Installing an Aquarium in Your Wall

One very simple project that you can use to add value and beauty to your home is by embedding an aquarium into the wall. This is a relatively easy project that can easily put your own personal stamp on your home. These fish can be easy to care for and make for lots of conversation. Whether you want a salt water tank or fresh water, the steps are the same. You can add anything from goldfish to sharks or piranha. There are some custom aquarium shops that have walls with a tank incorporated in it, or you can save a lot of money by creating your own. This allows you to install the aquarium of your dreams. The best thing about this is that your aquarium can be enjoyed in two rooms at the same time.

The first thing that you will need to, just like almost all projects, is to design your project. You will want to select the aquarium. You will need to keep the dimensions of the tank in mind. This includes the width. If you want your tank in a hallway, it may jut out too far and cut off any access that you might need in that walkway. One other thing to keep in mind is to only use a non-structural wall. You do not want to perform any alterations to the wall that can cause your ceiling to sag or your home to cave in. You will also need to remember that the aquarium can be seen through. You will want to keep this in mind if you have it in a bedroom wall. Once you find the right tank, you can figure out where to put it. If you do want to use a hallway, you can always have it hang farther into one room than the hallway, but you will need to keep it near center. You will need to set up the interior of the tank as well. By getting the major parts of your aquarium, like the rocks and other features, before the installation, you will find it much easier. Remember that it will be very difficult to get the pieces in the tank once it is in the wall. The wall will also block the top of the tank. It will be much easier to get everything set up before mounting it in the wall. Unless you have live plants in the tank, or other things that have to have water, you will want to leave the tank empty. This will make it much easier to put it in the wall.

The first step to installing your tank is to use a stud finder to map out the area behind the wall that you will carve out. You will want to use a countertop type platform under the tank to give you a little more support. You will also want to add an inch of space over the top of the tank to make it easier to feed the fish and rearrange or clean the tank. Once you have these measurements, you will want to draw out the square on the wall. You will then need to outline the studs and everything behind the wall. This will make it much easier to punch the right hole in your wall. Once you have everything mapped out, you can start to remove the wall from the studs. Cut along the outline of the aquarium and pull the drywall away. If you run into any wiring or plumbing embedded in the wall, you can reroute it around the hole. Now cut the studs so that you can complete your "hole". You will then want to run 2x4's along the top and bottom edges. You want to anchor them to the sides. You can then nail the board to the studs to give extra support.

After the hole is made, you can now add the support shelf to the base of the frame. You may need to run added supports from the wall to the shelf bottom. You will only need to do this if you have the aquarium off center of the wall. Once you have the shelf in, you will want to finish the hole's edges. This means you will need to touch up the spackle and drywall, do any sanding that needs to be done, and paint everything so that it looks nice and like the aquarium is part of the wall. After this is complete, you can now put the aquarium in place.

Fill the tank with water, make any last touches that need to be done to the inside, and add the fish. When you add the fish, you will need to let the bag that they came in float in the tank for a couple hours so that your fish can get acclimated to the temperature of your aquarium. That is all there is to adding this project to your home. A couple hours of work can really leave you with an original and beautiful addition to your home. Not only will this project increase the value of your home, it can add your own signature to your house and truly make it your home.