# DIY Nano Tank 10in x 8in x 8in (pics)



## Chididdy123

i have thought about making my own tank, so last night i was going through the forums and saw someones thread about resealing a tank and i was very interested in it. while looking at the thread, it gave me the idea, hey maybe its not so hard. Then while going to other threads i saw that Beaslbob posted some links about building a tank and another site that helps you build by you inputting dimensions then it calculates how much it will weigh and how much water it will hold, safety rating etc.well today i went to lowe's and found some acrylic sheets. Of course being my first time making a tank, it was just to experiment. 

Here were the materials that bought.

5x Acrylic 10in x 8 in x 2mm sheets - $2.00 each

2x 2.8 FL Oz. 100% silicone sealant - $5.00 each (Aquarium safe, and i only needed to use half a tube to do the job)

So total of the materials was $20.00

Other Misc. Items that were helpful and were already on hand 

Scissors
Blue painters tape
Rubbing Alcohol 
Razor
And a blue mat


After i did calculations when i got home, (Calculate Aquarium Glass Thickness | Aquarium Tools) the tank would weigh appr. 20-25 pounds with water, i coincidentally got the right thickness for the acrylic (the site is for glass but hey acrylic is close enough haha )but then i read the amount of water it will hold which is 2.5 gallons, i realize i could have bought a tank that size from petsmart for $12.00 haha. but owell whether i am successful or not with this build i will at least learn from it and may build more with glass in the future.

Here is a picture of all of my materials that i used.
When i bought the acrylic sheets i had two of them cut to 8x8 inch dimentions. i went ahead and took off the protective covering on the inside and covered it in blue painters tape for a clean silicon seal.
[


In this picture, before i folded them and propped them up on each other, i put silicon in in the seams where i would bend them just to be sure im sealing everything. I slowly do it one at a time.



An hour and thirty minutes later i have the finished product, though not yet cured.




Size comparisons 
The tank looks bent in the picture but it actually is straight




More pictures (out of order)























I didn't do well aesthetically as i wanted to on the silicon 






about 6 hours in to curing (which takes 24 hours to completely cure),i find that i didn't do well at all. Unfortunately, when cleaning excess silicon,
i pressed too hard and pushed the seals off one end. This end gave way because it 
was the last seal i did and i could not seal this corner as well as other corners due to 
an awkward position when applying the silicon.





So i cut the silicon off one edge only, not the entire vertex of the cube. i hope that the new silicon
will be able to bond or at least seal all openings near the vertex, otherwise i will have an open box that will 
explode and look like the very first picture haha
Here are some pictures after the repair.







I saw another corner that was peeling as well but it was not too big of a deal





So now im stuck waiting for the silicon to fully cure and will check for leaks 
tomorrow. Hopefully the repairs work and i wont have any kind of leak

I am also thinking about building a frame because the silicon may not be strong enough
to hold the arcylic together alone. Can any one give me tips or ideas on how to 
build a good looking, sturdy frame for it?

I haven't decided what will be of this tank.
Here are my options on what it could be. 

1. Simple display tank with plants and ghost shrimp that can also be a hostpital tank, fry
tank, or a tank that i can put new plants/fish in to make sure they don't have any harmful
diseases.
2. Independent crab tank for my fiddlers.

Thanks for looking at my thread and if you have any questions, feedback, criticisms, tips, ideas, suggestions, or opinions with what i should do with the tank, please feel free to respond.
Thanks again!

I will post updates on how things go when completely cured.
*c/p*


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## beaslbob

Interesting and thank's for posting.

I've heard silicone isn't a good "glue" for acrylic. Please keep us posted.


looks nice though.


my .02


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## Chandavi

Cool! It is nice to see that it worked out. Hopefully it will hold up in the long term; keep us posted on that. I noticed you also mentioned that the silicone didn't turn out as nice as you had hoped. For future reference, next time you could try using a piece of plastic with a rounded edge (like a credit card) to "smooth in" the corners. Taking this along the corners on the last "pass" will create a nice, smooth look. You just have to be careful not to use too much sealant. If you were using glass, I would suggest that you could "shave" the edges with a razor blade to make them look straighter, but the blade would scratch acrylic. These are just a few ideas for next time, if you decide to try it again. Overall great work though!


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## whitetiger61

I really like the idea..alot..so much im going to try it soon mine will be a 16x16 cubeand i will use glass and not acrylic.

silicone and acrylic are not a good marriage..its peeling because the silicone cant bond to the acrylic, and i dont want to be the bearer of bad news..but it will fail on you sooner or later..it just wont adhere to the acrylic. very good idea and a nice job on putting it together.looks like you have some good DIY skills there.. 

Keep us posted on how it works

Rick


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## Chididdy123

So, when i did the water test it did exactly what you guys said it would haha. When it was about halfway full, it opened like a door haha. So the acrylic was a failure.





So i just decided to scrap it and start all over with glass (And whitetiger, im glad you want to start one please make a thread on how you did it ) . i saw that the glass was a little bit more expensive but instead of buying that, i went to the dollar store and bought five 8x10 inch frames and plan on going to lowes soon and get them to cut two pieces of glass into 8x8 inch pieces.
So i will do the exact same thing with the acrylic, hopefully it will bond and wont need a frame , and thanks Chandavi for the tip on the credit card, if i dont find a rounder tool laying around the house, then i will definitely use that.


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