• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Make tanks from IKEA shelves!!

LondonDragon

LondonDragon

Administrator
UKAPS Team
Joined
21 Feb 2008
Messages
12,588
Location
London
Last edited:
Yeah I watched this too, while interesting they’re not worth the effort imo. Your local tank maker will do a better job, and for me at least I may as well work a bit and pay someone to do it.

I quite like that guys videos tho, interesting well paced etc.
 
So he says no cutting, but Ikea don't sell them in sizes that won't need cutting.
The glass is tempered so cant be cut, unless to undo the tempering, which I believe may be possible, even if not easy.

And then you have a tempered tank, and when I was looking for somewhere to build me recent tank, tempered seems to be a bit of a no no for aquariums due to shattering rather than cracking.
 
GraemeVW said:
So he says no cutting, but Ikea don't sell them in sizes that won't need cutting.
The glass is tempered so cant be cut, unless to undo the tempering, which I believe may be possible, even if not easy.
Click to expand...
I thought it was just me, but I couldn't work out how the available shelf sizes would go together either.

It doesn't make me think I should have a go at resealing the leaky seamed tank I have kicking around though.
 
Did I see correctly, the result is the sides being 5mm (or whatever thickness the glass is) higher than the lengths (or vice versa)
 
GraemeVW said:
So he says no cutting, but Ikea don't sell them in sizes that won't need cutting.
The glass is tempered so cant be cut, unless to undo the tempering, which I believe may be possible, even if not easy.

And then you have a tempered tank, and when I was looking for somewhere to build me recent tank, tempered seems to be a bit of a no no for aquariums due to shattering rather than cracking.
Click to expand...
AND tempered is expensive.
 
LondonDragon said:
Just watched this and It's pretty interesting, with 4 shelves easy enough for anyone to do!
Click to expand...
It is indeed interesting and appealing. However I have to caution, this is not really for beginners. Siliconing tanks is an art and requires experience. He makes it sound like it's a breeze but he has many years of experience.
Here in Bangkok in the Weekend market (Chatchutchak market) there are a few shops that build custom tanks. I have seen them at work many times over and it does require dexterity, finesse and proper tempo for good end product. I personally would not feel confident doing it myself for anything bigger than a nano or similar size specially when I know that I could get the tank done probably for cheaper all done by some pro 😂.
 
I really Like Tanners videos, and this is an interesting idea, but I have to wonder if its worth it. So, say you did a 60 x 40 x 37 tank with the available Ikea shelves. Thats two packs of 60 x 37 shelves and one pack of 40 x 37 shelves (2 shelves per pack), so £46 in shelves plus £15 delivery is £61. Plus your silicone at, say £15, plus a base mat for £12. So £88 all in excluding other tools, your time, pain and anguish.

However a 60 x 30 x 30 Diversa aquarium which is marginally better quality than anything I can silicone together (only marginally mind as they're a bit crap) is £59.95 delivered from Amazon and comes with a free base mat. An All Pond Solutions in 8mm Optiwhite is only £110.

So, okay, you could step up to the 80 x 37 Ikea shelves for a larger tank (if you're feeling extra brave) for £65 delivered, so £92 all in, and the 80cm Diversa is £112, but I think I'd still rather pay the extra £20 to have it pre-built.
 
Last edited:
I've made a few dozen tanks and always thought cutting the glass was the easy bit tbh. It's a bit like drilling a tank at first, you have to build up the courage, clench your buttocks for the scary bit, then you see its pretty easy, once you've checked all your fingers are still there of course.
Silicon on the other hand is messy, difficult to master and you still have the fear you didn't do it right (at least for the first few tanks).

I'm now pretty neat but it still looks like I've done the seams with my elbows compared to the professionals (if you've ever witnessed a onsite build you will be in awe of them) and if I want to diy I just head down the local glaziers were you can normally get cheap glass cut to size and bevelled (or at least you could before the world went mad, it probably costs more than getting a tank built for you but worth a look).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top