I bought these tank dividers, and used a total of 12. I stacked 3 vertically, and sandwiched 2 layers of fine netting between another stack of 3, and superglued them together. Then I did that again to get a second divider.
I used Loctite aquarium safe silicone to glue the dividers into the tank and let things sit for about a week because 1. I was very busy and 2. I wanted to be absolutely sure all the fumes were gone. They're not removable, but I wanted to make them solid enough that I wouldn't tear or dislodge them while gravel vacuuming.
Left gravel is basic Imagitarium river rock. Center is Seachem Fluorite Red gravel. Right is Seachem Fluorite Black sand, but I don't like the texture as much and may end up changing to a larger gravel.
The leftmost and rightmost gravel, most of the driftwood, and all of the filters and plants came right out of my previous tanks so cycling was not an issue at all.
I just recently upgraded from the starter 10 gallon to a 55 gallon aquarium.
I repurposed the 10 gallon and turned it into an above tank basking area. I took the bottom pane of glass out with a box cutter (which was extremely frustrating. Silicone is hard to break) and I replaced the bottom pane with black egg crate I found on amazon. Using wire cutters I cut the egg crate pieces down to size and zip tied the pieces together. I used a longer piece of the egg crate to create a ramp up into the area (had to make sure it wasn't too steep for him). After that was done I took reptile carpet, which I also found on amazon, and put that over the egg crate. Followed by a few river rocks and a plastic plant to make it more homely. I then placed the new basking area on top of my new aquarium, after making sure it would be able to sit stably atop the aquarium I lowered the ramp. It took a couple days for my lil homie to figure it out but now he loves it.
Of course if you don't have a leftover tank to utilize you can make the basking area entirely out of egg crate. The egg crate is usually used as dividers for fish tanks so yes it is pet friendly.
Here's the egg crate I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089NJ59Z2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Reptile carpet: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MD3NWM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share