Step II – Taking a stand

Let me start by saying that I'm not a carpenter and have no training in wood working. I built the stand in what looked to me as the simplest yet sturdiest way, I could be completely wrong. The design is similar to that of the ADA stands, the size and finish where made to fit our living room.

Since I had spare planks that where about to be thrown out anyway I decided to give it a try and if it didn't work I'd have one ordered from a carpenter. I used pieces of an old cupboard to build the stand. I think it's called MDF but I'm not sure, it's some kind of laminated thing and not true wood anyway…

My skills with a saw aren't too impressive so I tried to cut as little as possible and use the original dimensions of the planks. The stand's top therefore measures 52x51.8 cm and its height came to be 66.5cm.

Putting it together I used the kind of screws I saw on many Ikea products, if you drill the end part wider you can screw them all the way in so that they don't stick out.

Next comes the filling. I'm not good at doing things accurately so obviously once I assembled the stand there where some gaps. The acrylic filling was also used to seal the edges where the lamination was cut and hide the ends of the screws.

Some sanding and now it looks much better. I also cut a hole in the back for the hoses and wires to go through.

Many layers of primer and paint to make sure the stand is water resistant.

Fixing the door in place, you have to get it just right and no matter how carefully I measured I still had to readjust it several times till it worked out…

And the final result

I added plastic legs and checked the stand to see if it was level, to my surprise it was and there was no need for any adjustments. I also checked to see if it would hold, putting on a weight of more than 150 kg the stand was just fine.

Total cost was less then 10$ (for the screws and filler), it took me about 3 hours and I had lots of fun. I like the result very much and now it is time to order the tank…

Step I - Size matters

I like the idea of a freestanding tank with room to view it from all sides (like in the ADA gallery, look here too).

Unfortunately, since I don't have the space, a corner would have to do. The size of the tank was limited by the furniture to 50cm, so I was looking for a tank that would give a large as possible viewing are and maximize the water volume. I wanted a 50cm cube liking its symmetry but when I positioned a cardboard model to help determine the height of the stand it didn't look so good. In the end I decided on a 50x50cm 40cm high rimless tank. At 100 lt. it is not huge but there is enough depth to it so that I can do something interesting...

...and thus the creation began.

Not long ago we moved into our new home, while rearranging our stuff one thing became apparent- the old aquarium had to go. It just didn't fit anywhere and so my wife and I agreed we needed to get a new one. (Only, my wife was thinking of a new and smaller aquarium while I was hoping to get a tank at least twice the size of the old one.) After some discussion we settled on the shape and size and I could get started with the planning. The new aquarium will be standing in the living room and I was going to make it a low-tech aquascaped tank. This blog is meant to be the story of this tank following its planning, setup and evolution into a little piece of nature.

...then came inspiration...

Anyone involved in planted tanks eventually discovers the works of Takashi Amano. The ADA gallery, the aquascaping contests, the beautiful books – so many amazing aquariums. I like this aesthetics and admire his works, so naturally I wanted to have such an aquascape in my house. Spending many hours in front of the computer admiring the wealth of beautiful tanks on various forums and sites I started getting the creative itch. I also wanted to create an aquatic garden, a piece of living art I could sit and watch for all day. I had many ideas buzzing through my head and I was looking for the opportunities to set them free.

In the beginning there was fascination…

I'm totally captivated by the looks of aquascapes, a miniature universe so delicate and graceful. The beauty of nature so close but untouchable, sitting there in the aquarium isolated from the dry world surrounding it. I can still remember the first planted tank I saw, it's not the best I've seen but it had that magical thing about it that made me notice it. It was in a friends lab at university, he told me that his colleagues where very involved with it taking great effort to maintain a balanced ecological system. Seeing that aquarium got me interested and I started researching the subject. I found 'El-Natural' planted tanks fascinating and soon I had my own low-tech planted tank going.