# DIY ADA Style Rimless 22g tank & stand



## malaybiswas

*The plan of work*

Since I have 4 projects (2 tanks and 2 stands) to do, I planned them out as such

1. Make and test first tank and stand
2. Ditto for second tank
3. Make first stand
4. Second stand

As I move forward, this thread will start with the tank building experience. I have not decided yet whether to append the stand building in this thread itself or make it a separate one. We'll see how it goes.


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## plantbrain

There's that place in SJ that makes the stands for about 200$, might be less for the smaller tank you have. Not bad given the work involved, it's no issue if you have a wood shop, but if not etc........might be wise.
The light bar is a no brainer.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## malaybiswas

*Tank design*

I am no CAD designer, but I took a shot at designing the tank using Google Sketchup. Here are some pictures of my design with some basic substrate layout that I wish to do.


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## Hoppy

This will be a very interesting thread, one I will be checking on every time I am here. I still get cold chills thinking about working with big sheets of glass, so I admire your willingness to tackle this.


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## malaybiswas

plantbrain said:


> There's that place in SJ that makes the stands for about 200$, might be less for the smaller tank you have. Not bad given the work involved, it's no issue if you have a wood shop, but if not etc........might be wise.
> The light bar is a no brainer.
> 
> Regards,
> Tom Barr


Thank you Tom. First of all I'm an avid reader of your posts. Your knowledge, setups and suggestions have been a constant inspiration for me.

As far as buying vs building, I am a constant visitor of almost every LFS in bay area and I can get a 20 gallon ADA tank for aqua forest in SF for about $160. But I guess I will try building them myself just for the thrill of learning and do it myself. If it is turns out to be a nightmare that I am yet to realize and can't handle my wife's looks, then I might have to return to the "buy" path. But thats "Plan B" right now


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## malaybiswas

Hoppy said:


> This will be a very interesting thread, one I will be checking on every time I am here. I still get cold chills thinking about working with big sheets of glass, so I admire your willingness to tackle this.


Thank you Hoppy. You bet!!! that's why starting with 24" X 18" sheet (biggest one I have). Keeping my fingers crossed and see how it goes. If it turns out well, may be bigger ones and advanced tools in future.


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## malaybiswas

*Materials*

I wanted to get Starphire glass but my local glass shop do not carry them and special orders are way too expensive, so I settled with regular clear glass.

1. Glass Sheets - $97
24" X 15" X 1/4" - 1
24" X 18" X 1/4" - 2
18" X 14.5" X 1/4" - 2
2. Duct tape
3. Acetone
4. Razor blades
5. 100% silicone (DAP)
6. Emery paper
7. #0000 grade steel wool
8. Anti-skid runner to "draw" my work area

Total about $199. Most of the stuff except glass and silicone is already in sufficient quantity to be used for the second tank. So if I add up the cost of silicone and glass for the second one (about $105), the average cost of materials come to about $152 per tank.

Here are a few pictures of the material. The location of these pictures is my make shift work area (a.k.a my garage ). As you can see I don't have much tools, nor did I want to buy clamps etc, so after some more investigation I decided to use tons of packing boxes(already covering half of my garage) as support material.


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## malaybiswas

*Construction - Phase I*

Hey, did I mention that I already started the project last Friday? 

1. Attach duct tape on all 4 sides on the bottom panel
2. Silicone back panel (24" X 18") to the bottom (24" X 15") and duct tape them.
3. Next fix the side panels (18" X 15") to bottom and back panels and duct tape them.
4. Finally fix front panel (24" X 18") to side and bottom panels and duct tape them.

At each stage, I used packing boxes to support the freshly fixed panel (in addition to duct tape) for about 20 mins till the duct tapes alone were enough to keep them in place.

This is how the end product looked. It was left to cure for 4 days


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## malaybiswas

*Construction - Phase II*

After 4 days of curing, I finally felt confident to start removing the extra silicone. After 4 grueling hours of scratching and scraping it looked like done enough for now to move into testing. There are some more bits of fine tuning left but that can wait till I am ready to start using it.

There are some bubbles here and there, but nothing seemed ominous enough right now. Fingers crossed :icon_roll

I did not care to remove silicone from the bottom seems because they will anyways be under the substrate and will help to keep the bottom seem joints (which takes the most pressure) stronger.

Here is the finished product. Placed it on a couple of styrofoam blocks to level and provide uniform pressure bearing surface. Now its off to testing...


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## malaybiswas

*Its testing time...*

Ok. Finally the scariest time has arrived. Filled my baby with water, marked the water levels with felt tip marker and covered it with a plastic sheet to reduce evaporation. Now just have to wait till weekend (5 days) to see how it holds. pray for me :redface:

I know the bottom seems look horrible. But right now safety is the key concern not beauty. Once that is established, beautification will follow.


