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DIY IKEA Vase Aquarium Contest (Work in progress!!)

26K views 47 replies 14 participants last post by  SinCrisis 
#1 ·
Thanks for making this contest! Now I'm motivated to finish the project I started last month. :-D
I'm from NYC living in studio and I wanted another aquarium in addition to my 5g. I wanted an aquarium for the corner of my studio and thought this IKEA vase would be perfect. Who knew I would be making an aquarium from IKEA vase, but that is what I'm doing... I'll post some pictures of supplies I used. I should be done soon (just waiting for couple of more items) and will post the rest.

IKEA BLADET VASE (I GOT THIS FOR $15 FROM CRAIGSLIST)
Diameter: 10 ¾ "
Height: 25 ½ "




IKEA BJURÖN PLANT STAND



DEEP DOME




MOGUL SOCKET



CFL FROM HOME DEPOT



WIRE



FLEXIBLE EXTENSION PIPE



MOGUL SOCKET ATTACHED TO FLEXIBLE EXTENSION PIPE




THREADED PIPE



CLAMP



PLUG



IKEA LACK SIDE TABLE (ONLY USED THE TOP, NO LEGS)



PENN PLAX 2WAY GANG VALVE



10G TETRA WHISPER AIR PUMP (LOVE THIS ONE, BETTER THAN RENA!!)



IKEA TÄNDA (TIMER, I'M TOO LAZY TO TURN THE LIGHTS ON. :-D)




TOP VIEW




FRONT VIEW



SIDE VIEW



CLOSE UP #1



CLOSE UP #2



CLOSE UP #3


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That is all for now, I have great plan to hide the airline tube and I'll be replacing the current filter. Don't like it very much... Hope to have more photos by early next week.

Thanks!
 
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#12 ·
very interesting take on a simple vase =)
 
#16 ·
yeah it's a buterfly betta
 
#17 ·
So after couple of weeks of thinking on how to hide the airline tubes, I've finally come to conclusion. At first, I thought using java moss was the answer, but I'm lazy and don't want to deal with that! While at the flower district here in Manhattan, I found this really long bamboo (about 15 feet and little more than 1 inch in diameter). I asked the guy to cut for me every 28 inch, and came home with 6 1/2 bamboos.

Pics below...






I had to make the holes inside for the airline tubes. Good thing I had my threaded pipe
and banged it in with hammer.




Cut the top to my taste



I'll do some test and more pics to come... Thanks. Let me know your thoughts.
 
#21 ·
UPDATE 09-26-10

Now I have couple of bamboo poles that are somewhat hiding the airline tubes. As you can see, I definitely need some foliage on top and will be working on that. :p



CLOSE UP
(Water looks murky, I should of soaked these in water for few days. My babies are fine, in case you are worried.)



Another update coming tomorrow as I'll be playing with the arrangement of plants.
 
#22 ·
I had some devil's ivy (also from Ikea) in the room. Good thing about these plants are they can grow in water. Since inside the bamboo poles are filled with water, I put few of the devil's ivy in and already it is starting to look better. Now I need more volume. :)


 
#24 ·
That is an awsome idea! I would love to do something like that I think it would be cool in the living room for my betta.
 
#26 ·
Mine would just be for my betta I can't put him with anything else he attacks everything I have tried to put in with him.
 
#29 ·
Just to give you guys an update, I'm still working on my project... Believe it or not.... I've been adding and removing stuff so many times, and had a major issue with my vase tank. The tank started to smell like sewage because of the water inside the bamboo poles had no place to flow . BUT, I figured out a way by happy accident and hope to have some more pics and an update.
 
#33 ·
Hi all!
I'm finally happy to share with you my latest pics. If you remember the last pic was about a month ago
and I wanted to add even more foliage. I've had few upgrades along the way as well and I'll explain them in detail below.



ADDING MORE FOLIAGE

While adding the devil's ivy plants in the two bamboo poles looked sufficient, I wanted more because they look nice! :-D So, I had an idea to use the water bottle and hook that behind the vase.


STEP 1- Use an empty water bottle. I'm using the 500mL Poland Spring bottle.



STEP 2- Cut the bottle in half. I used my Swiss army knife.



STEP 3- Made couple of holes using one-hole punch and cut a hanger to make the hooks.


STEP 4- Add water and devil's ivy in the bottle. I hooked mine in the bamboo pole used for lighting.



NEW FILTER

I bought a brand new filter made by Red Sea called "Deco Art Nanon Filter" because I felt
that Penn Plax Smallworld filter just did not perform well.



I had another issue after I purchased this filter, because the distance between the filter and the water
level was high, the water splashing was very loud and I had trouble sleeping!! So, I used my leftover
bamboo pole and attached it under where the water was falling from the filter. I can't even hear the
water splashing anymore. As you can see from the pic below, I drilled couple of holes and used suction
cups.



No more water splashing! :lol:



SEWAGE SMELL!!
What would DIY project be without unexpected problems, right? Well, my vase tank started to smell like
sewage because the water inside the bamboo poles had no place to go... While I was cleaning the tank
one day, I accidentally pulled the airline tube attached to an airstone and saw the bubble inside the
pole. When this happened, I had an "A-HA!" moment!! I could make the water overflow using the
airstone inside the poles. I had to upgrade my air pump from 10g to 40g, so I get more power for the
overflow. Pics below...

Three airstones inside the bamboo poles.



I also added Hydor Pico Evolution Mini Pump to help water flow.


Water overflowing.


Mini pump.


No more sewage smell. :)

Ok, now for the fun part! I'll be adding up to date photos of the tank on my next post! Thanks for reading.
 
#36 ·
That is awesome!!! I love it!
 
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