Mixing Glass and Acrylic

[xplanes]

I'm, at the dreaming/planning stage. I'm looking into materials and cost and as I read I'm thinking of making a tank with Glass vertical panels and a thick acrylic bottom. The whole thing is structurally held together by silicone and that bonds well to both. I figure that might take away some of the risk of the bottom cracking and I was thinking of experimenting with an under-gravel pickup for a canister filter bonding in hose connections that go down into a custom made cabinet.

Are there any issues using the materials together?

 

[Homer8]

silicone doesn't bond to acrylic.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[xplanes]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I need to look into what Acrylic tanks are assembled with.

While looking for materials I found a supplier of birch plywood with a fiberglass sheet on one side. I don't know what resin they use to fabricate it. I work with fiberglass with the aircraft I build so I may just make my own. In case someone else is interested, here is the link.

1/2" Smooth Fiberglass Laminate, Black - 510 - FRP Laminate Panels - TCH

 

[mr_X]

You can make that yourself. An ordinary piece of 3/4" plywood coated with marine grade epoxy resin will be waterproof and is what many people make plywood aquariums out of. I recently acquired a 300 gallon tank with a broken bottom pane that I am in the process of replacing with plywood.
As far as the risk of the bottom of a tank cracking, as soon as you add a substrate it will protect the bottom and cracking will not happen. Even dropping a large rock on it will not matter. The only reason the bottom pane was broken on the tank I got was because it was dropped during relocation, and I chose plywood simply because a glass replacement was over $700.00.