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## Hoppy

Looks good to me. I don't see a good reason to worry about extra silicone at the bottom, it will never be seen. The side seams look very good, and it is the silicone between the mating glass surfaces that provides all of the strength, so if there are no serious flaws there you should have a tank good for a lifetime.


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## nellis

I just built a similar rimless tank... 25x18x13. Just past the one week mark in the water test.

Nice work!


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## malaybiswas

Hoppy said:


> Looks good to me. I don't see a good reason to worry about extra silicone at the bottom, it will never be seen. The side seams look very good, and it is the silicone between the mating glass surfaces that provides all of the strength, so if there are no serious flaws there you should have a tank good for a lifetime.


Thanks for the encouragement Hoppy. So far so good since I filled the tank, but it is only 1/2 a day now


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## malaybiswas

nellis said:


> I just built a similar rimless tank... 25x18x13. Just past the one week mark in the water test.



Cool. How long more do you plan to test it? Do you have any pictures posted?

My tank dimensions are 18" high and 15" deep. I wanted to keep the depth more than the width to account for the vertical height lost in substrate. 



nellis said:


> Nice work!


Thank you


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## customdrumfinishes

tank looks great. always wanted to build one but cost to much for me.if your worried about it blowing out or leakin i would fill it to the top with water for sure if you already havent, cant tell in pic. i understand your extra caulk on bottom since they say most failures are in the bottom on any tank ada or walmmart brand.
id leave it up for a few days and if your really worried put your hand in it and slosh the water around. i would think thats more pressure than it will ever get sitting on a stand anyway.


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## malaybiswas

customdrumfinishes said:


> tank looks great. always wanted to build one but cost to much for me.if your worried about it blowing out or leakin i would fill it to the top with water for sure if you already havent, cant tell in pic. i understand your extra caulk on bottom since they say most failures are in the bottom on any tank ada or walmmart brand.
> id leave it up for a few days and if your really worried put your hand in it and slosh the water around. i would think thats more pressure than it will ever get sitting on a stand anyway.


Thanks a lot. That's exactly what I plan to do...wait about 5 days to see how it does. Did not think about sloshing the water but may be in the last day of testing. However in order to stress test one side that has most air bubbles in a side seem I induced a slight tilt on that side to increase the pressure on that side.

As for the bottom seem I'll trim only one side (which will be the front side) to give it a cleaner look. Other sides will be hidden by substrate.

And yes, tank is full to the brim right now.

As for building your own tank, a similar sized ADA cube garden (60-H, 45-C etc.) can cost 200-250+tax+shipping. My tank costs about 150, so it is definitely worth the try (according to me).


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## srud

Did you put the sides on top of the base or are they attached to the edges? From the dimensions that you supplied it appears that the sides must be resting on the bottom.

The thread that is stickied at the top of the DIY forum discusses this point at length.


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## malaybiswas

srud said:


> Did you put the sides on top of the base or are they attached to the edges?


Yes all sides are on top of the base and 2 side walls (18" X 15") are in between the front and back walls (24" X 18")


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## malaybiswas

*Testing results after 24 hours*

The first day of testing went well. No leaks so far. Water level is same as yesterday. 4 more days to go


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## malaybiswas

*Early bird picks of my stand plan*

While my tanks sits...here's some pics of my stand plan. Overall 24" L X 18" W X 28" H.

I decided to keep it 18" wide while my tank is 15" so that I have 3" at the back to arrange background lights

The pieces I need are

Top - 24" X 18"
Bottom - 24 " X 17 1/4"
Sides (X 2) - 26 1/2" X 17 1/4"
Back (X 2) - 26 1/2" X 9"
Front Upper - 24" X 4"
Front Lower (Door) - 24" X 23 1/4"
Front & Back Frames (X4) = 21" X 2"
Side Frames (X4) = 16.5" X 2"

All 3/4" thick. Here are a few pics of the model and how a 4' X 8' can be cut out in all these pieces. A plank this size costs average $20-60 depending upon material. No idea what cutting charges they might apply.

The last picture is how I visualize both stands side by side with the "light bars" behind (light bar design is incomplete though )


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## Hoppy

You will thank yourself if you use levelers, http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=3986 under this. That makes leveling the tank very easy, and not too expensive either. What material are you planning for the stand? If it is plywood, don't forget to get something to cover the raw edges of the plywood.


