Acrylic dividers siliconed in

[FishieKeeper429]

I bought a 10g tank for my betta breeders and instead of just buying 2 dividers (cause of my 3 fish), I decided to get two pieces of acrylic, cut them down to size, drill filtration holes in them and use aquarium silicone to glue them into the tank.
Each fish will get 3.3g.

I'm currently waiting for the silicone to cure then I will put in the water, filtration and heater. I'm excited!

 

[TMRC Exotics]

Looks good!

 

[FishieKeeper429]

Looks good!

Thanks!

 

[TMRC Exotics]

Will be great betta homes, much nicer than bowls or 1 gallon tanks, congrats.

 

[Reefer James]

Spray paint it too!

 

[Nils]

Looks good. I might be wrong on this, but can't the bettas see each other through the acrylic? If they are male betas then u=it would probably be a problem. Correct me if I am wrong though.

 

[FishieKeeper429]

They are female so I'm not too worried about them seeing each other. The dividers are simply a precaution because I know of some female who are very aggressive with other females.

 

[coralbandit]

Make sure when you fill the tank to ad even , small amounts of water to each section or the silicone can fail(ask me how I know).
Most silicones won't "bite"to acrylic very well at all.
That being said it should work for your purpose if you keep the levels even in all sections , which should happen anyways if you did drill flow holes in the dividers.

 

[PB_Smith]

I agree about being cautious about the silicone giving. Be sure to run beads on both sides of each partition.
One other thing to do is the scuff and scratch the acrylic or even drill some holes along the edge where the silicone will go so it squishes through the holes and acts like a rivet.




but this caught my eye;


"he covers his consciousness with menial things and fills his subconscious with dark and deep unpleasantries"

 

[FishieKeeper429]

I agree about being cautious about the silicone giving. Be sure to run beads on both sides of each partition.
One other thing to do is the scuff and scratch the acrylic or even drill some holes along the edge where the silicone will go so it squishes through the holes and acts like a rivet.




but this caught my eye;


"he covers his consciousness with menial things and fills his subconscious with dark and deep unpleasantries"

I did that to the sides and can you elaborate on the beads more cause I haven't heard of that but I'm interested

 

[coralbandit]

but this caught my eye;


"he covers his consciousness with menial things and fills his subconscious with dark and deep unpleasantries"

That is a pretty original background!
Does anyone know if bettas like to read?

 

[PB_Smith]

I did that to the sides and can you elaborate on the beads more cause I haven't heard of that but I'm interested

bead as in the seam of silicone, that is another term for it.

drill holes about every inch or two along the edge of the acrylic baffles/dividers close enough to the edge so they will be covered by the silicone seam.
Then make sure the silicone goes through the holes when you put the silicone on and when it dries it will be like little silicone rivets holding the piece of acrylic in between the two silicone seams.
In order for the acrylic to come out you would have to cut the silicone at those holes.

 

[PB_Smith]

I know this is a little late but you could also get some strips of glass cut for you, about 1/2" wide x 1" short of the inside height of the tank. you will need a total of 12 strips. Use 1/4" thick glass.
attached the strips to the glass two at a time next to each other flat against the tanks sides with just enough room for the acrylic sheet slide in between them.
do that on both sides for each partition.
you only have to use silicone at the top near the rim and then at the bottom below the gravel line to hide it.
you will also have to cut notches in the top frame/rim most likely as well, but just the lip on the inside, not the entire frame.

then you can slide the dividers in and out as desired for different situations.

or you could swap them out for dark ones if you need to put males in there..

 

[FishieKeeper429]

I know this is a little late but you could also get some strips of glass cut for you, about 1/2" wide x 1" short of the inside height of the tank. you will need a total of 12 strips. Use 1/4" thick glass.
attached the strips to the glass two at a time next to each other flat against the tanks sides with just enough room for the acrylic sheet slide in between them.
do that on both sides for each partition.
you only have to use silicone at the top near the rim and then at the bottom below the gravel line to hide it.
you will also have to cut notches in the top frame/rim most likely as well, but just the lip on the inside, not the entire frame.

then you can slide the dividers in and out as desired for different situations.

or you could swap them out for dark ones if you need to put males in there..

That's a good idea, I might do that for my male tank which will have black acrylic dividers. The female divided is already glued in so I can't do that this time. Definitely will for the male divided tho! Thanks!

 

[FishieKeeper429]

bead as in the seam of silicone, that is another term for it.

drill holes about every inch or two along the edge of the acrylic baffles/dividers close enough to the edge so they will be covered by the silicone seam.
Then make sure the silicone goes through the holes when you put the silicone on and when it dries it will be like little silicone rivets holding the piece of acrylic in between the two silicone seams.
In order for the acrylic to come out you would have to cut the silicone at those holes.

I did that on the sheets

 

[FishieKeeper429]

Update: adding sand and seeded filter media tonight. I washed the tank out and cleaned up the excess silicone!

 

[FishieKeeper429]

That is a pretty original background!
Does anyone know if bettas like to read?

Yeah XD I'm a writer and I had a chalk board lying around so I wrote a piece and put it behind the board.

 

[FishieKeeper429]

Adding water with a siphon

 

[FishieKeeper429]

Added filtration, heater and LEDs! Tomorrow I get go decor shopping *evil laughter*

 

[Navcab4422]

Looks good, I have an idea similar to this for my 40B