Making The Best and Easiest DIY Aquariums From IKEA?

I've been repairing and building aquariums for many years now. Typically that involves cutting glass, so it's not necessarily the most accessible task around. That said, I've been trying to find a way to build custom rimless tanks, that don't involve cutting glass. I want DIY aquariums to be an option for everyone.

It took me awhile to discover a solution, but not long ago, I had a eureka while at IKEA. I realized that they sell a lot of good glass shelving that could be used to build aquariums. So, I got to work finding pieces that could fit together, and to my surprise, they had several sets that work!

In this video, I outline the entire process from start to end. I decided to cover every aspect of it because I've never explained the tank construction process in much detail. Sure, I've shown it a ton of time by now, but there are a lot of tricks that I generally leave out to make the video more concise. Anyway, you could use these techniques to build most glass tanks.
All three tank sizes require the items listed below in the material list. The shelves specific to make each size tank are listed separately. I discovered two additional sizes that weren't included in the video and included them below.

MATERIAL LIST

TANK SIZES
Small Tank Kit (24 Gallons; 92 Liters)

Large Tank Kit (29 Gallons; 111 Liters)

Nano Tank Kit (14Gallons; 53 Liters); not included in video

Extra Small Tank Kit (19 Gallons; 72 Liters); not included in video

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[SerpaDesign]

I've been trying to figure out how to make DIY rimless glass aquariums more accessible for awhile. I don't think it gets much easier than this! I was able to build the additional tanks in about 15 minutes each, so I kid you not when I say these are very easy to make. Plus, they're a very cost effective way to get a beautiful rimless tank. As I said in the video, links for the products are in the description. Enjoy and have a great weekend SerpaSquad!

[TerryMcGearyScotland]

I have never found anyone on YouTube who explains anything as clearly as you do. Thanks again.

[AckoMunze]

Went to Ikea, bought the shelves for the largest 29G size, followed your instructions and my first ever DIY tank is now happily hosting the new hillstream aquascape. Fantastic video, foolproof, no prior experience in building tanks needed whatsoever. Awesome job with the video! Thank you sir!!!

[MizuSky]

As someone who's in Australia with this hobby being ridiculously expensive, I am so happy to see this!

[Cravos]

if I may give you a good advice: I've been working as a plumber for 16 years now and it makes adding and working on silicone insanely cleaner and easier is to use a tapwater dishsoap mix and use a popsicle wood grip to scrape off the still wet silicon way cleaner than wi9th a pen or finger. By using these two things I made super clean and beautiful silicone sealings in new bathrooms for many years.

[ndjones]

You know what, Tanner. You are incredibly talented. You are so patient, clear, and concise. All of your videos are just a pleasure to watch, but things like this remind me why you are probably my favorite that I watch in the hobby. You explain exactly why you do what you do, consistently. You aren't afraid to talk about the complications with projects and you set things out pretty realistically for those who are just starting, whether it is the older moss and terrarium builds, or the newer, more complex paludariums and vivariums. You also have made this to show that you can make tanks without cutting glass! That's so neat! One of these days, I will be brave enough to make my own tank. And you will be the one to blame for that.

[palomafernandez]

Holy hell this is the best tutorial of all time period. You explained what you used, why, and included every possible tip to ensure you get it right!!!

[gwendolyncardente]

I want this guy to explain how to do EVERYTHING. He includes the “how” AND the “why” for each step but is concise enough that you don’t jump to fast forward through details you may already know (and miss something you don’t). Excellent details like the tape end tab/ tape end release chain - there is nothing more satisfying than getting to the end of a project and having the time you invested in prep paying off.

[tigertoxins]

I love tanners no nonsense approach, he's not aggressive but the way he lays down common sense in an easy to understand and soft spoken way is great!

[rodjsy]

Hi,
I have built tanks professionally in the past and have the following comments. Its quite important to have a spacer between the two bits of glass being siliconed. This has the function of producing a structural joint with the ability to move. Its too hit and miss to not use spacers. We used some plastic sticks about 1.5mm thick. These would be placed either end to space the glass, removed the next morning and the holes filled with fresh silicone. This joint becomes structural and ensures the glass does not touch, important if the tank is large and has to be moved. A smaller joint allows no movement and can tear causing failure.
It might be good to make a video with different joint spacings to see how easy a small joint fails?
I was often repairing tanks damaged during shipping where the glass had been bonded touching and a slight impact would break the glass.
A note on tempered glass, its immensely strong but shatters into millions of pieces when broken. More reason to space the glass with a structural joint as tempered glass is susceptible to edge damage and failure.
We always sat the side glass on the bottom pane and not in front. Im not sure if there is a defenite reason for this but i think a shear joint is stronger.
Please dont take any of my comments as critisisim, you do a great job. I am also from the other side of the pond so things may be done differently here!
Thanks Rod

[vituperation]

IKEA? Not having to cut glass? Tanner, you're speaking my language. Using IKEA shelves is a perfect, accessible way for a lot of people to start making their own tanks! Thank you for the guide and I am _immediately_ saving it to my playlist of resources.

