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Acrylic Tanks

All my life I have employed glass aquariums. I am considering a larger tank. And I am aware of all the technical differences between glass and acrylic. What I’m asking for is real life experience with acrylic. Would you Personally consider it for a large tank. And perhaps. If anyone has a reason to consider one over the other beyond the well known information such as clarity, weight, Strength, thermal qualities and of course scratching
 
1,000’s of NJRC members. 99% have tanks. No one has an acrylic tank that they love or hate?. Or a situation worth sharing like Blown seam. Deep scratch that wouldn’t buff. perhaps, Difficult to mount stuff because of European bracing. Or how about good experiences like 10 years and not a problem....Anything.
Or..... is no response indicative of nobody having anything good to say.
 

ecam

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@Sponge. I was debating this too. I have a friend that works with acrylic and built several tanks for himself. They are lightweight and look awesome. And over time acrylic has become more scratch resistant and can last a lot longer before yellowing out (not sure if that got fixed )
However. I’m still concerned with these problems given that a lot of these acrylic are in the same range as glass. The two pros I found. Were clarity (acrylic is basically star fire clarity off the bat) and weigh far less (this only matters one or twice in the life of the tank so not much stock in this one )And to me glass is king. So I’m back firmly in the glass camp.

any tank can burst a seam. Bad luck bad tank construction bad stand. Water is never meant to be contained so it will always find a way out.
 
@Sponge. I was debating this too. I have a friend that works with acrylic and built several tanks for himself. They are lightweight and look awesome. And over time acrylic has become more scratch resistant and can last a lot longer before yellowing out (not sure if that got fixed )
However. I’m still concerned with these problems given that a lot of these acrylic are in the same range as glass. The two pros I found. Were clarity (acrylic is basically star fire clarity off the bat) and weigh far less (this only matters one or twice in the life of the tank so not much stock in this one )And to me glass is king. So I’m back firmly in the glass camp.

any tank can burst a seam. Bad luck bad tank construction bad stand. Water is never meant to be contained so it will always find a way out.
Good stuff. Soooooo what your saying is you have a Freind who works with acrylic and Can get me a good deal on 8 foot sheets :)
 

ecam

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What I’m saying is. Covid has made acrylic more expensive. So it’s at or more the price of glass. And. I ‘ve had this fried for over 10 years and I’m still sitting with a 180 glass tank.
:). But I can inquire pricing if youre interested in the sheets
 
What I’m saying is. Covid has made acrylic more expensive. So it’s at or more the price of glass. And. I ‘ve had this fried for over 10 years and I’m still sitting with a 180 glass tank.
:). But I can inquire pricing if youre interested in the sheets
Actually
Sure why not. I’d like to know how much 4x 8 sheets of approximately thick acrylic cost.
 
Not positive. Largest tank wall is 96” X 24” Bottom. 96” C 48”
I would assume. 5/8 - 3/4 But strangely on tank stites. Same size panels are only 1/2”. But probably because they utilize Euro bracing
 

ecam

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From what I remember. The sides are more important than the bottom. So normally. 3/4” sides and top and 1/2” bottom
 

amado

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When I moved I knew I was going to get a new tank. I looked at acrylic and a 6ft 180-220 tank was going to cost me a fortune.
It was custom build it was $$$.

after seeing a few used acrylic tanks and seeing the condition of the panels after a few years of use I decided that glass was a better fit.
I also like urchins in my clean up crew. With acrylic no urchins.

I decided on glass and it was like 60% less that an acrylic tank. My tank is in the basement and no one will see it so I was ok with it.

if I was going to build something in my living room then I would pay more and get something with out a rim.
 
When I moved I knew I was going to get a new tank. I looked at acrylic and a 6ft 180-220 tank was going to cost me a fortune.
It was custom build it was $$$.

after seeing a few used acrylic tanks and seeing the condition of the panels after a few years of use I decided that glass was a better fit.
I also like urchins in my clean up crew. With acrylic no urchins.

I decided on glass and it was like 60% less that an acrylic tank. My tank is in the basement and no one will see it so I was ok with it.

if I was going to build something in my living room then I would pay more and get something with out a rim.
Now you see. I just knew I would get a piece of information that I didn’t know or consider. I LOVE urchins. Hadn't considered that. Didn’t know that.
thanks Amado. Good stuff.
 
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