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## malaybiswas

Hoppy said:


> You will thank yourself if you use levelers, http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=3986 under this. That makes leveling the tank very easy, and not too expensive either. What material are you planning for the stand? If it is plywood, don't forget to get something to cover the raw edges of the plywood.


Levelers. Did not think about them, but sounds like a good idea. I have a question though - I planned for a flat bottom surface to evenly spread the weight. Won't that be redundant if I fix levelers on the 4 bottom corners?

I am planning MDF and then cover it with laminate sheet.


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## Hoppy

You would have to recess the bottom allowing room under it for the levelers, so the bottom piece is 1.5" shorter than the top piece. The back piece would stiffen it and help carry the weight without warping the bottom, but in front it might warp unless you had a vertical piece behind the door on both sides. Your design is certainly simpler and less apt to warp over the months the tank sits on it. But, you might have to do a lot of shimming to level the top, but if the shims are just under the vertical side pieces no warping should occur. That is one problem with MDF, and to a lesser extent any other form of wood that you have to consider when you plan to keep a heavy load on it for a long time.


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## malaybiswas

Hoppy said:


> You would have to recess the bottom allowing room under it for the levelers, so the bottom piece is 1.5" shorter than the top piece. The back piece would stiffen it and help carry the weight without warping the bottom, but in front it might warp unless you had a vertical piece behind the door on both sides. Your design is certainly simpler and less apt to warp over the months the tank sits on it. But, you might have to do a lot of shimming to level the top, but if the shims are just under the vertical side pieces no warping should occur. That is one problem with MDF, and to a lesser extent any other form of wood that you have to consider when you plan to keep a heavy load on it for a long time.


Thank you for explaining it. The 8 2" pieces I have for the framework are the shims which will form tie all the sides. As far as the vertical pieces are concerned behind the door, I thought that the 2 side pieces would do that job. Would that not suffice?

As far as material is concerned, I have a MDF stand for a 80 gallon right now, so I preferred that material. But I have also read about MDF being more vulnerable to moisture. That's why my plan to cover it with laminate. However is that any other material that you would consider over MDF?


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## Hoppy

MDF isn't very vulnerable to moisture. Ordinary particle board is vulnerable and swells badly when wet. The only disadvantage of MDF is that it isn't very strong in bending. So, if the leveler or other foot is under the bottom and not under the side piece, the weight of the tank tries to bend the bottom, to bow it upwards. But, if the leveler is attached to the side and not to the under side of the bottom it should work fine. (I don't remember how the ones I used are attached.) 

Plywood is stronger than MDF, and lighter in weight, but to use it you have to cover the raw edges of the plywood, which can be a nuisance. Also, most plywood we can buy without paying a big price is warped before we ever get it. Even if it isn't I always found it nearly impossible to keep it from warping after I cut pieces to size. To coin a phrase - they don't make it like they used to.


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## CL

That's a great build  Very well done


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## malaybiswas

Hoppy said:


> MDF isn't very vulnerable to moisture. Ordinary particle board is vulnerable and swells badly when wet. The only disadvantage of MDF is that it isn't very strong in bending. So, if the leveler or other foot is under the bottom and not under the side piece, the weight of the tank tries to bend the bottom, to bow it upwards. But, if the leveler is attached to the side and not to the under side of the bottom it should work fine. (I don't remember how the ones I used are attached.)
> 
> Plywood is stronger than MDF, and lighter in weight, but to use it you have to cover the raw edges of the plywood, which can be a nuisance. Also, most plywood we can buy without paying a big price is warped before we ever get it. Even if it isn't I always found it nearly impossible to keep it from warping after I cut pieces to size. To coin a phrase - they don't make it like they used to.


Alright then MDF it is . It should be ok for a 24" X 18" surface with 3/4" inch thickness, given my 48" X 18" MDF stand holding my 80 gallon is doing perfectly ok for so long. Thanks again!!


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## malaybiswas

clwatkins10 said:


> That's a great build  Very well done


Thank you very much. I saw one of your earlier posts with 2 tanks side by side. That's similar to what I have in mind setup wise, although my scape plans are different.


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## malaybiswas

While I wait for my first tank test to continue....I played around with my models to kill some of the boredom:fish1:. Here is the product...a visual of how the 2 tanks and stands would probably look like.

Of course not the same substrate layouts...much more beautiful I guess:smile:

But this did help in one way. I did not realize that the light bars will show behind the tank background. That's not done. I have to reposition them.


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## malaybiswas

*Testing Successful!!!*

Wow!!!. Five days over, not a drop of water leaked. Tank seems to hold on pretty good. Now its time to drain and pack it before I move to my next one....stand # 1


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## malaybiswas

*Tank Stand Construction*

Alright...back after 1 week. I spent last week building my first tank stand. Since this was my first wood project ever, I wanted to finish it before I document it. Certainly it is not professional grade, but I am pretty happy how it turned out.

