Fish Tank Cabinet Diy Project

[Zikofski]

Hello all and welcome to my new project, an 88L tank, which is going to be my new planted nano tank with a few small fish.

But firstly I will be building a cabinet for it, this will be made of solid pine wood, with 18mm thick pine panel's on the outside hopefully it will look stunning once complete

 
i shall try and break it down and show absolutely everything i do as much as i think is needed, hopefully this will allow anyone to follow this and do this for them self's
 
Planning
 
so obviously you need to plan such a project for this i used Google Sketch up it is both easy and free to use allows me to get exact dimensions and other bits n bobs you may need to look at when designing anything like this.
 

 

 
There will be 3 doors

• one for the top that will be a free hinge allowing it to fold back on it self which will give me maximum space ontop to get my hand in and do maintenance.

• and two swing doors for the bottom cabinet, these i will use soft close hinges to help with quality and  prevent slamming and damage in the future.

 
The cabinet will be 1415mm tall thats just over 1.4m and will be 798mm wide, almost 0.8m wide.
 
But before i can do the outside i need a skeleton a frame for everything to sit on or attach to, this will be my frame
(ignore the letters they are for my reference only once i cut the wood, i will label them up so i know where they will go later on)
 

 
I will be using a range of wood,

• 44x44mm wood used for the actually cabinet and to support the tank.
• 44x70mm wood used as the floor base of the cabinet and support at the top
• 44x96mm wood used as the backbone at the back this will support the top part of the cabinet and everything will bolt to this, i chose 96mm as it will allow me 96mm of room behind the tank to put cables and pipes and equipment behind the tank

 
......More to follow

 

[Zikofski]

Okay now that I have done the planning, i had to go out and buy the items, I shall list everything that I have bought including tools I needed for this project.
 
Shopping List
(all prices are total not individual prices)

• 44x44x2100mm Planed Smooth Timber x4 £13.59
• 44x70x3000mm Planed Smooth Timber x1 £9.42
• 44x96x3000mm Planed Smooth timber x2 £20.94
• 2440x1220x3mm Hardboard (For the back of cabinet) x1 £5.98
• 1220x610x3mm Hardboad White Faced (for inside panels) x4 £20.32
• 1830x457x15mm Hardboard White Faced (For the floor of cabinet and tank) x1 £11.29
• 2350x500x18mm Laminated Pine (for the outside pannels) x2 £99.98
• 850x400x18mm Laminated Pine (for the two front doors) x2 £29.98
• 500x500mm Carpet (to sit between the tank and base) x2 £7.96
• Bracket 80x80x60mm (to help support the top frame) x2 £3.96
• Fixing Block White Pack of 24 (used to fix some panels to frame) x1 £3.28
• Handels x3 £14.54
• Wood Screw 3x16mm Pack of 100 £1.78
• Wood Screw 4x20mm Pack of 100 £2.58
• Wood Screw 4x40mm Pack of 25 £3.44
• Wood Screw 5x70mm Pack of 100 £10.18
• Wood Screw 5x100mm Pack of 25 £6.47
• Wood Screw 6x80mm Pack of 25 £7.27
• Wood Screw 6x120mm Pack of 25 £9.70
• No more Nails Wood Glue x1 £6.18
• 3 Peice sand paper Assorted £4.48
• Continuous Hinge 600mm x1 £4.78
• Fish tank 30x15x12" £40.00

I got everything from B&Q other than the fish tank that was from P&H.
 
luckily B&Q do wood cutting, so I got ALL of the panels cut for free, but sadly due to H&S i had to cut the planned smooth edged wood my self that I finished today.
 
