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Step 3The solution to the problem.
After going to all of the home improvement and pet stores in the area, I finally decided to use perforated vinyl siding. There were no other options that I could figure out in a timely manner.
I thought of the siding right away, but I was looking for an alternative.
I thought that vinyl siding would look bad, and I didn't want to buy a giant piece of it since I only needed about 2 feet of material.
There was some good news, though:
The siding fits easily in the channels that came with the divider set.
The vinyl siding has less holes than the clear plastic, but the holes are larger, and both sides are fairly smooth, so I didn't need to polish any of the holes to get rid of rough edges.
The siding is more rigid, so I didn't need to use the top and bottom stabilizer pieces that came with the original tank dividers, and it ended up looking much better than I thought it would.
The area of the vinyl siding with the holes in it was wider than 10", so
it was easy to cut out the size that I needed and keep plenty of holes for water circulation.
My finished pieces were about 9 3/4" wide, by 11" tall.
After I had the pieces cut, I made sure to clean them thoroughly with warm water while rubbing them down with a mild abrasive sponge. Then I rinsed them several times, also using the sponge.
Hopefully that removed any residue that may have been there from shipping and sitting in Home Depot.
I think that they can get a glimpse of each other once in awhile, but none of them have gone into full fighting posture since I installed the new vinyl dividers.
It turns out that the aquarium looks even better than the vases did. The flat pieces of glass
don't distort the image of the fish, and you can get fairly good pictures of them as well.
*** Success ! ***
Now there are 3 happy bettas, and 2 happy betta owners in the house !
****
Here is a picture update with some aquarium additions and matching style backgrounds. These fish are very inquisitive, and they love having something to look at.
*** UPDATE 3/15/2012 ***
I have decided to add the following information to the end of this instructable regarding PVC, which is what the soffit is made from, since my comment in the comment sections seems to get missed a lot!
--------------------------
Hey all, I just got an answer back from Owens-Corning, the makers of the siding that I used in this instructable: "I am writing you regarding your question around the possibility of vinyl leeching once it is exposed to water for long periods of time. The vinyl siding or soffit in this case by its nature of chemical bonds will not breakdown when exposed to water, or leech any materials used in the manufacturing of the vinyl. Once the materials used to manufacture vinyl are combined the bonds of the material can not be broken down, hence the reason vinyl is 100 percent recyclable. In fact vinyl is used as a liner and cap for many landfills because it is inert and stable."
--------------------------
The only time this material can be hazardous after its manufacture, as far as I know, is when it is burned, which would be difficult if it's in your fish tank!
I thought of the siding right away, but I was looking for an alternative.
I thought that vinyl siding would look bad, and I didn't want to buy a giant piece of it since I only needed about 2 feet of material.
There was some good news, though:
The siding fits easily in the channels that came with the divider set.
The vinyl siding has less holes than the clear plastic, but the holes are larger, and both sides are fairly smooth, so I didn't need to polish any of the holes to get rid of rough edges.
The siding is more rigid, so I didn't need to use the top and bottom stabilizer pieces that came with the original tank dividers, and it ended up looking much better than I thought it would.
The area of the vinyl siding with the holes in it was wider than 10", so
it was easy to cut out the size that I needed and keep plenty of holes for water circulation.
My finished pieces were about 9 3/4" wide, by 11" tall.
After I had the pieces cut, I made sure to clean them thoroughly with warm water while rubbing them down with a mild abrasive sponge. Then I rinsed them several times, also using the sponge.
Hopefully that removed any residue that may have been there from shipping and sitting in Home Depot.
I think that they can get a glimpse of each other once in awhile, but none of them have gone into full fighting posture since I installed the new vinyl dividers.
It turns out that the aquarium looks even better than the vases did. The flat pieces of glass
don't distort the image of the fish, and you can get fairly good pictures of them as well.
*** Success ! ***
Now there are 3 happy bettas, and 2 happy betta owners in the house !
****
Here is a picture update with some aquarium additions and matching style backgrounds. These fish are very inquisitive, and they love having something to look at.
*** UPDATE 3/15/2012 ***
I have decided to add the following information to the end of this instructable regarding PVC, which is what the soffit is made from, since my comment in the comment sections seems to get missed a lot!
--------------------------
Hey all, I just got an answer back from Owens-Corning, the makers of the siding that I used in this instructable: "I am writing you regarding your question around the possibility of vinyl leeching once it is exposed to water for long periods of time. The vinyl siding or soffit in this case by its nature of chemical bonds will not breakdown when exposed to water, or leech any materials used in the manufacturing of the vinyl. Once the materials used to manufacture vinyl are combined the bonds of the material can not be broken down, hence the reason vinyl is 100 percent recyclable. In fact vinyl is used as a liner and cap for many landfills because it is inert and stable."
--------------------------
The only time this material can be hazardous after its manufacture, as far as I know, is when it is burned, which would be difficult if it's in your fish tank!
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Hey all, I just got an answer back from Owens-Corning, the makers of the siding that I used in this instructable: "I am writing you regarding your question around the possibility of vinyl leeching once it is exposed to water for long periods of time. The vinyl siding or soffit in this case by its nature of chemical bonds will not breakdown when exposed to water, or leech any materials used in the manufacturing of the vinyl. Once the materials used to manufacture vinyl are combined the bonds of the material can not be broken down, hence the reason vinyl is 100 percent recyclable. In fact vinyl is used as a liner and cap for many landfills because it is inert and stable."
--------------------------
The only thing I'm thinking is not good is the floating pellet-type foods. I had a Betta die on me and it looked like he was plugged up. When I watched the Betta feed, they attacked the pellets as soon as they hit the water, thus eating a mostly dry pellet. I think it may not moisten enough in their digestive tract which may result in a blockage. This, of course, is just my opinion, but I've switched to flake and haven't had an incident since!
The only metal items are the clips that hold the dividers in place, and those are stainless steel!
So anyways... I want another one. Haha. I got the Eclipse 5 Hexagon tank because I needed something that would fit in my room. I kinda wanted the standard rectangle they had in the same brand, but again, I needed something that was a space saver. So now I have this oddly shaped tank and I want to split it so I can add another Betta. This makes me wish I hadn't given away my 10 gallon tank a couple months ago though... oh well.
Anyways, I had no real point to this comment. I just wanted to thank you for the ideas. I saw a Betta at Wally World that I want. Most of them looked very sickly though. *sigh* Do you have any suggestions on a better place to buy a Betta? Petsmart's seemed okay and I know there is a Petsupermarket nearby. Btw, your tank looks really great! :)
Thanks for the positive comments !
I actually got mine at Wal-Mart... One tip that I got from a small pet store: Get a male betta that isn't big and flowery. The fancier they are, the older they are. If you get a smaller one that almost looks like a female, you will get to see it grow and get bigger due to your efforts ! Another tip that has been working for me: I pre-soak the pellets before putting them in for the fish. One of my betta's got a bloated belly from hogging down the mostly dry pellets, but since I've been pre-soaking them (in a thoroughly cleaned plastic soda bottle cap), that problem has never happened again. I just dip a little of the tank water into the cap, place the pellets in the cap for a couple of minutes, then suck them up with an eyedropper and pop them in for each betta.
You may be able to use my divider method in your hexagon tank, depending on its width. You can cut the piece as long as you want ..
An alternative would be to get a piece of plexiglass cut to the width and height that you need, then drill and de-burr it yourself. The clear divider may or may not work, though, depending on how aggressive your fish are.