I won't go into the dimensions since that is already posted earlier in this thread. So I'll go straight into a photo feature trying to explain my journey.


1. First the materials. I decided that a small work bench and some clamps would be nice idea (and it paid off). Got this Black & Decker portable work desk and 4 clamps for about $50 from Lowes.









For the wood, Lowes again. I was really lucky that they agreed to cut 2 4' X 8' MDF sheets into 32 pieces (took approximately 60 cuts) all for FREE!!! Now thats what I call customer service. All together
Wood - $30 X 2 = $ 60
Wood screws (1", 1.5" & 1.75") - $25
Wood Glue - $3
Wood Filler - $4
Water proof sealant - $5 (Decided that I would coat all the sides with it before putting on the laminate sheets for extra protection)
Door hinges & locks - $12
Plywood planks (2' X2' 1/4" thick) - This was more of an after thought when the door was not moving freely due to the contact with the floor at the bottom. The plank will go at the bottom of the stand
Formica Laminate Sheets - $124 (for 2 stands)
Contact Cement - $15

A total of about $150

For the light bars I decided to use copper plumbing pipes...3/4" thick and glue them with copper bond. I would use right angle connectors so that I don't have to buy a pipe bender (which works well but is a cookie cutter with probably very less (if any) use to me after this project. Budget wise cheaper too).
2 each of
copper pipes 5' - $26
copper pipes 2' - $10
straight joints & 90 degree joints - $4
pipe cap - $5
pipe clamps - $2
Nuts & bolts - $2
Copper bond glue - $6
Total approx $55

So in total it cost me about $205 for 2 tank stands (material cost) or $102 per stand compared to $700 for a similar config ADA stand. Also it let me design my stand size to accomodate space at the back for lights and back splash. 

Apart from the raw material required to build the tank I bought a Dremel power tool kit for cutting, sanding & polishing. About $125. So tool and work station cost me around $175.









2. First thing, I marked the points where the pieces will be joined and drilled the guide holes. Below are 2 sample pictures.







'










3. Next I screwed (no pun intended) the bottom panel with the 2 sides and 2 back panels.









View from rear...at this point the 2 back panels are joined to the 2 side panels too.









4. Followed by attaching the frame at the top and the bottom.


















5. ...and the horizontal front panel









6. Finally the top panel is marked and joined to all the vertical pieces on sides, front and back.


















7. Here is when I tried fixing the door and realized that a bottom platform is needed which will extend about 3/4" in the front of the stand so that the door can easily move on it (instead of scraping the carpet). Selected 1/4" plywood plank and cut it to required size (24" X 18"). 









8. Turned over the stand and applied wood glue on the entire bottom panel









9. Attached the plywood and stacked the best make shift weights ever...Books . It was left like that for 24 hours before I reinforced the sides with wood screws (below)









10. At the end, hinge the door...









...install the magnetic lock...









...and done!!!









Well not quite done yet. I applied the waterproof sealant on the entire outside and inside surfaces and let it cure for 24 hours. That the final state right now. I'm waiting for the laminate sheets to come in next week. Once laminates are applied, the copper pipes will be installed to finish it. Till then I got to finish assembling the other stand.

Feedback please


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## CL

Very well done. I'm glad you took the time to write out all of the steps. It's very useful to anyone planning anything similar


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## malaybiswas

Finally after over a month, my projects are completed successfully. This last post is to catch up of the finishing steps. In the first 2 weeks of december I completed the following

1. Built my second tank. Won't go into process since it is same as described earlier in this thread. Except for one small leak which I was able to fix easily, it came out clean and was tested successfully for over a week before put into use

2. Built my second stand. Again I am not going into the details.

3. Laminated the 2 stands. 

Cut the laminates into proper dimensions leaving about 1" on each edge from trimming later on


















Laminate application tools
- contact cement
- Dowel rods
- Roller
- brush
- Router and File
- pencil, measuring tape etc.









Won't go into details of laminate application process as I am no pro. I just followed the guidelines in this tutorial. Can't say it was professional grade but pretty happy how it came out. Here is the finished product.










4. Fixing light bars. 

For light bars, I choose copper plumbing pipes (3/4" diameter). 2 5' pipes were clamped behind each stand.









Behind is my 80 gallon tank which will be broken down soon to get way for my new tanks. 









