 | mobile - desktop |
|
| mobile - desktop |
|
 |
 |
News & Events:
|
Posted by Slaytonp on April 29, 2003 at 21:01:01:
In Reply to: Attn. Slaytonp posted by bdimas on April 29, 2003 at 18:36:40:
:How did you get the glass partitions in your paludarium to stay in place without the water pressure knocking them over? By the way, it looks great!
I stood each one in place and ran a bead of silicon on all edges where it contacted either the aquarium glass or another divider and pressed this well into the angles. When they are all in place, they support each other and are geometrically stable. The silicon seal is quite strong. When the water is added, the pressures on either side of the dividers are relatively even. Where there are long sections of glass dividing the terrarium section itself, these are supported by the edges of the perpendicular dividers coming from the back. (There is very little soil behind the long dividers to support them, as the terrarium is terraced up from below the water level. This gives the illusion of a much broader width of water when looking straight on. The water appears to be flowing against a bank of soil and vegetation behind where it actually runs, and can't be appreciated in the photos). The drops in level from one section to another are only 2 inches, so water pressure is the same on both sides except for these 2 inches from the top. The edges can be overlapped properly so that the long piece of glass on the back of the river run supports the first divider, etc. However, even the slanted piece of glass on the left front which has no such support except for the silicon attachments is secure, even though it is essentially just hanging there. This was an unnecessary division as it turned out. I had intended to let the water run over this and drop into a 6 inch deep pump area, but it worked better to allow the water to stay at 8 inches the entire way and provided a great place for fry to hide in the rock hiding the pump from view. I'll draw a (crude) diagram and sent it to you as an e-mail attachment for clarification, as I tend to get wordy and confusing when explaining. It's actually very simple (or I could never have done it).
There are several things I would do differently now perhaps, mostly in design, but essentially it is water tight and quite stable. I don't like the visibility of the silicon joints from the front, but don't know how that could be amended. It has been running for over a year without leaks. I used the same quaility and thickness of glass as the basic aquarium, which is relatively heavy tempered glass.
Patty
