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



## greenkiwi

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!
*


----------



## Romad

Whoa.... that is so unique. How much water does it hold? What are those little fishies you have in there?


----------



## james7139

its between 8 and 10 gallons depending on how big the base glass is


----------



## greenkiwi

Romad said:


> Whoa.... that is so unique. How much water does it hold? What are those little fishies you have in there?


Right now I have close to 4g water, not sure about the maximum. I would imagine like 5g... Proud father of white cloud minnows :-D.


----------



## greenkiwi

james7139 said:


> its between 8 and 10 gallons depending on how big the base glass is


Only the top is 10" in diameter, but feels like I have more water in my vase now compared to my 5g tank.


----------



## Romad

Thumbs up to you. :thumbsup:


----------



## greenkiwi

Romad said:


> Thumbs up to you. :thumbsup:


Thank you!!


----------



## bearwithfish

stunning tank!!!! very nicely done..... i


----------



## greenkiwi

bearwithfish said:


> stunning tank!!!! very nicely done..... i



Thanks! You rock for starting this! Can't wait to share the end result.


----------



## aunt kymmie

Very clever idea!


----------



## james7139

greenkiwi said:


> Only the top is 10" in diameter, but feels like I have more water in my vase now compared to my 5g tank.


ahhh ok


----------



## kitten_penang

very interesting take on a simple vase =)


----------



## onefish2fish

very nicely done, all the way down to the transformer. :wink:


----------



## greenkiwi

kitten_penang said:


> very interesting take on a simple vase =)



Thanks! Is that a betta? Very nice shot!


----------



## greenkiwi

onefish2fish said:


> very nicely done, all the way down to the transformer. :wink:


Gundam, but you are close enough. :-D


----------



## kitten_penang

yeah it's a buterfly betta


----------



## greenkiwi

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.


----------



## aunt kymmie

I think using bamboo to hide the tubing is a great idea!


----------



## greenkiwi

aunt kymmie said:


> I think using bamboo to hide the tubing is a great idea!



Thanks Aunt Kymmie! I hope the end result will be good! You know, sometimes you have a great idea, but when you do it and just looks terrible! It ends up becoming a bad idea, but you learn... =)


----------



## dobknobby

Thats Awesome!


----------



## greenkiwi

*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. 









*
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.


----------



## greenkiwi

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.


----------



## Romad

Looking good. Can't wait to see the finished product. I'd love me one of those!


----------



## Calmwaters

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.


----------



## greenkiwi

Calmwaters said:


> 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.


Funny you mention that!! I also wanted to have betta in this vase, but I was thinking betta and white cloud minnows.... Hm... I stopped thinking after that, haha.


----------



## Calmwaters

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.


----------



## bearwithfish

full tank shot please LOL this is really coming along great!!


----------



## Calmwaters

Yes I agree a full tank shot would be nice.


----------



## greenkiwi

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.


----------



## bearwithfish

oh really? i wonder how you solved the issue.. dont forget the deadline is Sunday!


----------



## greenkiwi

bearwithfish said:


> oh really? i wonder how you solved the issue.. dont forget the deadline is Sunday!



Ok bear, I will take some pics tonight. Thanks.


----------



## bearwithfish

i know i am a pain in the back side ....LOL


----------



## greenkiwi

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.


----------



## zof

Looking good! It looks like bamboo would make a great looking in tank filter..... soooo many ideas and so little time and money to follow through, can't wait to see the final pictures!


----------



## greenkiwi

Here are my final shots! 

I now have 9 White Cloud Minnows. I called them "Cloud 9" haha...































































Decorative stones from Ikea


----------



## ghostgirl

That is awesome!!! I love it!


----------



## SinCrisis

wow dude, thats awesome . especially love the bamboo reeds with ivy and water coming out of it...


----------



## james7139

Amazinn'


----------



## Calmwaters

I absolutely love it! Now I am going to be on the look out for really big vases at the thrift stores. LOL About how many gallons of water does it hold? The little fish look really happy in there home.


----------



## james7139

i think we decided 6 or 7 right?


----------



## greenkiwi

james7139 said:


> i think we decided 6 or 7 right?


Yep, you are right James. About 6g of water.


----------



## greenkiwi

Thanks for all the compliments. Can't wait to see them carry babies now. :-D


----------



## Romad

*WOW!!! *great job on that. it looks amazing.

:welldone:


----------



## bearwithfish

stunning tank!!! your ingenuity is remarkable...however i am at a loss for words....


----------



## redchigh

If you filled it up all the way, it would be nearly 10 gallons...

Height- 25 inches
Radius- 5.3 (for simplification)

Volume = πr^2*h 


Volume- V = 2206.18344 in^3

Cubic inches to gallons-
2206.18344 in³ = 9.55057 gal(US Liq)


----------



## bigehugedome

This is amazing!!!!


----------



## aunt kymmie

Greenkiwi, your final project is great. The adding of bamboo in order to solve the "filter" problem was brilliant! I wish I had such vision and ingenuity. Sweet vase!


----------



## SinCrisis

i saw a similar giant vase at crate and barrel the other day, almost got one to try and mimic you.


----------