If anyone reading is interested, here's a couple ideas that are even cheaper (or at least they were. Your inflation may vary 😉).

Getting custom-cut sheets of glass from a glass cutter shop is actually way cheaper than I thought. It's a little cheaper than buying the IKEA shelves. Just make sure to ask to have the edges sanded and take into account the thickness of the panels of glass when giving the measurements. Absolutley feel free to ask them for help. Almost every shop I've been to has been super cool.

Also, I recommend ¼" glass for anything 20 gallons and above, up to probably 50-ish. There are glass strength guides to show how thick the glass should be to hold the amount of water you want online you can look at. It's easy enough for basic tanks and always err on the side of caution. If you're making a tank with bigger panels, _then_ I would absolutely recommend taking the time to do some back-of-the-envelope calculations on what thickness and bracing you'll need. For standard aquarium shapes and sizes, it's not a concern but it doesn't hurt to take a lesson from Tanner and over-engineer 🤓

My second tip, for anyone living in the contiguous United States, is even cheaper. Petco runs a quarterly (that's every three months 🧐) sale on their aquariums. You can pull those apart and reassemble them as rimless. Or just pull the top rim off. Only do this for tanks that *don't* have a brace across the middle unless you plan to replace the brace with your own. Be careful when disassembling the tanks! I have cut myself more than a few times because I wanted to save the top plastic rim. Don't. It's not worth it. Acetone will also soften this plastic up and make it easy to pull apart. Just mind the acetone doesn't get on the lower rim if you plan to keep that. Best part here is you don't even need to reseal!

You can also save the panes of glass for custom shapes. Slide a box cutter/utility knife/razor/sword into the gaps between glass panes and slide it down to cut the seals. Remember to go back and scrape every scrap of silicone off the edges to make a clean reseal. I'm currently sketching out a plan for a hexagonal tank made from 20 gal. panels 😀

Oh, and as a bonus tip, because a lot of people are intimidated by resealing tanks, it's easy to get cheap, leaking tanks from online listings, thrift stores, and even some local pet stores that don't want to bother. I once salvaged a leaking 35 gal. bow-front I bought for $20 😏

[lovefolster]

the smashing glass to illustrate tthe dangers of working with glass is the most 50s-educational-video cute thing i*ve seen all week <3

[Ishiisan]

IKEA is going to be wondering why these glass shelves are selling so well lol

[doha]

This channel deserves sponsorship from all the products that has been used here, especially from IKEA. One of the best DIY video I have seen in YouTube.

[thmo_]

This comment section is a gold mine. Tons of budget ideas, from leveling mats to silicone trick. I love the community you build Tanner!

[davidlawlor]

I'm forwarding this to our training department. It's an outstanding example of training step by step.

[y]

As a tip for self leveling foam . Yoga mats can be purchased from charity/thrift shops for cheap! A couple layers of that will do the job and will be enough to do multiple tanks for only a few dollars

[serenaewinger]

You literally add every small detail to make things as easy and seamless as possible. An absolute hero

[clavis]

For anyone trying to do this for the first time, I can't stress enough how important this 7:36 step is. The bigger the tank, the trickier it gets to apply your silicone fast enough to get a good looking finish before it starts being problematic. This is mainly an issue as an esthetic point of view though, as any mistakes could be fixed by removing excess or applying more silicone afterwards to ensure it's watertight. Doing this correctly though will save you time and trouble and give you a really clean finish look that you wouldn't be able to get otherwise. Planing ahead is the key for this step.

Also I'd like to point out that removing the masking tapes before the silicon dries up will save you a lot of headaches. This will prevent you from having to remove tapes that get stuck under dried silicone or in worst case scenario peeling out perfectly good beads of silicone forcing you to patch it up.

Hope this helps!

[silicitimmm]

im a youtude diy person. my last 5 years was all about building, fixing, repairing through youtube. this must be the one of the best tutorials if not the best of the bests. hats off.