Disclaimer :
Down here in 'middle earth' we don't have access to much aquascaping supplies and products let alone ADA or other high level brands, so there is really only two choices for me .
Buy Cheaply made but expensive all in one units or, build my own.
Building my own works for me for various reasons but I think most importantly I just like to learn to do it myself and be able teach myself a craft.
I put a budget together and quickly realized due to time and budget , I would be lucky to have a tank by the end of the year.
This is the progress of me battling to stay within such constraints and making calculated shortcuts to be able to have something worthwhile at the end of it.
This build is pretty much done now so publishing everything at once.
The lights and obviously the plants have a long way to go so they will be updated later.
The plan:
Current tanks consist of a 120L and 60L. The 60L is my test bed if you like where I test all kinds of random ideas to see if they work and the 120L which is my main display tank, is getting a bit past it.
I knew 120cm long was what I wanted and I had planned to have it 60cm deep and 50cm tall but the cost was quite a bit extra so I finally decided on 120x45x45 cm.
Nobody would build my filter pipes as I requested let alone order the right pipe, so again improvised and devised a way to get something made that was useable. In all honesty if I get them anodized black I could have brought a set of glass pipes for the price but they will do.
Glass:
Glass was very hard to come by and nothing in 12mm, but I found a local tank maker who was willing to sell me the glass needed after long conversations about tensile and sheer strength of silicone and how to build a tank.
I had to improvise again though, as I wanted a thicker base than the sides and nothing over 10mm was available. I was going to just double up on the base pane of glass but that was also adding to costs so settled for just the bracing style on the bottom.
Down here in 'middle earth' we don't have access to much aquascaping supplies and products let alone ADA or other high level brands, so there is really only two choices for me .
Buy Cheaply made but expensive all in one units or, build my own.
Building my own works for me for various reasons but I think most importantly I just like to learn to do it myself and be able teach myself a craft.
I put a budget together and quickly realized due to time and budget , I would be lucky to have a tank by the end of the year.
This is the progress of me battling to stay within such constraints and making calculated shortcuts to be able to have something worthwhile at the end of it.
This build is pretty much done now so publishing everything at once.
The lights and obviously the plants have a long way to go so they will be updated later.
The plan:
Current tanks consist of a 120L and 60L. The 60L is my test bed if you like where I test all kinds of random ideas to see if they work and the 120L which is my main display tank, is getting a bit past it.
I knew 120cm long was what I wanted and I had planned to have it 60cm deep and 50cm tall but the cost was quite a bit extra so I finally decided on 120x45x45 cm.
Nobody would build my filter pipes as I requested let alone order the right pipe, so again improvised and devised a way to get something made that was useable. In all honesty if I get them anodized black I could have brought a set of glass pipes for the price but they will do.
Glass:
Glass was very hard to come by and nothing in 12mm, but I found a local tank maker who was willing to sell me the glass needed after long conversations about tensile and sheer strength of silicone and how to build a tank.
I had to improvise again though, as I wanted a thicker base than the sides and nothing over 10mm was available. I was going to just double up on the base pane of glass but that was also adding to costs so settled for just the bracing style on the bottom.