Dry aquarium in the interior of the apartment

The design of the modern interior is not limited to standard materials, such as wood, concrete and plastic. A variety of forms, materials and designer ideas allows you to create unique volumetric images in your housing. One of these creative ideas is a dry aquarium, which is mounted in the walls, furniture, floor or made as a detached design.

What is a dry aquarium

The dry aquarium in the floor or wall is a niche that is covered with a glass sheet. For aquarium in the floor, a very durable coating is provided by a triplex name, which is capable of withstanding heavy loads. Triplex is three layers of shockproof glass, bonded using a special technology with a polymer film. Such a multi-layered design and causes the body's ability to withstand weight up to several hundred kilograms.

Another distinctive feature of a three-layer glass that makes it suitable for use in residential premises - similarity with car glass. If you try to break the triplex, it will not split, but only finishes the chain of cracks. Thick the glass is selected depending on the design and destination.

The next element of the dry aquarium is its filling, which complements the entire design of the aesthetic component. Most often this type of design is selected, similar to the real sea scenery. This is not mandatory, the design is selected on the basis of its own taste and the overall design of the room. For the decor of the dry aquarium, fine sea sands, pebbles and stones, artificial plants, various collages and elements of the microlandscape are used.

When selecting the composition, it is necessary to take non-spoiling materials. If there is a desire to use natural material, it is necessary to dry well and apply a special coating on its surface, which will retain the appearance and prevent the decomposition of the material.

Varieties of dry aquariums

As it follows from the name, the dry aquarium does not contain water, it is only air and all the elements of the planned composition. The depth of the niche or the size of the aquarium is selected individually, if we are talking about aquarium in the floor, then its depth begins from 8-10 cm. If the dry aquarium is planned to be made in the floor, that is, two options for its implementation are filled floors or podium. In the case of a bulk floor, a niche for aquarium is left in advance, for a deep aquarium floor must be raised.

Dry aquariums for the main feature are divided into built-in and remote. Built-in aquariums are a design from the profile, glass and finishing materials, which is part of the wall, gender or furniture elements. Built-in aquariums are mounted in the cabinets niches, countertops, pedestals, steps and any other elements of the interior. According to manufacturing technology, they differ significantly from remote.

Remote aquariums are structures that are installed separately and representing a conventional aquarium in which a decorative composition is created. It is allowed to use aquarium of any form - round, rectangular or angular. Internal filling is limited only by the presence of materials and its own fantasy.

General rules for the manufacture of dry aquarium

1. For the manufacture of a dry aquarium, a glass panel is made to order on the necessary dimensions. Niche is prepared by framing the perimeter with a metal or decorative profile. The frame is attached by self-drawing so that the upper side of the profile remains the absurpenix in the main floor on the thickness of the glass and the seal. From the inside, all surfaces of the aquarium are covered with finishing materials to choose from.

2. When installing the dry aquarium, you must provide niches for highlighting wires, as well as their posting to the nearest source of electrical current. The dry aquarium in the floor or the wall will not look spectacular without backlight items. From above on the main coating lay out the selected composition, all the product is covered with glass, the seams are filled with sealant.

3. For dry aquarium, the optimal illumination option will be LED, neon or luminescent. It will not only highlight the entire composition, but also become an additional light in the room. To create an additional effect, a tinted triplex is selected, which is suitable for its tint of the interior. Another small trick that will make a dry aquarium more practical - rubber gaskets. The triplex is put on them hermetically, not passing dust or moisture into the inner space, and it is sufficiently lifted to the composition of the composition in the aquarium using ordinary rubber suckers.

How to make your own aquarium

If you plan to create a remote aquarium, then the main bone of the glass design is bought or manufactured independently. In the manufacture of water aquarium with their own hands, it is necessary to take into account all the rules that allow it to withstand the constant water pressure. In the absence of certain skills, independent manufacture is not recommended. As for the dry aquarium, this design does not require such a scrupulous approach and is easily implemented independently. An exception is only round aquariums that cannot be made at home without the use of specialized equipment.

For the manufacture of aquarium, it will take the glass, cut out for the required size. The cutting glass is ordered in a firm providing such services, or is performed independently with the help of glass cutter. Glass gluing is performed using silicone glue. Collection is made in two ways - setting the walls to the bottom or around the bottom. The order of assembling aquarium looks like this:

• 10-15 cm of water is recruited in the bath, the towel is put on the bottom, which is put on the glass;
• wetted grinding stone, they are stepping all the edges of the glass, then the drainage and dried glass is treated with acetone or alcohol to eliminate the fat layer;
• the bottom of the aquarium is placed on paper;
• on the end, which the wall is placed on the bottom, is applied evenly sealant, the wall is neatly put on the bottom;
• when gluing parts from glass, silicone should not be applied to the excessive force, since in this case most of the silicone will be released from the seam and the connection strength will decrease. The trick of working with silicone - the thicker left the layer, the stronger the connection of parts;
• a small outlook of the glue from the seam on both sides, installed on the bottom of the wall be written at right angles and leave dry;

