my DIY 88 Gal tank and home made stand

[fI$H_fAcE]

well guys here is my tank me and old man built a couple of weeks ago....it measures 54"L x 22"H x 18"W, i think it works out to about 88 US Galllons (may be mistaken , but close anyway , haha). i think for me it will be a useful amount of about 80 Gallons to where i will be filling it up....don't mind the fact that the tank still has some spots on it that need to be cleaned up (i will be covering the direct seam with a black corner peice for a more finished look), i still have time while i wait for my Filter to come in. i didn't want to cover so much of the top of the tank, but io felt that the extra braces would help me alot... and i don't think they will get in the way too much...

the tank stand is also home made by the 2 of us, we used 2x4 's to make a nice sturdy frame then we went ahead and finished it off with some tongue and grove pine boards and then finished it with a nicely tinted varathane.

sorry for no in progress shots....my cam was at my GF's for the past few weeks (using it for some Art project, hehe) and i only just got it from her tonight so i could get some pics of my car and the new tank and stand...

well any comments feel free to let me hear em, it's my first time doing anything liek this (as i am sure you can tell) and i am no carpenter, so leave the amatuer work comments out please, LOL, JK

i will be building my DIY hood for the tank in the next few weeks aswell, i gues si will post that thread when the times comes...

[Intermision]

That looks really good, how hard was it to build the aquarium?

[fI$H_fAcE]

thanks a lot, and it wasn't all that hard at all.....i just bought the proper aquarium silicon, got a local glass shop to cut the glass the proper sizes and then went to it.....i used a site:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/diytanksrefugiums/

oh and by the way...i had the tank filled up for about 4 days and it held without a single drip of a leak!!!

[OCCFan023]

that tank is real cool, I like the clean look of the top without a brace, looks very clean cut. I also admire the tanks placement in your house, really fits well.

What kind of filter did you get for that bad boy, any plans on fish? maybe a salt ?

[fI$H_fAcE]

thanks a lot for the compliments, as far as filtration, i am going with a fluval 404 for now, until i get my tank cycled, then i will be buying either 404, 304 or a rena XP3 to go along with it .....

i really wanted to go saltwater with this one (which was the plan until a couple weeks ago) but i will be going with an Mbuna community tank with

- Labeotropheus Trewavasea (red top)
- Melanchromis Johanni (electric Blue)
- Metriaclima Callainos (Cobalt Zebra)
- Labidochromis Caeruleus (yellow Lab)
- Pseudotropheus Flavus (Dinghani)

[prettypleco]

I love the clean lines of this tank. Can't wait to see it with the fish etc..

[BigDaddy420]

looks great man, making me consider building my next tank.

[hyunelan2]

Looks great. However, I would be slightly worried about pressure blowing out the seams, since there is no frame to help hold them in place. 88g is a lot of water on the floor. If it holds up though, it's a great looking tank!

[fI$H_fAcE]

thanks,


i am only going to about 18-19 deep so it shouldn't be too much pressure, there is very generous seams on this tank with the silicone, way more than what comes on any store bought tank (not that it is any way of judging strength though)....

i had the tank filled up for about 4 days, out in the garage mind you!! (at 20" with not a drip of water or anythign leak from it...., although i know where you're coming from, becaus ei would like to strap the very bottom with something to help keep everything together (for sure!!) but what could i use?...it would help me sleep better perhaps, LOL

[hyunelan2]

You could easily put a frame around the bottom of the tank with any number of materials, then add some crown molding over it - stained to match the stand you build - and you'd never see it. Metal strapping is one option (wrap a strap around the bottom perimeter, tighten in back, hide with molding). Another would be to just use the actual molding for support - but I don't know how stong that would be. Finally, you could get a sheet of 3/4" MDF, trim it down, and cut out the center so that you could 'slide it over' the tank to act as a frame... I don't know if this would be tight enought to make a difference or not though.