So I had an idea today of making a tank inside on my 55 attached to the glass by suction cups. The back and left side would be black or painted black. Reason being I want to breed a small batch of betas again as I did earlier this year. I was thinking maybe a 3 gallon build. But where can I get black acrylic and clear acrylic sheets at and can I order them to the dimensions I need already pre cut?
The will also be a hospital tank once my breeding fun is over again so it will have a seperate filtration from my main tank as well. Small spray bar or sponge filter, I thought It would be a neat project to do.
I know a few companies produce hang on boxes, I got a decent sized one with an air lift system from amazon a while ago. A series of these with maybe a poret baffle system would let you divide and seperate adults and fry, while also only needing one extra outlet.
If nothing else, check out these boxes, see how they work, flow, etc. Bettas need super low flow as fry from what I have read, too much flow could stress them or dump them into the main tank.
Because I don't have the counter room for another tank right now, and I was specific dimensions on the acrylic I want to put together.
And yeah the baby need a low filter disturbed water, the reason I lost all my fry was because of no filter whatsoever even doing water changes didn't help.
My tank is on top of a solid oak dresser so placing it in the stands footprint is not an option, and to the right of my 55 is a fluval spec housing my male beta, and inside my 55 is my two females. The adult female is ready to breed though, full of eggs and showing vertical bars, my male has built his nest as well and they always flare at each other. And then the female submissive and floats with head down. All I need is a spawning area, nothing huge and nothing huge for a grow out just big enough to spawn them
There are a bunch of locations for TAP plastics all over the bay area, I'm pretty sure they will cut to size and can be fairly precise (not certain, as I haven't ordered any sheet plastic from them).
If the water level is going to be the same on both sides, there won't really be any difference in pressure, so you could (I think?) use whatever thickness you feel like.
You need Weldon 3,4 or 16 for acrylic. Acrylic panels can be set in place and siliconed to glass but once you fill the tank, the silicone is worthless and will fail. Try pulling two pieces of glass apart that are siliconed together. Its a work out or impossible. Now try pulling two acrylic pieces siliconed together. A toddler can pull them apart. As mentioned, acrylic cement is not a glue, its a solvent weld. The reaction of the glue temporarily melts the acrylic and makes a chemical bonded weld therefore giving you a seamless joint.
You need to use the right product for acrylic. Silicone does not stick very well to acrylic, not at all safe for a stand alone tank. Might hold up for the tank-in-a-tank set up. No water pressure to blow it apart.
The chemical used for acrylic actually melts the acrylic a tiny bit, then it re-sets, and the pieces are joined in something more like a weld, not a glue technique.
There are places you can research the optimum material thickness for various tank sizes. Start looking with search terms like 'build an aquarium'.
I don't plan on using this tank outside as a stand alone aquarium for quite a while as I have no room. So being there won't be any outward or inward pressure because it will be inside the tank I'm assuming the silicone will hold. This is just being used for a spawning area until my fry are about 1 month old and then I am using a divider in my 55 for a grow out.
But where can I find the solvent for acrylic later when I'm ready
This may sound like a strange idea but why not buy a 2.5 or 5.5 gallon and take the rims off, and one side and the back off, silicone it into the corner of your 55? Or just take the back off if you want it in the middle. Kind of like a big glass overflow box for a sump without it being an overflow. Seems like a very cheap and easy way to go, if I am understanding your goal correctly.
If you go to a plastics store (TAP plastics, or someplace else if there is a different one closer to you), they should have the solvents necessary to glue/weld acrylic and maybe a few other types of plastic.
I'll be buying the solvent next go around as I have had to rubber band the bottom to the side on one side. Other than that everything it good with it.
I would have bought the 2.5 but I wanted something closer to a 5 to put in my tank. So I have a 4 gallon now that I built plus I can use it stand alone when I need it for my fire belly toad tadpoles. Win win haha.
Aside from that the build came out clean. It's working for its intended purposes and that's all thank to you guys.
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