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5ft Bookshelf Aquarium - River Scape

The tank! I snuck a look inside the box to make sure it was not cracked and it looks great, cant wait to get this out of the box and onto my stand, hoping next weekend or the following.

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These are the rocks I am going to use, they are natural river rocks from the area I live in, Western Australia.

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looking forward to seeing this develop, I have a roughly similar sized tank (48x8x9) lying empty, they do take some planning
 
Got the 2 ikea kallax stands together here it is with the hardwood top (still has plastic on it) getting it cut to length on the weekend, will overhand about 1/2 inch all around apart from the back which will be flush.

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Whats the hardwood top? From Ikea??
 
Whats the hardwood top? From Ikea??

Its a oak, its pre oiled which is handy, cant remember exactly what kind, from Bunnings!
 
Picked up the riverstones pictured a few posts back in the tub and also got a few big stones from a landscaping supplier, they hand nice flat bottoms :p good for standing up, should work well.

The riverstones in the tub are a lot darker than the big stones I brought from the landscape supplier, they are also very dusty so probably will appear darker once washed.

Below are the big stones from the landscape supplier, only 60c per Kg. If the colour difference between the two lots of stones sourced is too noticeable / not natural I will head back to the landscape supplier and get more, they have a nice range of sizes.

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Different colours works well, it's also quite natural given that the source of these types of clast is often varied even though they end up deposited in the same place.
They are fragments of larger rock broken off by weathering and erosion often transported by rivers and streams, during which they get their round or worn shape.
Hence, riverstone ;)
 
Different colours works well, it's also quite natural given that the source of these types of clast is often varied even though they end up deposited in the same place.
They are fragments of larger rock broken off by weathering and erosion often transported by rivers and streams, during which they get their round or worn shape.
Hence, riverstone ;)

Yah for sure, the two sources of rocks I have may not even be from the same region but they are both from Western Australia, will post a photo tomorrow showing the two sets of rocks after I give them a wash, all the rocks are different colours which is cool and natural but one set is much darker over all and less "rounded", the stones in the photo above are "South West Australian Riverstone" the others in the black tub a few posts back are "Ord Rivertones" which is in the North West of Western Australia, probably about 3000km between the two regions :p I think once the are both washed the colour different wont be so much, tho I am leaning to using all rocks from one location.
 
I think you should worry more about the texture of the stones rather than the color in this scape.

Tank dimensions looks really promising and your hard wood top is beautiful


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I think you should worry more about the texture of the stones rather than the color in this scape.

Tank dimensions looks really promising and your hard wood top is beautiful


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Cheers, I guess the texture will be fairly uniform / smooth.
 
My single 5ft LED tube from MakeMyLED AU arrived up today, had to connect it up to my tc420 for a quick test, I think it looks great, should be enough light for the low light plants I have planned, the tube has 30 x 3w LEDs at a 2:1 ratio 8000K+4000K whites with 30 degree optic lenses / beam angle, the light covers the stand perfectly with no spill at this height.

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This looks great! I desperately want a river tank, but need to wait until we’ve had the extension!

I’ve got a 4ft tank on the Kallax Ikea unit and wish I’d added support to the back. It’s perfectly strong enough top to bottom, but it does shift a bit left to right Not sure what two screwed together are like, but thought I’d mention it just in case.

When I’ve got some time I’ll be strengthening my unit for sure.


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Here are some cabinet bracing ideas other people have implemented on their cabinets in order to prevent sideways movement.

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Below could also be done by just affixing the uprights (green) to the rear of the cabinet. Make out of 18mm or 12mm thick MDF (cut to size at B&Q), primed with MDF primer and roller painted with gloss paint to match the cabinet colour. If you are not happy with MDF near water (or don't trust your priming and painting) just use plywood instead, or go to proper timber merchant and get waterproof ply (generallycalled marine ply at £££) instead.
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This looks great! I desperately want a river tank, but need to wait until we’ve had the extension!

I’ve got a 4ft tank on the Kallax Ikea unit and wish I’d added support to the back. It’s perfectly strong enough top to bottom, but it does shift a bit left to right Not sure what two screwed together are like, but thought I’d mention it just in case.

When I’ve got some time I’ll be strengthening my unit for sure.


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The 4x2 (same kallax unit I have behind the 2 x 2x2) shouldn't really be used in this configuration, technically when its positioned 4 cubes long x 2 high its on it side and can be prone to sideways movement and collapsing, saying that I have had no problems with the two smaller tanks on the 4x2 unit, I wouldn't risk a 4ft tank I dont think.

The two x 2x2 stands have way less horizontal movement, they are the correct way up and the middle shelf runs the length of each stand horizontally, also the top and bottom sections run the length of the shelve distributing the weight down thru the horizontal sides and middle shelve, with the 4x2 really the only thing support the weight is the 4 screws as the top section is butted into the sides not running over the top.
 
that's looking great! Really like the top for the kallax, coming along! Other tanks in the background look cracking too :thumbup:
 
that's looking great! Really like the top for the kallax, coming along! Other tanks in the background look cracking too :thumbup:

Cheers it is getting there, picking up the filter tomorrow, I am moving the 2 tanks in the background of the photo outside and the 5ft will go in their place, pretty much finished setting up an outdoor rack which will hold 3 fish tanks, will be interesting to see how they go outside, have no more room inside, I live in a 70sqm apartment with 6 fish tanks now :p
 
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