Soundproof aquarium cabinet made of MDF blank, by Vasilis

Description

Axolotls cannot tolerate heat, so we bought a cooler for our aquarium. That thing makes noise and we don't want that. And so I made an aquarium cabinet where the inlet and outlet run through a well-insulated suction box.

DIY: soundproof aquarium cabinet

First of course I measured everything. How big is the filter? How big is the chiller? How big are the rest of the things I want in the cupboard. This resulted in the size of the inner cabinet.

Most of the noise comes from the exhaust. So I made as many twists as possible, taking into account the required dimensions of the exhaust. I used the space that remained to make the inlet meander along insulation material as much as possible.

The I had it delivered to a friend with a set construction company. I worked there for two days. Then I sawed an extra top made of plywood, because MDF is less strong than I thought. And then glued everything together. I then glued the insulation material (3.0 cm thick, and in the engine room 5.0 cm thick) on it.

And then the big question, does it work?

It was still exciting. Is the cabinet strong enough to carry 160 liters of water? It looks like it is.
And what about the sound? That also worked. It is so quiet that I really have to make an effort to hear it.

Custom aquarium cabinet

The final external dimensions, without aquarium and without wheels, are 108.0 cm wide, 66.0 cm high and 55.0 cm deep.