I did have a couple of problems cutting the wood my self, I started with the larger 96mm pieces and my cutting skills are not exactly great, my cuts where not strait and a bit so today I went out and bought some more tools to help me with the other bits,

• Mitre box (help with cutting strait) £5.98
• 300mm steel Ruler Always wanted one and will help with the finer details later) £2.98
• Spirit Level (A much needed item for the fish tank and ensuring the cabinet is level) £4.98
• Mitre Square (Make sure i do my lines for cutting are accurate) £7.98 
• File Set (Help with filing down the wood to make sure it all fits 100% perfect) £21.98

That is everything I have bought now, Total cost of project so far £382
 
......More to follow

 

[Zikofski]

Okay now I have bought my stuff I need to cut it and start building the cabinet

Firstly I cut the planed square edged timber, this did cause me problems at first as you know I had to buy a few extra stuff.
 
Sadly I only have my room (flat style) to do everything in.
 

 

 

 
as you can see not much space to work in

 
so I got on with it, used two G clamps I had to clamp the wood to the chair YES a chair

and started cutting
 

 
didn't work out 100% as i thought so as you know I bought some stuff to help

now I clamped the wood to the mitre box and the chair

 
this is what I completed yesterday before I bought the extra stuff 
 

 

 
and this is some of the stuff i have done today
 

 

 
and then placed some parts into position to test and check things out
 

 

 
i do need to refine some of the wood like the middle struts are 1mm or 2 to big so i can file them down easily.
 
that is all for today thank you for reading and tomorrow i hope to drill and screw the frame together will not glue it yet as i need to transport it 250 miles home and i think all this weight will be to heavy for me to lift down to my car without damaging the outer panels and stuff
 
......More to follow

 

[Zikofski]

Okay Day 2 of my DIY cabinet and it has come on a lot, almost finished building the frame will finish that tomorrow and maybe finnish the whole thing,

but after my test run as i talked about in the above post, i did the same but this time i drew some guild lines to help me out,

as you can see in the above picture the middle struts are a tad to big and managed to re-saw them and file them down to size

also did guidelines for where i want to drill a hole for the screw, i chose a drill but that was one size smaller than the actual size of screw, in my case the screws are 5mm so i used a 4mm drill bit,

Single screw for the middle strut and two screws for the outer two ones

thats the frame that the tank will sit on

now to add the legs, this i used my table as a support and used my mitre square and spirit level to get it level, getting it level is most priority at this stage, otherwise there will be stresses on the tank and possible leaks in the future

I did all this in my lunch time

, and when i got back from work i assembled more peices dry to test and check where things go

i also tested that the tank fits and is level and it fits perfect and is level

sadly i had a power cut today so i was unable to do stuff for like 4 hours but when it came back on i did the back two supports and started working on the lower frame for the floor of the cabinet

as you can see i used 5 screws to secure the two 96x44mm peices of wood together and then used 3 screws to attach that to the tank frame

this is all i got to do on the bottom part these peices are a bit dodgy as i did not have my miter box at the time of cutting them so its a bit scew-if more filing and trimming needed

that is it for today i shall continue tomorrow

any comments and hints and tips or criticism much appreciated and if you spot a mistake please tell me haha

......More to follow

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Nice, oh and good drill.

 

[Zikofski]

haha thnx dude and yes it amazing the right tools really do make the job easier

 

[ian_m]

Warning....chipboard/board and water do not mix....once even the slightest bit of water gets near the board it will slowly turn to porridge. Either use waterproof ply (easily available and cut to size from B&Q) or get waterproof chipboard (not easy) or make sure that every open end, screw hole, dent etc etc is thoroughly sealed.

I have seen numerous tank stands and hoods made of chipboard come to grief. My mates home made chip board tank hood came to grief, despite sealing everything with varnish, as the heat from the tubes caused the plastic coating to come free after a couple of months. The plastic then cracked, damp got in, despite a plastic tank cover, and the lights started descending into the tank as the chipboard turned to porridge. His replacement was made using varnished blockboard ply & solid wood, that was many years ago and is still going the last time I saw it.