• next, the side wall is installed, the lower end is melted with glue, which is placed on the bottom, and the side end, which is pressed to the glass already installed;
• the side glass is installed in the place allotted for it, maintains and left to dry;
• the quality of the attached silicone layer should be checked, after installing all the walls, the aquarium cannot be moved, it is left to dry in one position, otherwise the glass deformation will occur;
• when all the seams were dried, the blade is cut off the excess glue on the seams outside and inside, in the manufacture of a "wet" storage aquarium from the inside are not removed, since the silicone is not noticeable in water, but in the "dry" design it will break the beauty of the whole composition;
• the next step is the design of the aquarium, which is carried out on its taste.

How to make a dry aquarium in the floor do it yourself

To perform a dry aquarium in the floor, all the same operations are carried out that include floor laying. The composition is allowed in any type of coatings, the only and basic requirement is a sufficient overlap thickness to perform such work. In some cases, the floors for the dry aquarium are raised to make it possible to perform an aquarium sufficient thickness. Shows how the dry aquarium is mounted, the photo scheme is lower, and the stages of this process looks like this:

• carefully aligns the draft floor;
• waterproofing is stacked, the threshold is left around the perimeter, which is raised by 10-15 cm above the surface of the finish coating;
• a concrete screed is formed, in the diagram this element is indicated "C", its thickness is calculated taking into account that 10-15 cm will remain under the aquarium, the bottom of the tie is the bottom of the aquarium;
• the recess for the bottom of the aquarium is left;
• a niche finish is carried out, the screed is polished;
• the substrate is placed on the tie - a layer of waterproofing and insulation, the element "D" in the diagram;
• the "I" element in the diagram - the finishing coating, which is placed on the insulation;

• over the entire area, an aluminum corner is laid on the niche - in the "F" and "H" scheme, at this stage, the frapection is selected to taste;
• the backlight is supplied to the aquarium - the element "E" in the diagram should be envisaged to turn on and off the light in the composition, the partial shutdown of the light is also allowed, the installation of blinking lights and much more, which is enough for fantasy;
• if necessary, silicone shock absorbers are installed - the "B" element scheme;
• the element "G" is a triplex that closes and finishes the entire design, it is selected in the necessary color scheme;
• triplex must be ordered for a specific size, the errors should not be, as it will not work out to be fed to the place for a ready-made niche;
• triplex is selected in thickness, based on the load that will affect it;
• if the aquarium is mounted in a place with a large crossway, it is advisable to use another coating glass that is put on triplex. Such a coating is easy to replace when a large number of scratches and shutters appear on it.

Ideas for dry aquarium

1. A dry aquarium in the interior is used not only as a decoration, it is well suited for zoning the room. For example, a glass partition in a studio room that separate the main room from the kitchen. Aquariums and combined bathrooms for separating the area are used. The optimal choice will be a dry aquarium in those places where access to it is limited, since the usual aquarium with alive fish requires care, and, therefore, it is necessary to constant access.

2. One of the simplest ideas of the equipment of the house of the dry aquarium with their own hands - the creation of a composition in a small round tank. Such containers are sold in stores for animal products, as a rule, in such stores there are containers of any shape and volume. In the remote aquarium, the composition is created from any submitted materials.

3. The most fiscal option is to use seashells brought from vacation. To clean the shells from the fall and get rid of the unpleasant odor, they are boiled in water or acetic solution. For cleaning white shells, a white solution is suitable for water in a ratio of 1: 1, the shells in it are withstanding several hours. Also to impart brilliance, sea finds are coated with acrylic varnish or paints. Create a seascape in aquarium from such seashells is quite simple - to come up with a composition, process seashells, fall asleep with aquarium with colored sand or pebbles, lay out seashells. It is advisable to equip aquarium with a hermetic lid to avoid dust from entering it. It will extend the beauty and freshness of the whole composition.

4. For the equipment of embedded aquariums, various infringement materials are also suitable. Artificial algae and corals are used, which are sold in pet stores and points of sale of goods for aquarists. Plastic fish are suitable for this purpose, to give the composition of a more natural species, the fish are suspended on the fishing line. Wonderfully complement the composition of the marine star or dried crab, such "inhabitants" aquarium will revive it, but will not require careful care.

5. When decorating the dry aquarium, it is desirable to adhere to two basic rules - select the composition for the interior and adhere to the marine theme. Even if you do not use in the design of aquarium of artificial fish, its subject will be withstanding with the help of shells, sea stones, corals, plastic algae and other elements. Also, much attention should be given to the backlight of the composition.