Hi, new and in need of help!

[SidneyFresh]

Hello everyone, total newb here, and need some help please from experts!.

My daughter is desperate to keep fish.

We’ve taken first steps and bought a tank - small, 28 litre, 31cm x 34cm x 34cm. Planned to keep it downstairs on a solid oak dining, but my daughters desperate to keep it in her bedroom instead.

The bedrooms a small boxroom, and I’d like thoughts on that please.

I’m also hoping for any guidance as to where it can be placed, r space in her room is at a premium. We can’t get a stand in without having it near a radiator, otherwise it would be mounting on a wall via a shelf, or, replacing her current Ikea dressing unit with a solid pine tallboy dresser or similar and sitting it on top.

Any practical guidance would be helpful! Our property is new build, walls are all plasterboard, and dot and dab to the external. The ideal wall is internal.

Shelf wise Im considering something akin to a twin slot shelving system -https://www.twinslotshelving.co.uk/twin ... cket-470mm which should each take 80kg and be more than sufficient.

I’m likely unable to hit joists, so considering these plasterboard fixings - https://bullfix-fixings.com. And thinking of overkill and having three twin slot channels, and then three brackets, with 4-5 of these fixings down the wall each slot.

And wondering if anyone has any practical experience of this? And if this would work - did watch a test this morning on you tube of these fixings with two wildly different results, one supporting 160kgs on four fixings, and another where a single fixing failed with 20ks applied.

I’d also like thoughts on replacing the Ikea dresser with something else, pine or oak say as the photo,, and whether that would be strong enough to accept the tank, or if that would need additional support. Her current units had it anyway, so questioning if this would kill two birds one stone, and then recommendations how best this would be strengthened.

Thanks in advance for your help, from a desperate dad, and a far more desperate daughter!

[DuzMano]

28l of water is of course 28kg, plus the tank and gravel and decorations may add some extra weight though of course they'll displace some water. Probably need to accommodate 40kg. I personally wouldn't trust a shelf...regardless of the weight it's supposed to carry especially if it's only in plasterboard. I'd use the tallboy (just be sure to use the wall anchors) also has the benefit of hiding wires behind whereas they'd be visible hanging from a shelf. But maybe that's just me.

No rads and no windows is the ideal

[Martinspuddle]

Greetings & welcome to

Aquariums in bedrooms are not always the greatest of ideas.

Two points spring to mind. Firstly, how close is the water supply and is the wife going to mind wet carpets occasionally?

Second, like most people the bathroom sink is to shallow to fill a bucket, so it's the bath ...backbreaking work.

I wouldn't use the Ikea dresser, unless it's solid wood which I doubt and anyway over time you'll probably find you cannot use the draws either because it's shocking the fish with the movement or overtime the weight of the aquarium has jammed them. A dedicated aquarium stand is by far better.

I'd forget the shelves. Unless your going to support the underside of the shelf the wall fixings will eventuality come away, no matter what these are rated for. Better to use a racking system, fix it to the wall and floor, paint it white or most likely pink for a girls room.

[plankton]

Welcome to the forum.
Racking sounds like the best way to go, but....how close to the radiator would a stand actually be, and can anything be re-sited to get it further away?
Anything with drawers is out as it will upset the fish every time they are opened or closed, as well as the top bowing so they don't open or close properly.
You do realise you won't get many fish in a 28l tank, probably either a single betta or 4 male endlers (or fish of similar size)?
Also be careful not to overfeed in such a small tank.

[VikingMummy2015]

Nothing with drawers, but something like IKEA Trofast unit or an kallax easily supports a tank that small. My first tank was a 29L one on a trofast in my kids’ bedroom. I then had a duplicate tank on an Argos chest of drawers and it started bowing within weeks whereas the trofast unit is still on the go 7 years down the line as steps my youngest uses to climb onto his mid-sleeper (obviously no longer used as a tank stand!)

28L is only going to work for a single betta (if you have soft water) or a small group of endlers (hard water) or maximum of 6 white cloud mountain minnows (any water). I also used mine for chilli rasbora for a while (very soft water)

[Bluetaurus]

Hello and welcome