 

[Zikofski]

thank you ian_m and i totally agree with you 100% and that is why i am not building it out of chipboard

, i am building it out of laminated pine panels which is 100% pure wood just laminated together to make bigger panels of wood

, i have not yet decided on waterproofing yet,as it will be a few months before i get this tank up and running, one solution i was going to implement probably wont happen was to use fans at the top to pull fresh air in and pull humid air out, i can easily convert a 92 or even a 120mm pc fan to run of 240v mains so that wont be a problem, but i doubt i will need them.

i am using those chipboard with white face for the floor in the cabinet and for the floor that holds the tank but there will be some carpet between the tank and the board, and the rest of the intiria is cheap thin 3mm hardboard that if gets damaged its easily replaced.

Okay onto todays update.

I have completed probably 80% of the cabinet, and in my eyes its amazing almost no major errors, and the tank fits just

a bit of a tight squeeze on the left but it goes in with a bit of a push, when i cut the sides down this stress and pressue on the glass will reduce slightly so i am not worried about this yet,

okay well today i stated of again finishing off the bottom and again i started by laying out the pieces ready to screw

and then i screwed them in

i then sat back and had a look with the tank on and checked to see if it was level and it was

but i noticed the white backing was to big, but i shall trim that latter

i then moved onto the Top part, for this i used one screw to secure the two 44x44 pieces of wood together and then using two screws secured it to the frame

once i had done those two screws i secured the support beam across the top, with two screws on each side, one screw going through the 44x44 wood and one going through the thicker wood this will add extra support to the whole thing, after that i added two further screws to the top two 44x44 pieces of wood for even more strength.

to add even more support as this is a single point of failure for the whole top part of the tank i added one bracket to each side

i then proceeded to secure the two floors to the frame, for this i used the fixing blocks which where perfect for this

then i started working on the inside of the cabinet it self, securing the inside panels

i then cut the carpet into shape and checked that the tank aligned up perfectly still

i then went to secure the side panels for this i used around 20 screws in total, 10 on each side roughly, on various parts of the frame from the back and front legs to the top support beams this will also give some structural support to the whole cabinet not just to cover up things, now i screwed everything from the inside so the wood on the outside stays pure, so far i have not screwed up and used a screw to big

haha

 

[Getthejist]

Looking really good ziko

 

[Zikofski]

this is just a picture of the tank inside the cabinet it is a bit of a tight squeeze with the side panels on now, but i can sort that out later

i then secured the roof using two screws on each of the supports coming out over the tank and 3 heavy duty screws on the back support beam, i noticed the top lid was not perfectly flat, well it is now

screws are wonderful, now i will be glueing ALL of the frame together, and most of the panels together but this top one i wont just in case i need better access to the lights pipes and tank if needed.

and these two last pictures are just what the tank looks like now as it stands, i shall stop here as it is now 11pm im in a flat and dont want people knocking on my door going What the Hell are you doing

haha

ignore the duck tape i just use that to help me get things right and to see if things fit perfectly they do almost

haha

i am back home for the weekend so this is on pause and shall continue this on sunday/monday

thank you for reading and hope you like it

......More to follow

 

[ian_m]

thank you ian_m and i totally agree with you 100% and that is why i am not building it out of chipboard

, i am building it out of laminated pine panels which is 100% pure wood just laminated together to make bigger panels of wood

Excellent, you have obviously taken into account water/condensation issues.

one solution i was going to implement probably wont happen was to use fans at the top to pull fresh air in and pull humid air out, i can easily convert a 92 or even a 120mm pc fan to run of 240v mains so that wont be a problem, but i doubt i will need them.

