Hi, everybody Joey here again, and welcome back so today. I'm going to show you guys how [to] build a large aquarium
So before we get [started] with the actual build I know a lot of you guys are asking yourselves. What size aquarium?
Is that well I got in the tank just to give you a science reference. This is a
540 Gallon Aquarium [it] measures 6 feet Wide 6 feet long
It's a square aquarium the panels are 2 feet high so it holds 540 gallons or over 2,000 liters of water
another quick question
What is it built out? Well the panels are glass the bottom is made of plywood?
[this] is a very unique build for me
I've never built an aquarium made out of [four] glass panels with no plywood support and a plywood bottom. I'm
Taking a lot of the methods that I've shown you guys on how to build a plywood aquarium and applying it here in
the Long Run
I saved myself a lot of money with the glass that I used and where I got it you guys will find it later on
in the series as
well as the actual plywood bottom and what I use to water for the actual plywood what I used is my favorite part and
You guys will see [that] again later on in the series
Would you believe that it cost me less [than] 800 dollars to build this aquarium? That's less polluting the
Everything you see here [including] the stand
Sounds like a lot of money, but I'm getting an awful lot of aquarium of $800 now
this is a very unique build based on the fact that it's
Not really a plywood aquarium, but it's not really a glass aquarium
There's you're probably wondering why I did it this way, and that's exactly what we're going to go over in this video
I'm going to tell you what led up to building it like this and the decisions
I had [to] [make] so that led me to those decisions
Now in this series. It's going to be a [six-part] [series] in
The first video we're going to talk about the actual aquarium a little bit and what led up to it
Second video we're going to go ahead and build the stand as well as the lights
Third video we're going to build the base of the aquarium, and how I went about doing that
Which is actually my favorite part to this video
To this entire series you guys will see why later on in
The fourth part of this series, we're going to go ahead and install the glass panels
I'm going to show you where I got the class how I got it and
How I saved a ton of money
In the fifth part we're going to go ahead and build the filtration to the [squaring]
540 Gallon Aquarium, so I'm going to need some heavy-duty filtration
We're also going to cover the plumbing in the in the sixth part of the video series. We're going to go ahead and
Do a recap we're going to go over everything again probably cover some costs and that sort of thing
Now this build is not going to be something to follow in terms of what you should be building
But its main purpose is to give you some ideas and inspire you to build your own
What I mean by that is you might not want to build what I just built
But you might want to use the stand idea you might want to use is what I use [to]
waterproof the actual plywood which I highly recommend [you'll] see why or you might even want to use the idea of
What I did to get the glass
Or bits and parts of it you might even been waiting for the filtration to get some ideas there or some plumbing
ETC nonetheless [this] series isn't necessarily how to build a large aquarium in terms of what you should do exactly
but it is how to build an aquarium in terms of some ideas you can use for
now as always we're going to make sure that we keep this built very simple and easy to do as
Well as [cost-effective] and if you guys haven't [noticed] the pattern that's how I like to do all my builds
so
Let's get started with first discussing and going over what led up [to] building this style of aquarium keep in mind
I'm still actually in the process of building this of course by the time you see this video would be complete
But what you see now is not the completed aquarium
again, let's go ahead and discuss what led up to this tank, so
Coming to a decision on what I'm going to build the [weary] [emotive] placement ETc. There was a number of things to consider
First and foremost where am I going to put it in my house? I?
obviously wanted an aquarium that was several [hundred] [gallons]
so
there's not a whole lot of room in my
Upstairs for an aquarium that size not to mention my floors couldn't withstand it unless I reinforced them
[I] wasn't really looking to do that number one factor. There was space now obviously I have a finished basement
So that [was] the number one spot where this aquarium was going to go
I have a cement floor that can withstand almost any weight. I put on it so it's a no-brainer [the] tanks going in the basement
Second thing I need to consider was what I'm going to build it out [of] well
there's a number of things that I that come to mind but
the number one thing I had to consider that was very important was what if I ever have to move the aquarium or
What if I ever have to would have ever sell this house?
I have [to] get the aquarium out of here, and I didn't want to have to destroy it to do that, so
Acrylic was basically out of the question
Reason being is because once you put an aquarium an acrylic aquarium together the panel's fuse
And there's no way to get it apart unless you're willing to chop it up, wasn't looking to get into that
so Acrylic aquariums were out of the question that
[lead] that left me with a few [more] options. I was thinking about building a cement aquarium
That's more of a [permanent] fixture, and it's believe it or not going to drop the value of my home
So wasn't going to get into that either?
So I'm left with a plywood aquarium or a glass aquarium, [I]
Didn't really want to go with a plywood aquarium a full plywood aquarium for the same reason
I didn't want to go with an acrylic aquarium. I'd have to take it apart to get it outside again now
Why would I have to take it apart when I could just take it up the stairs well?
The stairs the stairs are pretty narrow and the height [is] only going to allow for a four-foot wide aquarium on its side
To go through or three feet [wide] and I was going to build an aquarium bigger than that
Not to mention the length is going to hit this wall and not be able to turn
Cetera unless I start chopping walls apart if it was looking to do either
so I'm left with needing to
put it build an aquarium that I can actually take apart if I ever need to chances are I probably won't but the
possibility could be there that I might have to
So I kept coming back [to] a glass aquarium a glass aquarium
You can take it apart the only thing is I get the front and the side panels off in the back panel
But I can't get the bottom piece off because it's a one-piece sheet of glass
So what I decided to do was go with a plywood bottom
plywood bottom is going to be an
Economical choice in case it doesn't fit up the stairs so I can always cut it in half and build it again
You'll see in the video
how much it's going to actually cost for me to build the plywood bottom and
It's something that can [be] disposable I can build it again
If I ever need [to] so I was going to go with a glass aquarium
with a plywood bottom
Now where to put it. I actually have a
Spare room to my right here not being used
perfect spot for an aquarium
First and foremost though I had to go ahead and rip up the carpet because it had a carpeted floor
It's the only carpet in the house, so I didn't mind ripping it out, but had to go
Underneath is just bare cement. Which is perfect as I wasn't going to go ahead
And you know put any floors down what I intended to do was put an epoxy coating over the floor
That's essentially what I did was I put [a] an epoxy paint on the floor
makes it very very resilient
It's going to be chip resistant as well as water resistant and waterproof really so beginning water on the floor. It's not [a] problem
So let's take a look at the actual room that it's going in so you guys can get a real feel
[for] where this aquarium is going and the the entire room is going to be dedicated just to this this aquarium
you
So there you have it
now know why I had to come to the decision of building a plywood in glass aquarium with mainly glass and
We know where it's going we also know some limiting factors if I ever have to move it. I have to take it apart
So that's the first video. I hope you guys enjoyed it the spire
[I] want to thank you for watching and we'll see us next time