Want To Build "fish Cubbies"

[BrookeLea]

Hey guys,

I really, really want a "cubby system" for my bettas. After searching everywhere, I can't find exactly what I want, and I think that the only way to get it is to build it myself. That way I can custom make it to fit my tanks and my wall space. THIS is the closest thing that I've found to what I want.

I don't want the cubbies to go all the way down to the floor, though. I want the cubbies to start closer to eye level so that the fish are more visible, and I want to put shelves on the bottom.

I drew this in Photoshop to illustrate my idea:

Now, the only problem is...I've never built anything like this before. After taking measurements and drawing it all out, I don't know where to start. I don't know what materials to use, or how to be sure that it's structurally sound. I'd appreciate any advice that any of you have to offer. I really need to attempt this, or I'll go nuts.

 

[OohFeeshy]

The image isn't showing and the link isn't really working, but I assume you mean some sort of bookase idea?

 

[BrookeLea]

The image isn't showing and the link isn't really working, but I assume you mean some sort of bookase idea?

Strange...it worked fine on my computer. Now I'm using someone else's and it's not working here. I'll try again.

BOOK CASE

I can't get the illustration to work. I'll have to try it from my computer.

 

[Ethos]

Yeah, they both worked for me.
Anyways, Are you talking about something like I have?

How many betta bowls are you planning on putting on it, and how many gallons in each bowl?

 

[BrookeLea]

Ethos... Yes, something like you have, but not quite. I want the cubbies to be smaller so that the tanks fit in tighter and I want more cubbies. I'll get the exact measurements for each cubby when I can measure my tanks. They're the 1 gallon Aquaviews. The wall that I want to use is, I believe, 53" wide, so I'm thinking I can fit 4 or 5 cubbies across, and I'd like it to also go at least 5 cubbies high.

 

[yvez9]

that's alot of bettas!

 

[Ethos]

if you do 5x5 cubbies, and you had them all filled in with bettas (25 bettas), how long do you think it'd take you to do a simple water change, which your supposed to do atleast once a week, maybe even more frequint because they're all one Gs?

I dunno about the Ikea stuff though.
I love ikea, and they have some great stuff, with great prices.
But since you have to put the shelves together yourself (That how Ikea does all their products) i dont think the shelfs are going to be all that sturdy.
You might be safer doing a shelf yourself.

 

[dylema]

If you could find an Ikea or simmilar unit that looks good it would be much easier to add some bracing to strengthen it than it would be to make the whole unit yourself. For example you could screw a large sheet of board (ply, chipboard, mdf etc) onto the back which would prevent the unit twisting and help support the shelves. Or add some small neat metal brackets to help support the shelves. Just an idea anyway.

 

[simonbrown403]

A few questions:

Whats the dimentions of the gallon cubes?

How many tanks do you want to fit in it?

How tight do you want do you want the gallon cubes in the unit?

What type of finish you want?

Are you after wall mounting it or putting it on some sort of stand to bring it up to eye leve, you will need to know what type of wall you have brick, plaster board etc?

 

[BrookeLea]

Thanks for the advice everybody.

ethos, i already do 30+ water changes a week with no problem. i don't do them all on one day. they have an alternating schedule so it doesn't take much time each day to clean them.

simon, to answer your questions:
the tanks are 8x10
i want to fit 25 of them
i want the tanks to fit as tight as possible so that i'll still be able to remove them for cleaning
i already have 30 bettas
i'm not mounting it or putting it on a stand...i want it to be part of the stand

i think i'm going to put this project on hold for a while because i've got some other things going on at the moment

 

[simonbrown403]

simon, to answer your questions:
the tanks are 8x10

whats the hight of the tanks and which way round are you having the tanks, with the 10" to the front or the 8"