I think you will find any fans will be too noisy in your flat. Most tank hoods don't have fans unless they are using halogens or monsterous LED setups. Remember too much light will wreak havoc with algae and kill all your plants. Keeping light below 1W per US gallon is a good start, above that you are moving into high-tech planted tank technology. See here http/www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/lighting-in-the-planted-aquarium.2271/. I have high tech planted tank with about 1W per gallon and plants that grow centimetres each day (oh and no algae either as low'ish light)
 

the tank but there will be some carpet between the tank and the board,

Carpet is not really a good idea, you will find any water that drips down will get absorbed by the carpet and go mouldy. Better is say 2-3mm polystyrene sheet (from B&Q or local fish shop) or I have used before an offcut from an old carrymat (about 5mm) as both of these are waterproof and work fine. The sheet underneath is only really to take out any slight unevenness of the surface tank is resting on and main one is not cause any issues if a grain of dirt/sand gets under the tank. My mate can tell you about thus as the bottom of his first ever tank cracked due to it resting on kitchen worktop on a grain of sand.

One other thing you need to make sure your tank doesn't touch and of the wood or else pump/filter noise will be transmitted to the frame and the whole thing will become rather loud !!!

 

[Zikofski]

hah thank you for all that ian_m, i have taken into account lighting and i am going with High light, LED lights made by Steveo i use the same lights for my 330L tank and they are perfect, regards to the carpet, i chose carpet because it easy cheap and i use it under my 330L tank and i have had no problems with it going mouldy yet, i looked in B&Q for polystyrene but didn't see any maybe i looked in the wrong place, i have the carpet now so i shall use that, altho i do plan to aqua seal the back board to the tank and seal it all that way so no water will go down

fingers crossed.

i will be having an external filter, so fingers crossed there will be noise from the equipment, for the tank it self i will not have any equipment going into the tank other than, inlet outlet and a temp sensor that is it all other equipment is external and will be housed inside the cabinet at the bottom

, fingers crossed the filter dose not rattle in there if it dose i shall get some carpet under the filter as i have some spare

 

[D34DLY]

Loving it Zikofski! Coming along nicely I see I'm just trying to think of any flaws right now...
 
How come you decided to remove the side views? I thought you wanted them? It'd be cool to drill some circular windows in there! Afterall, its providing no support, and will make the whole unit unique!
 
Ah, bet you never thought about that!

 

[Zikofski]

tbh i am not keen on the circular windows, but i am going to cut the sides off dont worry, but you will be surprised the sides do offer some structural support but thank you finding flaws now will be good haha

 

[Zikofski]

okay i have completed as much as i can for now and in my eyes it looks amazing, as i have imagined it would look, if not better haha,
 
okay after leaving it the weekend i noticed that one of the sides was starting peel away, so i went to b&Q and bought some longer screws for the side, i was using 50mm so i bought some 60mm, and they have done the job a lot better.
 
i then started to cut away at the sides i was so nurvouse doing this as if i had screwed up that was £50 to £100 down the drain but it went well
 

 

 
as you can see i drilled some fairly big holes to get my saw in, a but tacky at first but i did neaten it up with a file once i had made the cut.
 

 
i also smoothed the edges to make it not so sharp to touch when it comes to staining i will sand it down even more wont make it rounded but smooth over the sharper edges
 
i also bought some door softeners to stop banging along with some self adhisive gell pads on the top door these all seem to do the trick,
 

 

 
and that was pretty much it for what i can do, so i shall show some overall pics now
 
this pic shows where i will be added the lights from PS3Steveo cant w8 to install them and see how it looks in the tank

 
this is the finished underneath all i needed to do was add the backing, usually companies use nails to put this on but i used screws so i can take it off and gain better access if needed

 
i took this picture to show how much the tank is sunk into the cabinet not much but enough to hide most sand, and i shall aim so that the sand at the front is at the same heigh as this lip and getting higher towards the back to add extra depth

 
Overall Picture without Carpet and Tank

 
Overall Picture with Carpet No Tank

 
Overall Picture Complete

 
Right hand side

 
Left hand side

 
thank you all for reading, i have ordered some soft close hinges for the lower doors i will do them this weekend to next week and i shall add the door handles too
 
only major problem with my cabinet is i have no means to keep the top lid open i am trying to find a solution that wont damage the looks of the cabinet to much
 
thank again hope you enjoyed