ilikefish

At the prices aquariums run for wouldn't it be smarter to just buy glass at home depot and the silicone you need and put it all together? Just a thought... What do y'all think?

CHoffman

It's actually not cheaper..lol..I checked this out myself...On the LARGE tanks, REAL LARGE it does get cheaper, but IMO not cheap enough for all the work it takes.

Lucy

I merged the threads and moved them to a more appropriate section of the forum.
You should get more replies here in the DIY forum.

audithom

Making your own being cheaper.. hmm hard to say cause it really depends on the size of the tank you are wanting.. If you are talking in the 300+ there are ways to make it cheaper. If you are looking for say a 55gal or 75 gal.. Look on craigs list. Glass get expensive specially once you start adding height to the tank.

navyscuba

Actually I think it would be cheaper if you go bigger than that but not sure if HD would carry glass for aquarium use.

Slug

Its great for making odd shaped or odd sized fish tanks. I made myself a small cube. But it takes a good amount of work, and you gotta be pretty handy to get it perfect. Not terribly difficult, but does take some work. You have to make sure all of the seams are almost perfect, as it would be holding multiple gallons of water once completed. And you don't want a flood inside.

MizRamzi

Buy a used tank! Keep is simple and cheap

aquarist48

How Do I: Build a tank?
Build Your Own Aquarium, Part 2: The Tank
Hello Ilikefish. Above links may help you if you haven't seen them already.

I just deleted 2 of your posts that were duplicates of the original post #1. Was there a reason that you posted the same thing 3 times? Is this one of the threads that you thought was deleted? (was actually moved to the proper forum section). Just curious.
Ken

chuba

Build tanks is fun. This is my latest build. I got the glass for free from the local hardware store, to scratched to sell even though you can barely notice. 15 gallons.

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speed0factory

hey nice tank you have there are you sure it DIY cos it look so nice. good work there.

I like the light house you had there too. simple and nice looking tank.

peacemaker92

I thought of building my own tank some day too. I'd say bigger is cheaper than a small one but a lot of hard work though especially when the glass are big and heavy. Gotta be careful.

chuba

Oh yes 100 percent home made. The corners and bottom trim are made out of aluminum angle iron and the wood for the hood came from the dump. The light cost 10 dollars at lowes. Total id say it cost about twenty dollars for the tank and hood. It would be more of coarse if I actually bought the glass.

My next project is putting a glass bottom over the slate in a newly acquired leaky 55g metaframe tank. i heard it was easier to just reline the slate with glass then trying to seal directly to the slate.

namehater

@chuba - i dont understand what you mean by relining the slate

if your interested in DIY aquariums, plywood seems to be the way to go, price wise.

chuba

Reline as in siliconing a piece of glass on top of the existing slate bottom. Then sealing the glass to the sides. silicone does not seal very well to slate from what I have read.

Kisho3

O_o That's a gorgeous tank you have there.

wadesharp

dont go to home depot go to a glass shop i get tempered glass 1 square foot for 10 dollars for me it was cheaper to make my own 60 gallon with 1/2 glass then to buy one

Rearden

I realize this is an older thread but I thought I'd add my 2 cents. 1/4" glass can be used up to 18" deep. Euro braces are recommended and you can lap the front to back pieces over the front and back strips to simplify the build. Shop around town for the glass but stay away from H.D., their stuff is too thin and too expensive. Try glass wholesalers.

ruthven78

Heh glad I saw this link, waa going to research a DIY tank but decided against it....plus I just found a 75 gallon tank for $80 on craigslist!! Supposedly it holds water and no cracks....I dont mind having to reseal it if it does leak but cracks would be a deal breaker. Gotta wait for the extra cash, maybe will get it monday