Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Hi All, I am currently in the middle (literally) of finishing off a divider for my small tank (1ft) which will house 2 betta's I am recieving today (thanks to someone). The tank is going to be split down the bottom, left and right as opposed to back and front (long and narrow) which will give hte fish aprox 150x150x150 (mm) of area each. I am making a divider out of clear perspex but need a quick answer - i am looking at using a 6.5mm drill bit (yeah i practiced drilling on another piece before i am beginning to attempt to drill the final piece). Will this diameter hole be too large for the fish? I dont want to be coming home from work to look in and find one of my 2 CT's wedged in a hole as it would require a bit of effort to remove them from it. I am happy to step down to a 4mm or whatever is recommended bit to get around this issue, but unfortunately all my other drill bits are sitting at home in the shed instead of here at work. by rights hte smaller the drill bit the less area of pressure is applied which will also lower the risk of splitting the perspex, even though it only takes a little bit of force to do it, I have sticky taped around hte piece to "brace" it for hte drilling... Thanks, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristaml24 Posted May 13, 2010 Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Hi I have recently made perspex dividers for my 3ft tank and found 3mm was quite enough for them - i have housed 3 bettas in my tank and have found it works really well. I can only suggest you go now bigger than 4mm as it would run the risk of your bettas getting caught. Hope this helps you in any way - How many holes were you thinking of drilling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 (edited) Thanks for your answer! just the info i was after. 3mm is definitely easy to be done. Number of holes I have worked out is 10, 3 at the bottom 40mm apart, a row of 4 is above that by 35mm but not directly in line (to fit the 4 in) and again another 3 above that which is the same distance above again.... all the holes are in line with each other on their "rows" all spaced at 40mm apart, which shouldnt hinder any flow of the water too much. Ill be looking into putting a larger hole at the back for the spraybar or so to go through, not 100% on that yet.... please note the pics are with an iphone so bad quality.... the holes are 6.5mm but look bigger on the pictures The piece that will be used in the tank after drilling The test subject for my drilling skill (lol) Edited May 13, 2010 by Force Fed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristaml24 Posted May 13, 2010 Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Yeah i would stick with 3mm - 4mm at most i think I dont have any problem with filtration etc and i dont have to worry bout them hurting themselves or getting stuck Looks good though...... Would be interested to see the final product in the tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks, hopefully it serves its purpose well, if anyone is wondering why I havent marked any of the upper section in the first pic for drilling, its mainly because IF my betta do get bred, the water flow isnt directly going to the top, which would increase the risk of an egg dropping out of hte nest. hopefully i'll have it sorted out as soon as i get home, I am looking at getting a second 1ft tank to put next to this one and get a 2ft light to go over the 2 of them, hopefully its enough to keep them happy. will probably be raised so it doesnt fry them to death though! or LED lights.... not 100% on that part atm pics will come tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 LMAO! walked in tonight after work, drilled the holes - more detail on soon! walked into my room, I have (stupidly) cut the piece too small length wise, height its perfect, length is about 20mm too short (no idea how i stuffed that measurement up actually) So LUCKILY i brought home my spare piece which has about 40mm too much on it but is still the perfect height (hey i dont have to cut it twice (woohoo) going to do basically the same method of holes, but with a bit of a twist! more details to come soon once this piece is cut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristaml24 Posted May 13, 2010 Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Lmao A twist huh? Ooohhhhh lol Ill try get a pic of mine to show you I was quite proud of myself actually! I have a 3FT tank to do now but am only putting one divider in! Looking forward to the pics!!!!! waiting waiting lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 (edited) Alright, since I am waiting for the old boy to get home, to give me a hand with cutting this second piece since the hacksaw isnt here - we have to use the handsaw! (oh noes) I might aswell type something up here. As an experiment, I decided to grab the other piece that was Attempt #1 (stupidity 1, chris 0) and grab my gas soldering iron which has a Bunsen burner basis attachment (I am also a firebug pretty much). while I started attacking one of the points on the piece, i noticed the edge was rounding off quite nicely, so i went around the entire piece and what do you know? the edges when from being sharp, to being safe for a 1yr old to play with! So, I tested to see what would happen if I did it to the drilled out holes on the piece..... THEY ROUNDED!!!! no more "sharp" edge on them meaning there is no need to even look at sand blasting them!!!! My drilling on the failed piece was |---3---4---3---| |-3---4---4---3-| |---3---4---3---| 3mm holes with a 4mm rounding on the top (both sides - to remove the edge but not required now) 4mm holes with a 6mm rounding on the top (both sides - to remove the edge but not required now) Now to work out how I am going to drill this one out! time for the old pen and paper to come out i think! and maybe more of a brain this time LOL I'm quite enjoying this little experiment, it's rather fun!.... And I got to play with fire! WOOHOO! :ph34r: more to come soon! edit - If i didnt have a million fish in my 3ft i'd probably divide it, but yeah nah! i like my community tank :) Edited May 13, 2010 by Force Fed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristaml24 Posted May 13, 2010 Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Hahahahaha Its trial and error - i had 2 attempts - ather my stubborness to let any individual help me with the damn thing lol I would probably bring the od pen and paper out. Its always good when it comes togeather - then you can tell everyome " Yep i did that with my own two hands" or something along the lines hahahaha A community tank for me comes later i think - im having too much fun doing all my handy stuff lol How are you planning on placing the dividers into the tank so they are secure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Mission accomplished. I have drilled the piece out, burnt the holes through to round them off nicely, peeled all the protection stuff off and put it into the tank. it seems to work quite well! they can see each other, the other side of hte tank gets water flow, thuogh Its not as much as I would like, so, I may look into getting a dremel and actually taking out small sections so that both sides get nice flow! its held in by its physical size, its tight on the edge which is how i wanted it which means it actually pressures onto the glass meaning, no movement! its not as perfect as i was hoping, but hey, i will definitely do it better next time!!! (which will be soon lol) pics coming in a few minutes when I put a lamp next to the tank for light just going to reduce how much the filter flows so my female doesnt get blown around like being caught in a cyclone!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 (edited) I have no idea on what the order of these links will be, they are all from my imageshack. but this is the few pics I got...... Edited May 13, 2010 by Force Fed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristaml24 Posted May 13, 2010 Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 WOW turned out awesome! gotta be happy with that im sure your bettas are gunna love thier new home You drilled your holes in a different pattern to mine - think ill have to keep that in mind for my next DIY But awesome job - bet your glad its completed :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks, Yeah rather happy with it, I am going to get a dremel off a mate of mine this weekend and clean up the crooked edge thats currently at the bottom of the tank aswell as cut a 3mm gap out of it thats majority of the length of the piece so it allows even more flow through, but still no way for the fish to get through! one gap at bottom, one at the top, might even cut a C-section out to let my spraybar go straight through it! thanks for the kind words I'm going to be making another soon when I get another tank the same size (to sit next to it) which will house yet another pair LOL there will be even more pics and "tutorials" i guess when I do that one properly :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Fed Posted May 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2010 Well, I went n grabbed a dremell off my mate this morning and only just finished cutting the piece how i wanted to. i straightened the bottom section of it to make it a perfectly square piece, i also went and cut a U shape into the bottom so it lets more flow through the divider.... I will get a picture of it soon, its perfectly fitting too which is great! next one is going to be even better! After my first time with a dremel.... impulse buy coming up after i get back from sydney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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