Aquarium having a cleaning apparatus

An aquarium including a tank disposed above a housing, a screen disposed in the housing, a space formed below the screen, a conduit coupling the tank to the housing for supplying water from the tank to the housing and to the space, an outer tube vertically disposed in the housing and an inner tube disposed in the outer tube and having a lower end extended outward of the housing. The water contained in the space is forced to flow into the outer tube and to flow out of the housing via the inner tube when water is supplied into the housing and the space from the tank.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an aquarium apparatus, and more 
particularly to an aquarium having a flush type cleaning apparatus. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Feeding fish has become more and more popular recently; however, cleaning 
the aquarium has become a bad headache for the feeders and raisers. People 
who don't know how to clean the aquarium may discharge all of the water 
contained in the aquarium, and clean the aquarium, and replenish the 
aquarium completely with fresh water which may have different temperatures 
and "pH" values and may contain chloric materials, such that the fish can 
not accommodate themselves to such a different and changing environment 
right away and such that the fish will easily die. The feeder doesn't even 
know why the fish will die. 
One type of aquarium is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,913,811 to Huang et 
al., filed Mar. 13, 1989, entitled "CLEANER FOR AQUARIUM". In this 
aquarium, a rotary brush is required to clean the impurities deposited in 
the bottom of the aquarium. The configuration thereof is complicated such 
that the aquarium has a high manufacturing cost. 
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the 
afore-described disadvantages of the conventional cleaning devices for 
aquarium. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an aquarium 
having a cleaning apparatus for flushing and cleaning the bottom portion 
of the aquarium. 
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided an 
aquarium comprising a housing, a screen disposed on a lower portion of the 
housing so that a space is formed below the screen, a tank for containing 
water, a conduit coupling the tank to the housing and including a first 
mouth communicated with the space and a second mouth communicated with the 
housing for supplying the water from the tank to the housing and to the 
space respectively, an outer tube vertically disposed in the housing 
distal from the conduit and including a lower end communicated with the 
space, and an inner tube disposed in the outer tube and including a lower 
end extended outward of the housing and an open upper end; whereby, the 
water contained in the space is forced to flow into the outer tube and to 
flow out of the housing via the open upper end of the inner tube when 
water is supplied into the housing and the space from the tank. 
Further objectives and advantages of the present invention will become 
apparent from a careful reading of the detailed description provided 
hereinbelow, with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawings, and initially to FIG. 1, an aquarium in 
accordance with the present invention comprises generally a housing 10, a 
tank 20 for containing water, means 30 for filtering the water supplied 
into the tank 20 via the hose 32, means 40 for supplying water from the 
tank 20 into the housing 10 and into the bottom portion of the housing 10, 
and means 50 for discharging water. 
Referring next to FIGS. 2 and 3, the housing 10 includes a screen 11 
disposed in the bottom portion thereof for supporting stones 13 and 
arranged such that a space 12 is formed below the screen 11. The screen 11 
includes a plurality of openings 14 formed therein and arranged such that 
the impurities and the excretion of the fish will pass therethrough and 
tend to be collected within the space 12. 
The means 40 for supplying water from the tank 20 into the housing 10 and 
into the bottom portion of the housing 10 includes a conduit 41 having one 
end coupled to the first end portion of the tank 20 and having the other 
end extended into the space 12 so as to supply water from the tank 20 to 
the space 12 in order to flush the impurities deposited in the space 12, a 
valve 42, such as a solenoid valve, disposed in the upper end of the 
conduit 41 for controlling the water flowing through the conduit 41, and a 
mouth 44 formed in the upper portion of the conduit 41 for supplying water 
into the housing 10. As shown in FIG. 3, an L-shaped extension 46 is 
coupled to the conduit 41 and includes two legs preferably disposed in 
parallel to two side edges of the housing 10, the extension 46 has a 
plurality of holes 47 formed therein and preferably directed toward the 
discharging means 50 such that the water ejected from the extension 46 
tends to cause the water flow toward the discharging means 50. 
