Underwater Blink Cam

[Squist]

Had a Blink cam sitting around and recently received orange photography film for last week's event (@jccaclimber thanks!). I placed the cam into a plastic jar (from Algae Barn this is) and held the jar against the inside of the tank using two aquarium magnets I had lying around; 2 Two Fishes magnet backs.

https://imgur.com/a/FTsVOcT

I thought there was a good chance the magnets would interfere with the image or kill the camera but the camera works! And it's small -- which has me thinking about locating a proper acrylic tube and cemented magnets.

Two aquarium magnet backs hold the jar tightly against the glass corner. And with the lid in-place, the jar is fairly well-secured. At least for periodic use and prototyping.


I've wanted to see what my fish are doing at the top of my rockwork but they take off for deeper waters when I get close. This should do the trick. And I can watch fresh food dosing when that happens.

https://imgur.com/a/pg2WLFe

Reef cam video of automatic fresh food feeder dispensing 1ml of phytoplankton at ~500 gph.

https://imgur.com/a/yK5HdpS

Reef cam video of automatic fresh food feeder dispensing 1ml of mysis shrimp at ~500 gph.


I'm going to play around with acrylic tube next.

 

[Meshmez]

That's pretty cool! but is there any reason to not just mount it directly to the glass on the outside of the tank? If you just want a fixed view, it seems like that would be safer and easier.

 

[svreef]

Super cool!

 

[Squist]

That's pretty cool! but is there any reason to not just mount it directly to the glass on the outside of the tank? If you just want a fixed view, it seems like that would be safer and easier.

But it wouldn’t be an “underwater” cam ; )

You’re right — safer outside the tank. For whatever reason, guess I want to swim with the fishes. Dropping-in a cheap and small video camera anywhere in the tank is the ultimate goal.

 

[JVU]

I like it! Just keep in mind anything you have touching reef water will soon no longer be see-through.

 

[Meshmez]

But it wouldn’t be an “underwater” cam ; )

You’re right — safer outside the tank. For whatever reason, guess I want to swim with the fishes. Dropping-in a cheap and small video camera anywhere in the tank is the ultimate goal.

I agree, being able to "swim" the camera around would be neat!

 

[jccaclimber]

I have a webcam that sits on the outside of my tank when I travel. I leave it disconnected the rest of the time as I don't want a camera continuously streaming from my house otherwise.
You would need a way to bulkhead the cable, but a snap-top container might be a nice way to seal that up.
One application I can think of is seeing what fish are doing in the caves down inside the rock stack, or in places not visible from outside the tank.
Nice to know that filter is getting used.
Whatever you use, make sure it can be cleaned of biological fouling.

 

[Srt4eric]

What about a go pro in a waterproof case?

 

[thesassyindian]

What about a go pro in a waterproof case?

Or a GoPro session - they have a similar form factor and are waterproof without a case

 

[max_nano]

Or a GoPro session - they have a similar form factor and are waterproof without a case

I think all the new gopros are waterproof and the case is for mounting and impact resistance. it would be cool to use their 360° camera.