My Aquarium Housing/cabinet Project

Tim_UK

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hello, hope you don't mind me describing my current project - new housing/cabinet for my aquarium, I started this a few weeks back so the first bit's I'm describing are whats happened so far !
 
this is our current small tank just over two years old now:
 

TH3_0799 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
my wife found a lovely sideboard so we'd use this for the new tank:
 
took a few months to find one in stock, but it arrived at the end of May:
 

TH2_8450 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
 

TH3_0151 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
 
 
 
 
Lovely cabinet there. The wood is gorgeous. Having a tank the same size on top?
 
I had an old tank - about 30 inches long - at my parents house in the shed there - hasn't been used for about 20 years which I planned to use. I didn't want to just sit the tank on the sideboard so this was my first idea:
 

TH3_0298 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
This is a rotten drawing but I basically wanted it raised a couple of inches and enclosed with big front opening and two "port holes" in the sides.
 
Base was just a piece of old contiboard with some cls wood as supports:
 

TH3_0311 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
I got some oak coloured contiboard from B&Q and made up some sides - cut the side holes and screwed the lot together:
 

TH3_0773 by tim-uk, on Flickr

My wife would only let me have one of the "cupboards" in the sideboard for the gubbins to go with the tank so after a lot of thinking decided on getting a big external filter and linking this to some old filter empty canisters I have had for years - I had a lovely 48x15x18 tank about 25 years ago.
 

TH3_0797 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
Was going to be a tight fit so decided on putting all the electrics on the cupboard door:
 
I bought one of the £10 chinese thermostats from ebay and made a box for it:
 

TH3_0795 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
I then mounted some metal clad boxes for the sockets:
 
 
The little transformer boxes are for leds which i planned to use.
 

TH3_0813 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_0818 by tim-uk, on Flickr

I cut some holes in the back for the filter tubes and used some oversize tank connectors to protect the pipes:
 

TH3_0808 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
I used some corrugated trunking to carry all the wires:
 

TH3_0798 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_0807 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
I plan to have the filters accessable so added some sliders:
 

TH3_0812 by tim-uk, on Flickr

Sophie said:
Lovely cabinet there. The wood is gorgeous. Having a tank the same size on top?
 
 
smaller tank for now, but in the future would love a bigger one so much of the work and filter considerations etc will hopefully allow for this in the future !
 
 
 
 

Thats all for now, next post will describe the first problems I encoutered !
 
Nice set up with some nice touches to keep things clean and tidy.
 
For some reason I've never thought to use corrugated trunking, even though I have some lying around.
 
You are clever, Tim!
That's a lovely cabinet you have there and your adaptations look brilliant to me (who knows diddly about woodwork and electrics! lol)
 
ok, so here's where the problems started !
 
I'd filled up the old tank at my parents and all was fine as regards no leaks, however when I brought it back to mine and started to clean it it was obvious that there was something on the inside of the glass that wouldn't shift - I tried razor blades, vinegar, bleech, everything !
 

TH3_1099 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
It would have been ok as a quarantene tank but not good enough to look at everyday, was a bit miffed as would have saved fifty pounds but these things happen so went off to find a new tank - the old tank was 12 x 15 x just under 30inches - this was the problem all the current tanks were exactly 30 inches and they wouldn't have fitted in my new cabinet !
 
I therefore decided to go for a longer tank so I could keep the end pieces with the port-holes in them, I bought a 48 x 12 x 15 for £85 - was a squeeze in the car but I'd made up a stretcher thingy for it to go on for the journey home !
 

TH3_1104 by tim-uk, on Flickr

 
 
This same weekend I noticed how the old sideboard had become damaged - and the contiboard swollen under the old mini aquarium - probably a build up of spillages over the past two years and a bigger spillage when I moved the tank and sideboard to make way for the new sideboard.
 
I put a piece of wood underneath and clamped this in place to hopefully prevent a bigger disaster and fishes on the carpet.
 

