acrylic questions and other questions

[sandwich]

I'm considering building a tank to get in to the hobby, and I have some questions regarding materials.

I'd like to go with acrylic for weight and strength considerations, went to http://www.interstateplastics.com/prodct2.htm and found four types with physical properties listed. I don't understand even half of the properties it lists, but ones that look like they apply are water absorption, flexural strength, impact strength, flexural modulus of elasticity, and hardness.

How can I use these (and anything else on the link that is important) to determine which of the four types is most fit for aquariums and the optimum thickness?

Also is there any reason for me to be concerned about the health of any creatures in a plastic tank? I've read reports of plastics leeching out materials that disrupt our endocrine systems. I'd hate to put the critters at risk.

Finally has anyone used chemically strengthened glass to build an aquarium? I've done a minimal amount of searching, but there may be one that is scratch-resistant and strong enough to use thinnish pieces, keeping the weight down. If anyone has heard of this any links or articles would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

~sandwich

[canberra]

if you copy and paste this long website this guy has every detail for researching and building an acrylic aquarium:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/gi/dy...Fbndiytank.htm

[jsoong]

That was an excellent link on acrylic building!

For glass - tempered glass (heat treated for increased strength) is what the tank manufacturers used to keep the thickness down. One problem is that you cannot cut or drill tempered glass - so you have to cut all the holes before the tempering process - fine in a factory, but I am not sure if a glass shop can handle that. Another thing is I have yet to see any web site that list the thickness needed for a tempered glass tank .... also, tempered glass is expensive ... I figured out the cost using standard cut sizes & it ended up cheaper to buy a premade tank.