Tank dividing advice

[wombatgirl]

I find myself having to divide one of my 5 gallon tanks when I hadn't expected to do so. (A fish I thought was a goner is responding to aquarium salts, and now I'm short one tank. )

Problem is - it's already all set up, cycled, with stable growing plants and everything. All the directions I see seem to point to dividing new, un-set-up tanks. I don't want to have to rip everything out and start again.

Any suggestions for how to safely divide a tank without having to start from scratch?

[sareena79]

as long as u arent having to use a sealant u should (IMO) be able to slide the divider right in...assuming u have your measurements correct. but Im a newbie so maybe someone else has better advice

[labloverl]

I dived both of my tanks after they had been set up and cycled for several months. With my 10 gallon, I first added one divider, and a few months later I divided it again. I just cupped the males while I played around with getting the dividers to fit, and had no problems. So I now have 3 males in there when I started with just one in the cycled tank. I do not have live, planted, plants though, so maybe that is where you see your problem?

[Foofykitty]

I had my females in divided 5 gallon tanks while i was cycling my 20 gallon and i just used plastic canvas cut to fit in the tank and a few suction cups to keep them in place. Pretty cheap and not too difficult.