hoppycalif

Is it better to trim the divider corners, or cut the sloppy silicone at the tank joint? As I understand it, it is the silicone between the end of the front/back glass and the bottom glass that seals the joints. Trimming the acrylic divider corners is certainly the easy way to do it.

hoppycalif

This is my new 10 gallon Aqueon, Petco sales bargain tank, with an All Glass top from Amazon, in which I will use two of these bulbs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I tried the 40 watt equivalent bulbs, but only got 23 PAR light intensity, in empty tank. I want about 30-35 PAR. I should have the brighter bulbs tomorrow. The stand is one I made about 10 years ago, for a 15 gallon high tank, with the same footprint.

TAB

the divider.

if you are using acrylic for the divider, make sure you have a slight gap. acrylic expands as it absorbs water. which is ~3% by weight. if its a "pressure fit, it will crack a tank/pop a joint.

about a 1/16" gap is fine for a 10.

hoppycalif

I have been wondering about that. I knew acrylic expands from water absorption, but I didn't think it was that much. Maybe I need to look at the cost of using a glass divider instead. I can see a leak developing if I use acrylic, especially if I drain the tank and leave it dry for a few months. Thanks for the heads up!

Would a two piece divider, overlapping in the middle, prevent the expansion from pushing the tank glass front and back? I'm not sure how I would stop leakage through the overlap - much more thought needed!

EDIT: Some googleing and I found that acrylic expands around 1% over about a month and a half, but the rate of expansion has dropped much lower during that time. So a 10 inch dimension would become about 10.1 inches. That suggests that a divider between two glass panels should be about 1/8 inch shorter than the gap between the panels, or 1/16 inch all around it. That should work out fairly easily, and it lets the silicone absorb the expansion. Am I missing something?

hoppycalif

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 is 60 watt equivalent, 6 watt actual LED bulbs. They are giving me 30 PAR at the bottom of the empty tank, so they are perfect! I didn't even know these bulbs existed until I started looking on Amazon for LED bulbs that would fit the hood I have. I have no idea how long they will last, but they give very nice white light, and good intensity, with 82 CRI which is pretty good too.

hoppycalif

Acrylic divider now installed, silicone sealed, and setting up for a day. It isn't a difficult job, but strong hands help when you squeeze silicone out of a small tube! I cut the bottom corners off the divider, and put notches in at the top corners to clear the frame ledge, and allow for expansion. $20 worth of masking tape, silicone and acetone at hardware store - a place I could spend all day in.



Obvious "amateur hour" project! I may try to scrape off some of the excess silicone.

hoppycalif

The tank is full of water now, sitting outside on the deck. If the acrylic expands and cracks the glass, which I don't think can happen, it won't dump the water on the floor. I'm thinking about keeping it filled for 24 hours, but I may make it longer. No rush, since I won't be setting it up until I move, in about 3-4 months. I did this now, because I won't have any space to do this type of work where I will be next.

hoppycalif

In 48 hours, no leaks, no bulging anywhere, and no problems. So, I drained it, brought it back indoors, and scraped off a lot of the over spread silicone. Looks pretty good to me, for what I want. Now, to buy a pair of Hagen Elite mini filters, and I will be ready to set it up when I move in a couple or so months. First step will be to scape both halves the same, same substrate (natural soil with pool filter sand on top), same plants, etc. That will verify that I can get the same results with two independent tanks.

hoppycalif

Now that I am in my new apartment I can begin to experiment with this divided tank. I now have both sides with the same substrate, Black Beauty potting soil, capped with SafeTSorb, about a half inch of the soil with about 3/4 inch of cap. Both sides have a Hagen Elite filter, set to minimum flow. The light fixture has the same bulb on each side. I planted an Echinororus Kleiner Prinz on each side, with about a dozen dwarf Sagittaria Subulata, and a couple of bunches of floating plants - Salvinia Minima. The two sword plants aren't quite the same size, but that shouldn't matter. Now, I have to see if I can get both sides to grow equally well, otherwise any comparison test would mean nothing. I guess that about 2 months should work for that. I will start a new thread when I get ready to actually do any testing.

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Michael

Cool!