TH3_1212 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
 

I was also now worried about building a new cabinet out of contiboard.
 
Had a looks at wickes and b&q and found some nice pinewood so bought a load of this, I would have liked to buy oak but very expensive so I decided on pinewood which I would have to dye or stain to match the colour of the sideboard.
 

TH3_1112 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
Chopped this up and made a base for the longer aquarium:
 

TH3_1113 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_1115 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_1120-2 by tim-uk, on Flickr
Made up the sides and long sections using the same pinewood with biscuit joints, glue and a load of clamps:
 

TH3_1121 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_1123 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_1127 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
got the cabinet assembled and tried it with the aquarium inside:
 
 

TH3_1141 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_1136 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
 

TH3_1196 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
you can't see clearly in the photos but the cabinet front was a bit out of square so when the tank was inside it didn;t look perfect as the gap between the glass and wood went from about 2mm to almost 10mm - thats why I had all the clamps in one of the photos above !
 
This didn't work though so I rebuilt it with a wider front piece at the top:
 

TH3_1197 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
this seemed much better.
 

TH3_1198 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
cut out the front piece for thermometers:
 

TH3_1205 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
dyed the wood with some ronseal wood dye to try to give an oak look:
 
 

TH3_1209 by tim-uk, on Flickr
I then varnished the pieces of wood:


TH3_1240 by tim-uk, on Flickr

I also took the oppourtunity to fit a couple of small fans at the back - I don't know if these are needed or will do any good but I thought it might help avoid condensation on the inside - was a quick job to do now yet would be hard with the tank in place so might have wasted 15 minutes of my time but you never know !


TH3_1245 by tim-uk, on Flickr

Reassembled as thought would put the final coats of varnish on with the cabinet built:


TH3_1256 by tim-uk, on Flickr


Fitted some blue vinyl on the back of the tank:


TH3_1254 by tim-uk, on Flickr


That brings the project up to where we are today - next jobs are:

two coats of varnish on the outside
think up someway to ease the waterchange

then the nicer jobs - lights, wiring up, doing the pipework and getting some gravel and rocks in.

If anyone wants any more info on anything or what things costs please ask !
 
 
Tim, you are amazing! Making me feel completely inadequate 
ohmy.png
I have a feeling your tank is going to be incredible when completed. Can't wait to see more photos.
 
thanks for your kind comments !  not sure how good it will look but I've learnt a lot making it !!
 
got a few things done today:
 
lights wired up - these are led bulbs from china - unfortunately one of the mini transformers I'd bought and wired in didn't work so will have to wait for them to send a replacement.
 
 

TH3_2966 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
 
fitted a mains socket for the heater - made a funny bracket for this just in case need to get at it in the future.
 

TH3_2967 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
you can also see where the fans are - behind tank to blow fresh air up into hood
 

TH3_2970 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
got a couple of float switches from ebay for pocket money so thinking of using these as part pf the water changer.
 

TH3_2974 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
 
cabinet was varnished again, colour looks quite nice now:
 

TH3_2977 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
starting to look like an aquarium now !
 
got some of the gravel and stones washed:
 

TH3_2982 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
also drilled some of the slate as will use this to hold the various pipes, heater, etc. I find the rubber sucker thingys are fine for a while but then fall off.
 

TH3_2981 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
will have to buy a water test kit soon as have only tested nitrite recently on the old mini tank - which brands do people use here ?
 
API master kit is popular.
 
I use sailfert personally, but there's not a lot wrong with api for giving you the basics.
 
mhancock said:
look forward to seeing this finished!
 
 
so is my wife - room has looked a tip for the last couple of weeks !!
 
not much progress last few days, adapted some old pond fittings to suit the pre-filter, fixed this and some other bits to a piece of slate to hold secure.
 
 

TH3_2991 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 

TH3_2995 by tim-uk, on Flickr
 
I think I have an idea for the water changer so may try to do that this week.
 

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