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I have been asked to build cabinetry into a large closet and to enclose a 100 gal. fish tank into the cabintetry. I am going to build some type of access to the top of the tank for maintenance, etc. but am concerned about the moisture from the tank if the top of the tank is enclosed. Can anyone give me any ideas or considerations from their experience on enclosing a fish tank?
Thanks in advance!
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We had large fish tanks in several commercial buildings where I used to oversee maintenance.
Keep this thing out of the sun. It can't be moved and the sun will absolutely cause it to grow all kinds of stuff in only days.
You will loose alot of moisture. Have the cabinet vented to the outside if possible with an electric fan. We used to get condensation on skylights near the tank and no where else in the building.
Make sure there is pleanty of clearance above the tank for cleaning. I'd suggest at least 2' of clear space to work in.
The place you will get leaks will be at the filter system and hoses, not at the tank (at least that's what I've seen)
The company that took care of our tanks used to put the filters and everything associated with the filters in a big rubbermaid container under the tank.
*I am not entirely clear on what you need. There are a number of commercial cabinets with canopies that are available. These are often finished in a type of catalyzed water resistant finish. Many people that do their own use epoxy paint. If I was doing one again, I would probably first use a pentrating epoxy such as is used in treating dry rotted areas and then cover that with regular epoxy. Such an epoxy preparation probably would not penetrate very far into sound wood, but should do better in this regard than regular epoxy paint. I built some canopy's back in the pre-politically correct days and used redwood. I left some of the redwood unfinished and it did turn black on the wet side after a few years, but held up well. You may get a few ideas by following the links provided by the About.com sites:http://freshaquarium.about.com/home/freshaquarium/mbody.htmandhttp://saltaquarium.about.com/home/saltaquarium/mbody.htmand particularly the submenu "Aquarium Cabinets, Canopies & Stands" at:http://saltaquarium.about.com/home/saltaquarium/msubmenu4.htmThere are many aquarium sources on the Internet if you do a search with your favorite search engine. Even with canopies, most aquariums that I have seen still have plexiglas covers (often containing the lights) over the largest openings of the plexiglas tanks (not always the case with glass tanks, however). Of course, you will need some openings for air circulation and a means to access the tank for adding fish, cleaning, and other maintenance. If it is correctly done, I don't know that you would necessarily get more moisture than you would on a well used bathroom counter. If you were really concerned, I suppose that you could seal up the top of the tank with plastic covers and provide an air vent from the tank to outside of the canopy, although I have not seen this done. Just remember that you will need access for an air line, heater cord, and probably an external filter of some sort (freshwater) and/or circulation pump (salt water).
*Hmmmm.... Something smells fishy here. As a fish person myself, I know there are as many ways to build in aquariums as there people who want to do it.If this job is for a residential location and the owners haven't given you very explicit instructions on what they want done, then they probably haven't thought much about what they want and you're bound to be sworn at for one design flaw or another and/or the aquarium is destined to become glass trophy display case. Maintaining a built in aquarium is not something to be taken lightly.If this is a comercial job, the same rules apply. The person calling for the aquarium is probably not the person who will be maintaining it. It's the maintenance guy you really need to be asking these questions.At the very least head down to your nearest pet store to get some advice.
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I have been asked to build cabinetry into a large closet and to enclose a 100 gal. fish tank into the cabintetry. I am going to build some type of access to the top of the tank for maintenance, etc. but am concerned about the moisture from the tank if the top of the tank is enclosed. Can anyone give me any ideas or considerations from their experience on enclosing a fish tank?
Thanks in advance!