I decided that I was tired of my Minibow 5. and decided to make something a little bigger. It had to be a veryparticular size, as I move it back and forth from home (portland, OR) to school here in stockton. I decided to custom make it with 3/16" thick acrylic. Dimentions are going to be roughly 15"wide by 12" front-back, and 14" tall. the water volume is roughly 10 gallons. I ordered the pieces from TAP Plastics, and should be done Monday, I will put them together though, I just am not accurate enough with cutting and bending to do it myself.. as you can see from the diagrams that I attached, I've got a piece for the bottom, a piece for the back (both will need to be routed down once assembled) and a piece that will be bent for the front/sides.. I'll also get a piece for the top for support as well. I hope it all comes out well!!! I'll post pics of the pieces when I get them!
Building a Nano!
- Thread starter MonKei
- Start date
So, I decided to call TAP Plastics and let them know that I wanted quarter inch thick acrylic. Cause I thought that the 3/16ths was going to be a little thin, especially if I am going to be moving the tank a little.. I'll be getting the pieces this evening.. I'll take photos when I get them!
alright, I assembled the tank yesterday evening after getting all the pieces, its really seeming to come together nicely.. if you want to see my whole gallery of all the photos I took during assembly, http://nooolife.com/gallery/album01... here are a few attachment highlights though. I let it sit all day today, and tested it (later post) for water tightness. I placed the new tank next to the old tank for size comparison.. good stuff I tell you. oh, and thats supposed to be an actinic bulb thats in my current tank.. the white balance being off makes it look purple though. oh well. here goes..
Attachments
Alright, well, good news!!! I tried to test to see if it was watertight.. and wahoo! no drips that I've seen!!!! I got the sides routed, so its nice and clean now. so all I'm waitin for now is some more saltwater to finish mixin, and getting a new heater. (the 25 watter isnt going to cut it for 11 gallons of water Smile) I'm also going to need to make/get a new hood for lights.. oh joy, oh what fun it is to build stuff. I'm debating going to home depot this evening to get the materials needed, I think that what I'll do is keep my roughly 50w of lighting and build a "swing" style hood, that'll look like its floating over the tank. sounds fun to me. anywhoo.. here are some pics of the tank doing its water thing.
oh, you can view all the pics here http://nooolife.com/gallery/album01
oh, you can view all the pics here http://nooolife.com/gallery/album01
Attachments
the new tank's holding great. its been on my dresser next to my minibow filled with water for ~4 hours, still dry on the outside. so I'll assume its going well 
oh, I thought that I would go to home depot and get some black krylon to spray the back with. should help it look better.
oh, I thought that I would go to home depot and get some black krylon to spray the back with. should help it look better.
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