How to DIY a tank?

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Anonymous Fox

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the title might make no sense (how to do-it-yourself a tank lol) but how do you? I'm looking into owning two BN plecos, (there's a verrrrryyyy slim chance I will breed, but I still might) no other fish in the tank except maybe mystery snails. I'm planning on making a 35+ gallon. questions:

what silicone?

plexiglass or real glass?

what to use to hold together when drying?

how long does it take silicone to dry?
 
GE 100% silicone works I think

I would go real glass

Most silicone takes 12 to 48 hours to fully cure


What is your reason for wanting to do a custom tank? What are the dimensions you are hoping for?
 
i dont think custom tanks are as easy as you think they are to make, youd have to be able to cut glass, and have to have a LOT of silicone, just get a company to make it in the dimensions you want it in.
 
What is your reason for wanting to do a custom tank? What are the dimensions you are hoping for?
ty for the info :) it's actually cheaper for me to make a DIY one, my parents own a hardware store, so it's cheaper, and they cut glass, so... *shrugs* and my dad is a carpenter, too, and good at building stuff.

I'm hoping for 30.25 x 12.5 x 22.75
 
Lots of youtube vids on how to glue together a custom tank. It isn't too hard if you're semi-handy and have a good, clean place to work. Basically you need strips of duct tape and a caulking gun with your fish-safe silicone. Have a plan, and have everything laid out before you start, because the glue only has about a 5-10 minute working time before it skins over. Having an extra pair of hands is tremendously helpful, too, so get a helper.

Put several strips of tape on the underside of the bottom with a few inches sticking out; put other strips on the outside of the end pieces. Apply glue around rim of the bottom and up the edges of your end pieces. Stick your long sides on, fold up the strips of tape to hold them in place, and have your assistant hold them there while you place the end pieces and fold over their strips of tape to hold them in place. Run a bead of glue around the inside of all seams for a bit of extra insurance; run a gloved finger or popsicle stick over all the seams to be sure they make a good seal. Boom, done. Let it cure until the best-nosed person in your house can't smell any hint of vinegar in or around the tank--at least two or three days; a week is safer--and you're good to go.

That's one way to do it. Search "how to build a custom aquarium" on youtube and you'll find all kinds of tutorials. Some people mask their glue lines so they're all straight and perfect. I didn't worry about that because 1. Most of the glue lines are buried under the substrate, so who cares if they're pretty? 2. It's easy enough to trim any really goofy glue blobs with an xacto knife, and 3. I forgot to do it. ha ha :)

The tank I built last winter is 36x10x10, and it didn't need any framing around the top. Yours is a bit taller, so it might, but I doubt it. Good luck!
 
Custom tanks definitely aren’t easy, but they can be done with preparation and hard work.

As @WhistlingBadger suggested, YouTube is an excellent place to find out how to pretty much anything.

I think, in the long run, you will save time and money just buying a tank, instead of making one.
 
The dimensions of your tank sound very Close to a 29 gallon! A 29 is 30x12x18, and only cost $29 at Petco during their sale. If your intent was to breed plecos, 2 would be fine in a 29 as long as you were sure it was a male and a female (2 males would fight in so small a space think) and you have a grow out tank for the fry (is it fry? Idk, pleco babies)
 
The dimensions of your tank sound very Close to a 29 gallon! A 29 is 30x12x18, and only cost $29 at Petco during their sale. If your intent was to breed plecos, 2 would be fine in a 29 as long as you were sure it was a male and a female (2 males would fight in so small a space think) and you have a grow out tank for the fry (is it fry? Idk, pleco babies)
I might breed, how big does a ‘grow out tank’ need to be and when do I move them out? Petcos sale is at the end of the spring months, right?
 
I might breed, how big does a ‘grow out tank’ need to be and when do I move them out?
I am not exactly sure, I think they can be sold at 1/2 inch, I would say at least a 10 gallon with high filtration would be needed
 
I've seen a lot of videos of places that breed bn plecos (also one of my favorite species) and they use these long fairly short plastic fish TRAYS, completely devoid of anything resembling an aquarium. Like a puppy mill for fish. Theirs breed like crazy (lacking anything else to do I assume). I've twice now had tanks of 4-8 plecos along with other peaceful fish (mainly Dwarf Gourami). They usually ship to me at about 1/2 inch in size and take a couple of years to grow to adulthood (at least mine did) I've never seen two males fight over anything = they are such laid back fish. I lost all my adult plecos with some kind of aquarium accident - still not sure if my assistant forgot to condition the water or something else - lost 17 fish out of about 25, most of the rest died days later and now 2 yrs later I only have one fish of the original bunch.

So I bought 6 baby pleco's - my eyes aren't good enough to fully sex all of them yet and they seem to grow at different rates with mainly males growing fastest (ie., the only ones I can sex are the bigger one and so far all are males)

In my first group of all adult pleco's I never once saw any attempt to breed or any evidence that they had even tried to breed. Being such an inexpensive fish - I'm just going to buy them and hope they grow into old age. Breeding would be a bonus but I assume disruption from other members of my community tank caused them not to breed. So you may have some luck with a pleco only tank.
 

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