A first sensor 21 and a second sensor 22 are disposed in the lower portion 
and the upper portion of the tank 20 respectively. A valve, such as a 
solenoid valve 23, is disposed in the hose 32 which is provided for 
supplying filtered water into the tank 20, in order to control the water 
supply into the tank 20. For example, the solenoid valve 23 is opened when 
the water level of the tank 20 is lowered to the level of the sensor 21 
and is closed when the water level of the tank 20 reaches the level of the 
sensor 22. The solenoid valve 42 is coupled to a timer (not shown) and 
arranged such that the water will flow into the housing 10 and the space 
12 via the valve 42 at a predetermined time interval ranging from 3 hours 
to 12 hours. It is preferable that the solenoid valve 42 can also be 
controlled manually. It is preferable that the water volume of the tank 20 
ranges from 1/10 to 1/4 of the volume of the housing 10, such that only 
part of the water contained within the housing 10 is replaced at one time. 
The means 50 for discharging water includes an outer tube 51 vertically 
disposed on one corner area of the housing 10 distal from the extension 
47, and an inner tube 52 disposed in the outer tube 51. The outer tube 51 
includes an enclosed upper end and a lower end coupled to the screen 11 
and communicated with the space 12 such that the water accommodated in the 
space 12 and the impurities contained therein tend to be caused to flow 
into the outer tube 51 when water is supplied into the space 12. The inner 
tube 52 includes a lower end extended downward and outward of the housing 
10 and preferably coupled to a container 53 for collecting the waste 
water, and an open upper end arranged such that the water may flow into 
the inner tube 52. It is to be noted that the water will flow into the 
inner tube 52 when the water level of the housing 10 is higher than the 
open upper end of the inner tube 52 such that the open upper end of the 
inner tube 52 determines the water level of the housing 10. A drowned 
neeic pump 54, for example, is disposed in the container 5 for discharging 
the waste water contained in the container 53. 
It is to be noted that the water flowing out from the mouth 44 facilitates 
the water circulation in the housing 10 which has a tendency to force the 
impurities to move downward through the screen 11 and into the space 12. 
The impurities further tend to be deposited in the space by the water 
pressure. 
Referring next to FIG. 4, instead of disposing above the housing 10, a tank 
25 is disposed below the housing 10, a hose 26 couples the tank 25 to the 
housing 10 and includes a mouth 27 communicated to the space 12 and 
another mouth 28 communicated to the housing 10. A check valve 261 is 
disposed in the hose 26 for preventing backward flowing of the water. A 
pump 29, such as a drowned neeic pump, is disposed in the tank 25 for 
pumping water into the housing 10 and can be actuated at a predetermined 
time interval. Two sensors 251, 252 are disposed in the tank 25 for 
controlling the operations of the pump 29. 
Referring next to FIG. 5, instead of the outer tube 51 and the inner tube 
52, a casing 55 is disposed either inside or outside of the housing 10, a 
duct 56 is disposed in the casing 55 and has a lower end extended outward 
of the casing 55, and a pipe 57 has one end communicated to the space 12 
and has the other end connected to the casing 55 such that the waste water 
contained in the space 12 can be caused to flow into the casing 55. The 
duct 56 includes an open upper end which determines the water level of the 
housing 10. The sensors 210, 220 are, for example, the float type sensors, 
as shown in FIG. 5. 
Accordingly, the water contained in the aquarium can partly be replaced 
with fresh water at a suitable time interval. The aquarium need not be 
completely replenished with fresh water and can be easily cleaned. In 
addition, the aquarium has a simple construction such that the 
manufacturing cost is greatly reduced. 
Although this invention has been described with a certain degree of 
particularity, it is to be understood that the present disclosure has been 
made by way of example only and that numerous changes in the detailed 
construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted 
to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as 
hereinafter claimed.