Anyone ever build a tank using 2 smaller tanks?

[Rjb5584]

Not sure if the title makes sense, but essentially I'm asking whether or not anyone has taken two tanks of the same make, and then knocked out one of the walls on each of them, and then combined those two into a larger tank using aquarium sealant? If so, what was your experience? Huge pain, relatively simple? How does it look?

I really like the look of the Marina Cubus, but really hate that they are so small. Unfortunately, I haven't found an aesthetically pleasing (read: no plastic or subtle plastic), affordable, horizontal glass tank that compares. The ecopico tank comes close, but it is neither affordable nor horizontal.

If you haven't done anything like this, if you know of anything that sounds like it would fit the idea, please let me know!

Thanks in advance!

[laughing]

I think it'd be very difficult and probably wouldn't fair well. Silicone can only hold so much! If it was for something very small, then yes, it could work, but it'd still take a lot of time and you'll probably mess up on some. Then you'd have a huge silicone line so it would be annoying and no longer "aesthetically pleasing".

Either way I think you're in a losing situation..

[Bambi]

I've never put two to gether, but it would have an ugly lin inthe middle so i don'tthink i would.


I have seen a few people make their own "cubes" or almost cubes, using glass they bought/cut. This might be a good way to go for you so you can get just the right dimensions that you want. Larger tanks will need to be braced( like you see the black rims on the bottom and top of the common rectangular tanks.
You'll need 6 pieces of glass or 5 if you wanna do a non glass lid...

[vilmarisv]

I dont think there would be much support where the tanks are joined to hold the weight of the water.

[bastage]

The adverse aesthetics would completely nullify the whole point of what your after..

[Rjb5584]

Honestly, I completely forgot about the line in the middle.

so, looks like that idea is out.

Anyone have any experience casting resin or acrylic? Part of all this madness is just looking for something cool and different to build.

The black bracings don't bother me so much--it's more the large plastic bases or tops that put me off a bit. Can't always get what you want, but you never know if it is out there unless you ask. And hey, if you want something, chances are that someone else somewhere is looking for something like that too!

[wallywestisthebest333]

I don't think you could cast a tank yourself, they don't (to my knowledge) well the right kind of resin in stores. <:/

It'd be easier to make one out of glass. Like others said Cubes are more stable and a bit easier on the DIY scale.

I you want to make a custom lid/ light fixture for your tank that's a different story and I can't offer any knowledge on that.

[laughing]

Horizontal is what you want, but it will HAVE to be in cube form for it to be balanced. And it takes much more than just buying glass and sealing it...

A few members on this site have made their own, and someone had their boyfriend make them small things for water changes/picture taking. So yes, building your own is possible, but it was difficult and took a lot of work. Then there's a bunch of members who have custom built tanks/barracks... I think that is what you are looking at, and should pursue.

[Rjb5584]

Thanks for the info guys!

Laughing, that sounds very much like what I want to do--remember any particular threads off the top of your head that turned out particularly well? A lot if this is just to see if I can do it and have it look good.