Divided tank on a budget!

[Creat]

Just made my boys a new home!
Here is a break down of costs and materials notice how thrifty/ cheap I am lol
Tank 20 Long: 32$ on sale
Heater 25-50 gal: already had
Pump: $12 on sale had to spend 50 cents on a extension though
Filter 30 gal external: already had
Dividers: 24$ for a acrylic sheet I also broke a few and had to buy more
Acrylic drill bit: 8$
Tubing: 3$ for 4 feet
Sticky feet: 10$

Basically I made my own dividers and used those little rubber feet to hold them in place so my dividers are removable if I want. The holes on the dividers keep the water flowing so I have no dead zones and keep the water on the surface still so they can build their little nests. The only problem I have had is they like to jump dividers during feeding gah!
the only thing I may work on is dividing the outflow from the pump because I have been finding a few dead spots if the outflow isnt angled just right. And here are pictures...

[TonyK]

I like it. I have a couple of quick questions. What are the feet your using? I would like to see your filter setup and how you are running the pump. I would like to do something like this.

[Creat]

I am using the plastic feet used for drawers and doors I am testing them also to see if they hold up in the water so far so good. And I believe you can see the filter but I will try to get a good photo of the filter soon. The filter is a basic external wisper filter made for 30 gallons that I am running with carbon and huge wad of filter floss. The pump is one I picked up in the broken bin at my local petco it was missing the intake cover so I picked up a extension pipe that fit (the white thing) and put screen over it that I had laying around. The filter pump and heater are all in their own segment of the tank to make it easier and I didnt want an external slump. And the pump moves the water from the filter to the other end of the tank where it is forced through the dividers by the pumps intake.
I hope this helps until I get more photo's !

[LittleBettaFish]

Thanks for the pictures of your set-up. I've been looking at doing this in a 50 gallon tank (except my filter/heater will be at the back) and I wouldn't have thought about using the 'feet' to hold the dividers in place. I might try that idea in one of my 10 gallon tanks.

Was it easy to drill the acrylic? I have Tim the Toolman for a father and sometimes he gets a bit out of control with the power tools. Are you finding that amount of holes provides enough movement through each section? I'm worried one end of my tank is going to be boiling and the other end freezing.

It looks really professional. Much nicer than mesh. It makes me want to go buy some acrylic and experiment

[cajunamy]

I also really like your set up - my only concern is the water level, like you said they like to jump at feeding time, but they can also jump any other time. I would lower your level to about 6 inches below the divider. I am dealing with 2 shredded boys right now, b/c I only had the level 3 inches below, and one jumped.

[Pitluvs]

You could always buy some plastic craft mesh sheets and some report cover end (like the cheaper DIY) and make toppers. You just silicone the cover end to the middle of your craft mesh and pop it onto the top of the acrylic sheet :)

Love your set up! I plan on doing this sometime down the road, but I can't find a 20g long!

[cajunamy]

That would work well with that set up - I had done that once but had a HOB filter going and the mesh got very algae-ey but with this set-up, would work very well.

[Pitluvs]

Originally Posted by cajunamy

That would work well with that set up - I had done that once but had a HOB filter going and the mesh got very algae-ey but with this set-up, would work very well.

You could always cut the mesh away from the HOB area? I know I would anyways lol

[Creat]

Yeah im looking into some covers for the tank. And thanks for the comments guys!
And I suggest 110% buying an acrylic drill bit and spraying the hole as you drill it keeps the plastic from shattering and keeps the holes smooth. And the pump keeps the water flow temp and quality equal.

[bahamut285]

Just a curious question about this... since it's completely acrylic, they see each other (probably several of the others too) almost all the time, completely unimpeded line of sight.

Would they be preoccupied with flaring at each other? My AB bettas are arriving soon and I've got the DIY mesh dividers and I'm just worried that they will overstress X_X