How to Make a Marine Fish Tank at Home

Fish are easy pets to care for and relaxing and entertaining to look at. Making your own marine fish tank at home, especially if you're making a particularly large one, saves you the transportation hassle of bringing it home. It also allows you to customize its size to fit a specific space. All the materials you'll need you can purchase at a home appliance store.

Things You'll Need

  • Five pieces of glass
  • Silicon sealant (100 percent non-toxic)
  • Silicon carbide sandpaper
  • Acetone
  • Paper towels
  • Duct tape
  • Washable felt-tipped marker
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Instructions

  1. Preparing to Build

    • 1

      Decide on the place in your home your fish tank will go and the size you need it to be.

    • 2

      Use an aquarium glass thickness calculator to calculate the thickness you need your fish tank glass to be. You can find one such calculator online -- see the link in the Resources section.

    • 3

      Find a glass cutter in your local area. Use your dimensions to place an order with him. You'll need five pieces cut: the front, back, bottom, right side and left side. Remember that the bottom glass plate must serve as a base for building your tank, so you'll want to fix the outside pieces on top of your bottom plate. Plan your glass piece dimensions accordingly.

    • 4

      Sand the sharp edges of your glass pieces with silicon carbide sandpaper.

    • 5

      Mark the pieces front, back, bottom, right and left with an erasable marker. Indicate which side on each piece should face the inside of your tank. Use arrows to indicate to bottom versus the top edge.

    • 6

      Cut off 20 6-inch duct tape strips. Your duct tape should be about 2 inches wide.

    Building Your Marine Fish Tank

    • 7

      Put your bottom glass piece on your workspace with its inside facing upwards. Clean the glass's edges with acetone and a paper towel.

    • 8

      Stick eight duct tape strips to the outside side of the bottom piece so that half of each strip is hanging outside it, sticky side facing upwards. Stick two evenly spaced duct tape strips on either side of your tank's bottom.

    • 9

      Put a bead of sealant along the length of the bottom edge of the glass piece that will be the front of your tank. Place the piece in its position on the bottom plate. Press down firmly. Secure using the duct tape strips sticking out from the bottom of your bottom glass piece. Don't try to remove sealant that is leaking out.

    • 10

      Place sealant on two edges of your right side glass piece. Look at your markings to position it right side up with the correct side facing out.

    • 11

      Repeat Step 4 with all other glass pieces until your four sides are in place.

    • 12

      Place a small bead of silicon sealant across all inside edges and smear it into the intersections with your finger.

    • 13

      Let dry for 24 hours. Remove the duct tape.

    • 14

      Fill your marine fish tank to the top with water. Let it sit for 24 hours. Periodically check for any leaks coming from the joints. If there are none after 24 hours, your tank is ready for use.