A guy in the South Bronx worked with students at a boat-building education nonprofit. He built a thing with them called a “Tide Tank,” which changes the water level of a fish tank to represent the local tide in real time.

I think it’s a neat project because I like the idea of showing the water level using…a water level! It’s a very one-to-one representation of the world.

If I were to make my own version, I’d probably want to use a better valve system—it seemed like the one shown in the video wasn’t reliable enough to keep the water level where it should have been at all times. (Instead, it bounced above and below the set point.)