[DigityDog70]

Hi All,

I picked up a 55 Gal tank at PetCo (a dollar a gal. sale, pretty hard to resist). I plan on using this as a sump for my 180 Gal. tank.


Has anyone actually tried to use acrylic baffles, siliconed to a glass tank and had problems? I see two camps out there and I see some people with sumps that have been working for several years, acrylic baffles in a glass tank, without issue.

If you have tried this and actually had an issue, I'd like to know. Otherwise, I'm pretty confident I'll be moving forward and using acrylic or maybe even Lexan for my baffles.

Thanks!

Fish Room Bum

Bump:

 

[amnoor]

I just built my first 29gal sump and did a ton of research on the bonding of acrylic to silicone. In short, there is no bonding (ie you could easily slide your fingernail between the acrylic and silicone. However, if you use a large volume of construction-grade silicone (GE SDS1200 or Momentive), it should theoretically hold the acrylic in place for the life of the project. You always have the chance of a baffle failing over time, especially with weaker silicones.

I ended up getting my local glass shop to cut baffles for me; it ended up being relatively inexpensive and I have complete confidence the baffles will stay in place forever.

tl;dr: you can do it but it is always a potential failure mode that doesn't exist with glass.

 

[ProndFarms]

Hi All,

I picked up a 55 Gal tank at PetCo (a dollar a gal. sale, pretty hard to resist). I plan on using this as a sump for my 180 Gal. tank.


Has anyone actually tried to use acrylic baffles, siliconed to a glass tank and had problems? I see two camps out there and I see some people with sumps that have been working for several years, acrylic baffles in a glass tank, without issue.

If you have tried this and actually had an issue, I'd like to know. Otherwise, I'm pretty confident I'll be moving forward and using acrylic or maybe even Lexan for my baffles.

Thanks!

Fish Room Bum

Bump:

Years ago I had a 55g sump with acrylic baffles on my saltwater tank. The silicone will NOT bond to the acrylic, rather you use the silicone to 'pinch' the acrylic between it so that it doesn't move. I had three baffles installed and ran the system this way for about a year before upgrading, but I see absolutely no reason this would be an issue.