New Dividers, And Glue Question

[constantine03]

I made new dividers. I wanted to be able to remove all the substrate from my tanks, so I went to Lowes and had a piece of slate cut into 1 inch strips the size of my tanks. I used silicone to seal dividers onto the slate, and then I cut slits into the top of the tank to secure the mesh extending from the binders at the top. So far, they're working pretty well. Question is- is there a stronger glue other than silicone that I could use on these? Some of the binders on others I've made for other tanks have come loose and are coming off the slate. I need something a bit stronger to make sure they really stick. Thoughts?

 

[azulfire24]

hmm dont know of any glue that would be strong but not get the fish sick.. are you using aquarium silicon or just any old brand? when i did somthing similar with my tanks i used a '' special aquarium silicon,, thats what the guy at lowes called it '' and that junk was sealed so tight i endedup cutting it off with a razor blade,,, got my finger good too thouigh............ any way is there a difference between the types ??

 

[constantine03]

I used aquarium silicone, yes. It's been very strong for the other things I've used it for....I think it's just sticking slate and plastic together...not working the best.

 

[azulfire24]

i might just be the texture of the slate.. alot of very old fish tanks actually used slate on the bottem cause it was easy to clean ,, quote my dad,, i still have one of my dads old ones it has slate on the bottom and it is very slick,, easy to wipe up the poo, gosh the tank is probally 25 to 30 years old . older then me actually... they dont make things the way they used to hahaha.

 

[devon_charm]

Have you tries scoring / fuffing up both surfaces? This will give the silicone a better grip.

It looks great BTW, a great idea

 

[AngelOfDeath]

it looks pretty safe

 

[leec]

Hi Constantine03

Great idea with the dividers. I have built a custom tank for my fiancee's turtle, with a water section and a ramp up to a dry land section (1000 litres when full). I am also building custom barracks for the betta boys. You can imagine the mistakes, sweat and tears along the way. As you prob know, aquarium silicone is normal silicone without harmful chemicals that leach into the water even when cured (phenols I think) that would harm fish. Silicone is meant to simply 'glue' or bond two glass surfaces together, not bond them by a chemical reaction between the two glass sheets. I have found though that silicone (I used interpet) does not strongly bond other materials, like perspex to glass, or perspex to perspex, or plastic etc. They can be pulled apart again quite easy. The smoothness of the surfaces doesnt matter, as it doesnt need etches or gripholes to strongly bond two smooth pieces of glass - the tanks I have made can have 4 men pulling on each side of the tank with no give. I didnt make em good, the silicone is just great with glass. To sum up the waffle, I reckon that silicone only works properly on glass, that may be why you are finding other materials are not staying put. Hope this helps

Lee

 

[tattoo]

hi just thought id show how id hold my deviders in
i use these which seem to work fine for me (added bonus easy to remove too)

i know its not what you were asking but just how i do it so thought id share it
i use 8 in bare tanks and 4 in tanks with gravel in (gravel holds bottom in place an suckers at top)
other wise i use 8 ... 4 top .... 4 bottom ........

 

[constantine03]

Lee, thanks for the information. Does anyone know of any other type of glue that could work in a tank?

Tattoo, I used suction cups before trying this way. The problem is that they seem to come loose a bit too easily, or create small unwanted gaps. My beautiful little HM DT guy is showing the effects from it. His brother slipped through when once came loose, and tore his fins apart within 5 minutes. It's a good thing it didn't happen overnight, or I may not have him still. Thanks for the tip though. I'm glad it works out for you! I'm also trying to go for a more aesthetically appealing look. I'm not going to lie, the slate looks sexy in the tank. Very sleek and modern with nice crisp edges (not sharp-- no one freak out-- none of the fish will hurt themselves on these! ). I just like the clean look. I'm very picky. You'll notice that everything I used is the same color as well. Since I don't have a fish room, the tanks are part of my decor, so they have to look nice. I'm sure it's hard to tell from the pictures, as the stand looks shady, but it really is lovely.

 

[guppy_man]

Have you tries scoring / fuffing up both surfaces? This will give the silicone a better grip.

It looks great BTW, a great idea

I'd try what devon charm has said, just get a small rock and stab the slate not too hard as you may split it, this will cause small indentations that will be rough, giving the glue something to grab on to, or use an extra amount of glue and put some pressure where the contact is