acrylic and heat

[Mr Burns]

with the lights inside a vented canopy, if i use a sheet of 1/4" acrylic as a cover over the opening of the tank, will it be affected by the the heat emitted from an AH Supply 1x96 Bright Kit? the way i've draw up the plans, it looks like the light will be about 2-3" from the sheet. i read another post somewhere on the board and the user said that they used an oven mit to handle the light and it was still warm. also, if i do use a cover like this, will i have many problem with light reflecting off of it and back up into the canopy?

i'm considering this cover b/c of the exposed euro-bracing around the top of the tank is going to be 3" on the sides and about 1.5" on the front and back edges. i was worried that i might get a rare jumper stuck up there and cooked under the lights. should i even be worried about this?

[Mr Burns]

also...why am i only able to find 3.15/8" (.394) thick sheets as opposed to 3/8" on this site URL edited by reefrunner69 cause it was too darn long, but does take you somewhere

long url, sorry... is it actually 3/8", but they have to list it as 3.15/8" to cover the thickness tolerances? is that extra .019" going to throw my measurements off? does $215 sound right for one sheet??? i thought it was going to be around $150 at the most...kind of a shock if you ask me. has anybody in the southwest ohio/indiana/kentucky tri-state area found a good supplier that includes cutting?

[sumphead]

Well I'm an indianapolis guy and an avid acrylic-player-wither. I would think that heat wouldn't be so much of an issue as the acrylic will yellow overtime from the lights. I am sure you would lose some of the light spectrum but I have no idea to what degree. I buy from a place in Indianapolis called Meyer Plastics (look for a local plastic place-Plastics in the yellow pages) I pay $75 for a full sheet of 1/4" acrylic. I cut all my own on a table saw with no sweat. But they will vut to order for not much more.

[acronym:7b07f2a587="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:7b07f2a587] in some way.
R-

What do you want to cover the water anyway? it's in a canopy right?

[Mr Burns]

i was worried about having a fish jumping up onto one of the braces and getting stuck. i think the chances of this are EXTREMELEY small, so i'm not worried about it anymore. what i'm more worried about is getting 3/8" acrylic for $150 a sheet $215 was a sticker shock! since this is my first time working with acrylic, i would strongly prefer to have it precut and routed smooth, but i do have the means to cut it myself.

[sumphead]

If you have a table saw I would recommend doing it yourself. espescially if building something to hold water that table saw will give you the strait cuts required. Edges don't need to be routed smooth, fine then extra fine does the trick for me. I use a 220 tooth count finishing blade on the tablesaw with a high blade setting. I'm not sure I'd pay even $150 for 3/8. Not sure though, haven't priced it.

R-