Next, I took 24" copper pipes and cut them into 18" length and drilled them to fix hooks. The pipes were then welded to the vertical pipes using 90 degree joints and using liquid copper weld. All products are available in HD or Lowes (beware copper is a good conductor of electricity so all eletrical wires and connections nearby needs to be properly insulated and/or separated). 

I made loops with wire clothes lines and suspended my 48" Aqualight from it. The picture below is after the final setup (80 gallon already gone...fishes in hospital tank). I used an old 10 gallon tank (shown below) to do fishless cycling.










The last 2 weeks of december was cycling time. I used 2 eheim canister filter and inline heaters. Plumbing was done as shown below. I had a few spare pumps which I plumbed inline to start the siphon after cleanups. Once the siphon starts, the pumps will be switched off and the filters will work on their own

Inside of the first stand with only the filters, plumbing, heaters.










Second stand has all the timers (light, co2), the CO2 supply setup and miscellaneous stuff. I used paintball co2 canister from walmart with red sea paintball co2 adapter. The solenoid valve is connected in the same timer as the lights. The bubble counter outlet bifurcates into 2 lines for 2 tanks.









Added small under cabinet lights inside the stands.









All the wiring and plumbing mess behind the stands









The filters matured in 10 days and I have already setup and started the 2 new tanks since last Sunday. The journals of the tank scaping and progress are here for tank 1 and here for tank 2.


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## CL

Very Awesome! I'm loving this build


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## malaybiswas

clwatkins10 said:


> Very Awesome!


Thank you


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## lotekfish

Very professional job, and I say that as an ex-professional cabinetmaker. If I were going to build an ADA tank and stand I would have done it the same way. Gray laminate over mdf is the way to go, it's very waterproof and durable.

Thanks for sharing, you make me want to build a similar ADA setup but I have no more room.


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## malaybiswas

lotekfish said:


> Very professional job, and I say that as an ex-professional cabinetmaker. If I were going to build an ADA tank and stand I would have done it the same way. Gray laminate over mdf is the way to go, it's very waterproof and durable.
> 
> Thanks for sharing, you make me want to build a similar ADA setup but I have no more room.


Thank you very much.


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## boltp777

great job man wish i had the money maybe when im out of college and not 19. ill do something similiar to this. i still cant get over the scape you came up in your default avatar pic its one of my fav scapes of all time i wish somehow you could bring it back and try it again sometime if so i think like it would win a ada compeitition.


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## speedie408

Very nice! Gives me motivation and a guide for when I'm ready to tackle my own DIY tank & cabinet.


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## malaybiswas

boltp777 said:


> great job man wish i had the money maybe when im out of college and not 19. ill do something similiar to this.


Thank you very much. I had bought a lot of my tools. Unless you want to own a variety of tools for the long run, consider renting them instead whenever you are ready. That would be much more budget friendly for you.



boltp777 said:


> i still cant get over the scape you came up in your default avatar pic its one of my fav scapes of all time i wish somehow you could bring it back and try it again sometime if so i think like it would win a ada compeitition.


I am with you on that. That's why I did not change my avatar. But I realized that it had several design flaws for which it did not work out the first time. I am working behind the scene in a different approach to rectify those errors and come up with a similar scape. Not for winning an ADA contest (not that I would not love to ) but that is very near to my heart and I don't want to give up on it. Thank you for your appreciation and encouragement.


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## malaybiswas

speedie408 said:


> Very nice! Gives me motivation and a guide for when I'm ready to tackle my own DIY tank & cabinet.


Thank you very much. It really feels good when others find inspiration in your work.


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## heydude819

oh man, i just started this fish tank business and already want to build my own stands and tanks! Until I find a bigger place, I can't really do much


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## !shadow!

l just finished reading all 3 pages and wow those stands are badass! The only suggestion l might add is you could always spray paint the copper tubes with gray/silver to match with the stand  unless you like the copper other than that it's top notch.


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## spunjin

I read through this and you do nice work. I may try my had at building a custom rimless tank one day. I bet there is nothing more satisfying than building and aquarium and stand for display. All custom work is priceless in my opinion.


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## malaybiswas

spunjin said:


> I read through this and you do nice work. I may try my had at building a custom rimless tank one day. I bet there is nothing more satisfying than building and aquarium and stand for display. All custom work is priceless in my opinion.


You bet! When I started aquascaping, designing a scape as all that the thrill was about. Quickly though that had company...making your own stuff, fighting and winning against algae...that's what makes this hobby more fun IMO.


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## panicos21

*hi there*

hi there! whats that software u are using to create aquarium projects. it's not photoshop right?


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## malaybiswas

picasa


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## JamesHockey

update?


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## malaybiswas

This is long done. I have nothing to update here. Check out the other links in my signature for my active threads.


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