How to make your own aquarium

What makes us give up buying a ready-made aquarium and make it making yourself? In addition to the high cost of factory aquariums, there are few more reasons: dissatisfaction with the quality, form, the volume of the proposed models, the desire to make their own hands what was perfect in the interior.

We will need:

• Glass.
• Silicone glue sealant for aquariums.
• Mounting gun for sealant.
• Fluid degreasing.
• Stationery knife.
• Rag.
• Glass cutter, grinding stone (or sandpaper) - if we are going to cut and grind the glass.

Here it is necessary to immediately make a reservation: high-quality cutting of glass and the processing of edges - the process is complex and requiring certain skills and here will not be considered. Trust this by professionals, order workpieces in the workshop.

1

How to make your own aquarium - choose glass

To begin with, we will determine with the size of the aquarium and the table will select the glass thickness.

• When ordering glass, specify it to the brand. Glass brands (descending quality) - from M1 to M7. For aquariums are suitable for the first three (M1-M3).

2

How to make your own hands Aquarium - Calculate the size of the blanks

Here we must determine the mutual location of the bottom and walls. Their two - walls are put on the bottom of the aquarium or fasten around. From this dependes the size of the blanks. We will install the walls on the bottom, it's easier to mount aquarium.

IMPORTANT! Do not forget that the length of two side walls should be less than the bottom of the bottom length exactly two glass thicknesses plus one millimeter.

Calculate the volume of the aquarium by the formula:

V \u003d lxaxh, where
L - the length of the aquarium;
A - its width;
H - respectively, its height.

3

How to make your own aquarium - choose glue

Glue for aquarium - silicone sealant.

When choosing, make sure:

• This is exactly 100% silicone.
• The label must necessarily indicate that it is intended for aquariums.
• The glue should not contain fungicides (antifungal drugs) - it may adversely affect the future inhabitants of the aquarium.

There are plenty of these sealants: Soudal, Tytan, the moment of germing, Chemlux 9011, Orbasil, Krass, Penoseal and others.

Sealants are of different colors. Dark and black sealants are more suitable for large aquariums and only with fresh water, colorless sealants are universal.

If you still cut the glass yourself - process glass cuts. Several times go through a moistened sharpening stone on the edges. It is best to do it in the bath, pre-tapping a 10-15 water centimeters into it and some old thick towel or a rag. On smooth cuts, silicone holds better.

4

How to make your own an aquarium - assembling aquarium

• We wipe the glass with dry rags and degrease the glass with acetone, alcohol or liquid for degreasing. Gently apply a sealant on the sides of the side walls

• On the smooth surface glue the side walls, we do not squeeze hard.

• Remove the surplus sealant. You can use the tube nose. We are not trying to consider everything surplus, after drying it will be possible to cut them off the stationery knife.

• Apply from above the bottom of the future aquarium. We are convinced that the bottom and sections of the side walls coincide. We remove the bottom and leave the design to dry for a day.

• After a day, we apply the sealant to the upper sections and gently apply (do not press) the bottom. We care outside the extra sealant and leave our aquarium to dry three days. Do not touch the aquarium before the expiration of this term.

  When the aquarium is driving - cut off the excess sealant by the stationery knife. Inside this is not necessary - the soil and vegetation will be hidden defects.

  IMPORTANT! If the length of any side walls is greater than 50 cm - it is necessary to make ribbies.

  Stiffness ribs are strips of glass from 5 centimeters, glued along two long walls. They prevent the deformation of the walls under the pressure of water. Transverse screed ties are added for large volume aquariums. Details in video.

5

How to make a tank aquarium - verification of tightness

The last stage is a tightness check. Gently fill the aquarium with water, and if no water drops within 2 days - the aquarium is ready and you can congratulate you!

Thus, the manufacture of aquarium at home is a long-term process, but not very laborious and expensive.