Divided Floor

[deranged chipmunk]

ok, time for the last floorplan option, or at least the last one i am going to cover in this thread. let's call it the divided base. it's pretty simple really. and i apologize up front that i do not have any pics on this one. it's fairly straightforward though. all you need for this is a piece of plexi, acrylic, glass, lexan, ect, cut to the depth of your tank and the height at which you want your water lever to be (ish). this will separate the tank into 2 distinct sides. an aquatic side and a terrestrial side. all you need to do is make sure all surfaces are clean, then silicone the glass into the bottom of the tank using 100% silicone. after the silicone cures fully. fill up your water section. let this sit for a few days. days, not hours. sometimes it takes a while for the pressure of the water to find the weak spot, if there is one. if, after a few days (i would think a week would be good), the terrestrial section is still dry, go ahead and finish out the taank. but, if there are any leaks, tear it apart and start over, making sure all silicone is cleaned off. DO NOT just add more silicone on top of the siicone. THIS WILL NOT WORK. silicone is amazing stuff, it sticks to almost anything. anything EXCEPT silicone. i'm going to say this again, because i tell people this over and over. if you have a leak, start over. adding more silicone is just going to add to your frustration. yes, i know it sucks that you spent all that time siliconing and water testing, but, better to find the failure now than swamping out your terrestrial area later and then wondering what to do.


obviously, every tank is different and every tank can be built in numerous ways. i just wanted to cover the basic and most popular ones.