A random thought came in to my head this morning while staring at my tank and thinking of my dream fish room. Is it possible to remove two end panes from an aquarium and silicone the tanks together to make a larger tank? Lets say as you do this you use one of the pieces that you took off the side and lay it over where they connect in the middle on the bottom after you silicone it all together and then silicone that in place as kind of a patch or something. Let me know what you all think. I'm not in the process of doing it or anything just curious is all.
Two Tanks Together
- Thread starter Dexmaster
- Start date
CWO4GUNNER
USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
Maybe, only becasue I haven't researched the idea but had the same thoughts with my twin 80's. I think the safest way would be to join them with one 1/2 thick side panel with a 5" hole cut in the middle for passage and maybe a gate you could open and close for separation. But a custom water bridge would probubly be the most proven method.
It would probably work with some sort of large patch pievce on the bottom and side seams. I would not trust just a vertical butt joint of glass an silicone without some sort of additional bracing. The other option is to just put two tanks end to end and use a large water bridge to connect them.
CWO4GUNNER
USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
Actually now that I think about it, you would want to place both tanks in an cage frame made welded steel angle around all corners using the plastic decorative frame as a buffer for suspension and contraction differences. Then you could install the patch. Another way would be just to leave both tanks separate and cut two individual 5" side panel holes with a removable expansion joint like an accordion or flexible reinforce big hose that would never lose siphon.
this was similar to my thoughts, have the tanks slightly apart and then build a glass block (or rectangle) that would be open ended, have a hole on the ends of both tanks then silicone the glass bridge between the 2 tanks. Adhere a piece (strip) of glass that would be siliconed to both the glass on the tank and the bridge for added seal & support. you have a habitrail for your fish.
CWO4GUNNER
USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
Another way that is much more provocative is to buy a CL aquarium large enough to contain both of the two you plan to join. Then simply invert them both into the larger tank and raise them both up on acrylic pillars so that the water remains in both tanks and they are supported 80% above the larger tanks water line using a dosing pump and bulkhead fitting at the tops of both to prevent air from collecting at the top out of solution. Sort of like a two tower sky scraper LOL.
People who usually do this have the tanks built into a wall,and use drywall to hide the joint between the 2 tanks.It gives the appearance of 2 viewing windows.