hoppycalif

I'm thinking seriously about getting a 10 gallon glass tank and putting a divider in the middle to make it 2 - 5 gallon side by side tanks. To do this I would just have a piece of glass cut locally to fit inside the front to back of the tank, and silicone it in place. By doing this I could do some testing I'm interested in, with two tanks getting exactly the same amount of light, same temperature, and virtually the same water. And, if that got too boring I could keep a pair of Betta Splendens in it, without them fighting to death.

Has anyone tried dividing a tank this way? What kind of problems might it cause for me?

mistergreen

People make dividers often for bettas but you'd want holes in the divider for flow from the filter. It might be easier to use acrylics sheet so you can cut and drill yourself.
Some just use those plastic crochet canvas. It has holes in it already.

hoppycalif

I plan to use very small in-tank filters, two of them. At least to start out I plan to use the El Natural method, so I could try it with no filter at all. I don't want the water to flow from one side to the other. I want them to be isolated.

The only potential problems I see are the two extra surfaces to keep clean, and the very small possibility of the front and back bowing out slightly and opening a gap at the junctions. A ten gallon tank doesn't have much bowing out, so I don't think that will happen.

mistergreen

ahh, cutting the glass will be tricky. You'd want to cut maybe 2mm smaller than actual size so you can slide it in.

hoppycalif

Yes, and I just don't do glass cutting for that reason. But, I did find a close by glass store that advertises that they can cut to any size. I want a +/- 1/32 inch tolerance on the front to back dimension, but I haven't yet asked if they can do that. I have never been able to get glass cut to that accuracy before. And, I have no idea what it would cost.

I may just use 1/8" acrylic plastic - cheap and easy to work with. I used to have some of that siliconed to the inside of a glass tank, with no problem, so that's probably the best way to do this.

bertha

Tagged, this seems like a very interesting thread

Michael

OK, I'll ask the obvious question. Why not just buy two 5 gallon tanks and put them side by side under the same light?

hoppycalif

Too simple? No, seriously, one 10 gallon tank costs less than two 5 gallon tanks, and the 10 gallon tank shape lets me use a single light fixture instead of two light fixtures, which could be different. And, I fell in love with the idea about a year ago.

I got the tank at Petco, at $15 (dollar per gallon sale, modern version), and it only cost me $8 for the piece of acrylic to make the divider, and the hood for the tank, with incandescent light sockets, to be used with LED versions of the bulbs, was only $31. So, this meets my goal of a very cheap way to do what I want to do.

Michael

Makes sense!

TAB

remember you have to cut the corners off the bottom of the glass so that it does not cut into the silicone.