Baffle Problems Help

stimpy4242

stimpy4242

Member
Well my baffles busted today. They are lexan baffles in a glass tank and I was using aquarium silicon the first time...is there something else i should try? Why did they bust? Should I just use glass and if so won't it not be very strong since it is not tempered?
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
acrilic and glass have no common adhisive method you must use glass with glass + silicone plexie with plexie + weld on sorry about your tank
 
stimpy4242

stimpy4242

Member
wait, say that again so I can understand it. You know there are tons of posts on this site with people doing glass to acrylic...and I have hear a few say what you said....so what is the answer...i will do whatever is exactly right, but my thought would be going to lowes to get cut glass would not give me glass that is strong enough for baffles to endure the weight of all the water in the fuge pressing against it plus the sand bed and rubble and such...if this is not the case, what thickness of glass should i get and what should i use to bond it? I will do what is going to work forever.
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
I am (hold on to your chair) a sign guy, get ...cuz my screen name is sign guy............... youll get it latter. any way that and being a sales person for a plastic company I know for a fact that the two can not hold for long. there are some situations where some one has pulled it off but its not worth the chanse. Here is what happens plexi has a super smooth surface so sillicone can nat get a good hold onto the surface of the plasic. glass is somewhat poarse pluss it has a more aggrresive surface. plexie can only be bonded by melting the compound of the plexi and allowing it to evaparate as one with resinbond (weld on) Try as you may you cant melt gass and let it evaprate together. so your best bet is to find a local glass shop and buy some of there scrap glass
 
stimpy4242

stimpy4242

Member
I am still working on the sign guy thing, with that being said I need specifics. Does the glass need to be tempered? Because it is difficult to cut that glass, haha, or can it just be regular glass? What should the thickness be? I will have about 25-30 gallons of water pressing on the baffle...should i get the pieces cut and then have them tempered? I am just throwing stuff out there...
 
trainfever

trainfever

Active Member
I built my sump/refugium out of an old 20l tank using 1/4" plexiglass as baffles. Been usig it for 2 years witn no problems. The key is to make supports for the baffles. Cut 1/2" strips of plexiglass as high as your baffles and silicone them to the sides of your tank. You only need them on the opposite side of the water pressure. So if the water was flowing from left to right, you would put the supports to the right of the baffles. This gives extra support and a better finished appearance without all the globs of silicone.
 
larryndana

larryndana

Active Member
Originally Posted by stimpy4242
What is the best and strongest and safe for fish silicon to use for glass to glass?
Bump, i'd like to know as well.
 
anubisxero

anubisxero

Member
i added a baffle to my wetdry to convert to a fuge and took something from wetwebmedia. The pressure locking sump baffles. Used thick acrylic and the weather stripping type stuff. Cut the acrylic to be just a bit smaller than it needed to be to fit snug and then put the stripping on the outsides that would be touching the sides of the sump and voila. Nice snug fit and sends the water over the baffle.
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
I don't know if the All-Glass sililcone is stronger or not, but it's the same silicone they use to construct their tanks with.
I used 1/4" baffles to make my baffles, but 3/8" should be ok too. With water almost covering both sides there's not much pressure on the baffle. The glass used to make the sides of the actual tank is the same thickness.
 
stimpy4242

stimpy4242

Member
Well i hope sign guy was right because I just spent 85 dollars today getting glass cut for baffles with rounded edges that are 3/16"
 
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