, but I've decided to go with an aquarium this time.

Being aquarists with aquariums in the house adds a lot moisture, an indoor pond may push you over and develop a mold problem. 

We've got a ways to go before it gets too humid.  All the other tanks are covered.

schambers said :

I had an Idea.  I want to upgrade my goldfish to a bigger tank, and I'd like to get some water sound in the living room.  I'd like an open top tank, with some bamboo or mangroves growing out of it.  I'd like a waterfall or something, also.  I'm going to get an Eheim canister, and that could run the water feature. 

I have room for a 36" wide tank, so I thought I'd get a 50 (36" x 18" x 19" tall) or a 65 (36" x 18" x 25" tall) .  If I go with the 65, I won't fill it all the way.   So I don't have room for a huge rock feature, I'm thinking of running the outflow of the filter through a bamboo pipe or pump handle onto something to get the water noise.  I don't think that I want the water to just pee into the tank. 

Any ideas?

LOL, should have asked me last year when I had my cpr overflow without the standpipe. Lots of "water noise". Sorta like a toilet flushing....

KoiMan said :

Being aquarists with aquariums in the house adds a lot moisture, an indoor pond may push you over and develop a mold problem. 

I can imagine it would take much more than a large aquarium (or pond like thing) to do some real humidity damage. You had a very large tank yourself, how many gallons of FW did you have to add daily to your SW tank?

There's a book called "Indoor Water Garden Design" by Yvonne Rees you might want to take a peek at. The library might be able to ILL a copy. They've got The indoor water gardener's how-to handbook [by] H. Peter Loewer.

www.suite101.com/article.cfm/smallspacegarden/97318/1