Blending your fish tank with the house deco

[Savant]

It is a common reality these days but in order to qualify for a tank in my new house, I have to convince my wife that the tank and carpentry that comes with it can properly blend in with the rest of the design elements in the house. This is quite a task for me and to date, I still cannot find something suitable.

Hope some of the Bros (<- is Bros a SMS lingo?) here can share how they blend in their tanks with the rest of the design of their house.

[benny]

I can understand your situation at home as I was also trying to find space for my hobby.

You will probably need a custom made cabinet tank setup. The type where you can choose the laminate to match your house deco/color. In addition, you may adjust the height of the tank to suit your furnishings. My tank was next to the dining table, so the tank had to be higher that the back of the chairs to prevent the chairs from knocking into the tank glass. This resulted in additional drawers for storage which my wife was quite happy with. I have also seen the tank height reduced to match the living room setup.

Lastly, the location should allow easy access and maintenence. Otherwise, family members may be irritated with the hose being all the the place and wet floors during water change.

Cheers,

[checkerboard]

My tank is used as a divider between the foyer area and living room. The laminate is the same as my coffee table, dining table and TV console which are all custom made. All my electricals / pipes are concealed within the cabinets of the tank. The foyer side of the tank is built with a seat with a shoe cabinet below. My only regret for this cabinet/tank is I forgot to install fans to blow out the hot air from my chiller (though I have ventilation holes at the rear).

[BFG]

It is perfectly normal for a woman to want to have a nice, pleasant home to live in. You have to follow her methodology to continue with your aquatic hobby. For this to happen, you need to create a space that is in tune to how she wants the home to look. For example, your tank cabinet must either match the furniture or not to exceed your home furniture colour equilibrium. Also, it is best to fully used the space you intend to use for the tank. If you have a a wall space of let's say a 6ft run, don't get a small set up and place it in the middle or at the side as it will spoil the look of the wall. Cover that area as much as you can with a large tank, say a 5-6ft tank. And make sure the aquascape looks nice, not like a forest of overgrown plants and algae.

Hope this helps!

[koolman]

Hi Ts,

To be frank with you.. If you are trying to source for a 2nd hand cabinet tank to go well with your house deco, u need to be very lucky.. You would have to custom make the cabinet tank but it will be very costly.. I have encounter it myself with my CO, she doesnt like one of the tank that I bought cos she say it doesnt match.. Well, after a few weeks day, she told me in fact, it does look nice.. haha The morale of my story is get something that is close to your house deco colour/design and it will save you alot of $$.. When time goes by, u and co will appreciate it..


Cheers
Koolman

[bryan]

Most of the tank makers charge reasonable prices and they will let you choose the laminate of the cabinet to match your house deco.

[blue33]

Recently i had a custom made tank with cabinet which my CO allowed me to do. Make sure you bring her along when you see the tank maker, cabinet ideally should be the same colour or texture your decor is, and make sure you ask her opinion first on selecting the laminate etc. Before you do all this, plan your tank layout and location where it should be, such thing like nearer to the toilet for changing of water at ease as your CO will not like the floor wet with water when you change water. Give yourselves more time planning at the initial stage before you look for a tank maker.

[neverwalkalone]

All the "wise men" have spoken ;-)

For me; I feel it's important to involve her in the decision making; although quite often, they have no clue as to what they want (no insult intended to our wives/female forummers). Not sure how much work you have done in looking over custom designs as part of the furnishing; it is good to show her what are some (possible) outcomes - only danger there is in 'over selling'.. heh heh.

Unless you have lots of $ and/or don't mind outsourcing everything (design, build, setup and maintain the tank), the first step is just getting the tank+cabinet to match the surrounding. A bigger task is actually in aquascaping and maintaining the tank - I've seen quite a few nice tanks+cabinets, but with poor scapes and algae infestations; they actually becomes an eyesore in the room. I take it you're prepared to invest some time (and $s) to make this happen.

I'm very blessed to have a supportive wife to agree to my setting up a tank in the living room on a WI stand (open, unsightly?), but she actually helped in getting marble slabs to sit the external filter and provided a nice box to house the accessories (test kits, food, scissors etc); though there's still the tubes that cannot be hidden; so I'm moving to a (DIY) cabinet soon to improve the look as a 'return' for her support. ;-)

All the best!

[blue33]

Here are some of simple setup without plants if you intend to go for pleco are fauna scape only.

Pictures are extracted from "Aquarium Design Group's"

>Image 1< , >Image 2< , >Image 3<

[jasonchua1982]

I am very interested in this idea too, would be great if the tank is a showcase in the living room and blends well with the furniture.

Maybe those with this kind of setup can share some pictures to inspire us.

Thanks !