It is possible to make a large aquarium with your own hands, you just have to really want it. It differs from a small large aquarium only in the presence of stiffeners and glass thickness.
It is necessary
- degreasing liquid
- adhesive sealant
- glass cutter
- glass
Instructions
Step 1
It is necessary to purchase glue-sealant for aquarium "881", this silicone and transparent sealant is intended for aquariums up to two tons and is completely safe for fish, as well as a liquid for degreasing (it is necessary to degrease the glasses before gluing). You can use ammonia, any other alcohol, or acetone.
Step 2
We cut glass with a thickness of 8-20 mm. Before starting cutting, be sure to wipe the cut area with a clean rag to provide a path for the glass cutter wheel. It is necessary to take the glass cutter comfortably in your hand and make only one incision with the only confident movement. After that, a clear, continuous groove becomes visible, pushing the glass out from under the ruler, align the notch along the edge of the plate (table), grab the edge of the glass with both hands and slightly press (the main thing is to correctly calculate the pressure on the glass), and with a slight movement the glass breaks off exactly along the notch line. Better to cut glass with gloves. After each cut, it is best to immediately sand the cut edge so that the edges are no longer razor sharp. After fitting, we remove the bottom and degrease the places of future glues.
Step 3
Now the aquarium needs to be glued. There are two ways to glue aquariums together. The walls of the aquarium are glued to the sides of the bottom and the bottom is inserted into the construction of side glasses. The side glass structure is on the bottom. Next, you need to put together the paired parts so that they match the most equally. We install the front and rear windows on wooden stands, placing them strictly parallel to each other on a flat surface, the outer distance between them should be equal to the width of the cut out bottom, for checking we put the bottom on top and check if everything is set correctly. We take a sealant and screw a tip onto it, from which we cut off the tip at an angle of 45 degrees with a sharp knife. Squeeze out the sealant evenly, applying it to the upper ends of the glass supports. Then we put the bottom on the ends of the glasses. We put a load of 3-4 kg on top. In the meantime, the sealant has not yet frozen, with wet fingers, simultaneously from both sides of the seam, like a spatula, we carry out along the entire length of the gluing, to evenly distribute the glue throughout the seam and remove excess.
Step 4
We remove the supports from the glasses (after a couple of hours), insert one of the side glasses into two supports, having previously tried it on to the place of gluing. We degrease, wait for the degreaser to dry, and apply glue. Carefully take out the glass sheet from the supports (without touching the degreased places) and with the end with glue, put it to the bottom, put the load on top. We wait until it dries, and do the same with the other side. We expect about 2 more hours. Fill in 2-3 liters of water and check there are no leaks. We leave the aquarium for a day to dry completely.
Step 5
The minimum width of the stiffeners is easy to calculate: multiply the thickness of the glass of the aquarium by 7. The ribs allow the wall of the aquarium to withstand the pressure of the water. The screed allows you to make an aquarium of any length with a minimum glass thickness.
