acrylic baffles in glass tank

[eugreef]

This article describes using acrylic baffles in a glass tank using EPDM strip:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i1/Baffles/bafflesart.htm

I was wondering how well acrylic baffling will hold against glass especially for a raised baffle.

[Two Bit Scooter]

Regular aquarium silicone adhesive caulking works just fine to bond acrylic and glass. Even if you need to change things around later it's not that much work to scrape the old stuff off and start over.

[SoCalBoo]

I've done both the EPMD way and the silicone way. Here's my take:

Supposedly, silicone will fail with acrylic down the road. But I've never had it happen, even with a few years of acrylic baffles in glass tanks.

The time to cut the baffles is the same regardless, so the only time savings would be silicone vs. EPMD, and they take about the same time.

So you are down to whether the possible failure of silicone is a worry for you or not. If so, do EPMD. If not, I'd personally do the silicone, since I trust it a bit more with glass flex and keeping the baffles in place.

Expense wise, the EPMD is a bit more expensive, but unless you are doing a ton of baffles, one pack from HD will get it done, and the difference is maybe $5 or so.

[leorleor]

I siliconed an acrylic baffle into a 5 gallon (so very small) glass sump, laid it on thick toward the corners on the lo water side, had no problems. Nice link, thanks. He makes the epmd look much simpler and cleaner than my silicone did, and I did want to move mine later. Thinking i'll do it that way next time.

[SoCalBoo]

I siliconed an acrylic baffle into a 5 gallon (so very small) glass sump, laid it on thick toward the corners on the lo water side, had no problems. Nice link, thanks. He makes the epmd look much simpler and cleaner than my silicone did, and I did want to move mine later. Thinking i'll do it that way next time.

if you have any reef-safe plumbers grease, a dab on the EPMD will make them easier to take out. The baffles can get kinda stuck over time. But not too much that it makes them want to slide out (you can minimize issue by filling both sides of baffle at same time so the pressure from each side is relatively equal).

[smirkis]

glass is easy to cut, why not use glass.. its cheaper then acrylic, and its glass. wont bend, wont have to worry about anything.

i thougt these same things. and said screw it. buy glass, cut it, glue it. done!

[SoCalBoo]

cutting glass and dealing with razor sharp edges still freaks a lot of people out. I just happened to have a bunch of acrylic lying around and wanted to try and find a way to use it up.

[jamesrominger]

I feel dumb saying this but I racked my brian trying to think of ways to make a sump and didnt even come close to something this easy. Anyways my point is Im moving my tank soon and want to add a baffle to my sump, should i leave the tank unfiltered while the silcone drys or just add an EPMD baffle. Any input would help.

P.S. Again i think the idea is great.

[ensiferum321]

Here is a link to the sump i built a few years back with the EDPM. It was fairly easy and took about only 45 min.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AS6X67cWVM