Glass Vs Acrylic?

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Acrylic is very easy to glue together! Possibly getting a local plastic dealer to pre cut pieces and glue together yourself will be Cheeper and may be less shipping! Just an idea
 
nelix10 said:
Acrylic is very easy to glue together! Possibly getting a local plastic dealer to pre cut pieces and glue together yourself will be Cheeper and may be less shipping! Just an idea
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not for the thickness/size he will need.
it may be initially cheaper, but I wouldn't attempt building a tank that size unless I had a LOT of experience doing it.
Multiple hundreds of gallons of saltwater spilling all throughout your new house isn't cool.
 
Yes, my tank is a DSA 105 rimless. It hasn't split at the seams yet, but it did bow when filled with water. IMO, their rimless tanks are too thin. Glass cages has a 240 wide, which is 72 x 30 x 25 tall for $1055.00 bare bones. Starphire and overflows, and stand would be extra...but they make them pretty beefy.
 
Acrylic tends to retain heat as well so since most reef tanks tend to run hot due to lights and tons of equipment...... You may want to factor in the cost of a chiller. Pros though acrylic is easily buffed if it's scratched on the outside, it's clearer, it's stronger, it's cheaper, heat retention could be a pro or con for you just depends how much stuff you cram in it generating heat, and it looks as good as any glass tank in my opinion. Cons it scratches easier, it's heavier, and the euro bracing would be a con to you it sounds. I personally would go acrylic over glass. I have both and my acrylic has less scratches than my glass. Probably because I'm more cautious with it but either way I feel more confident in my acrylic tank than my glass with people around.
 
Tkey3425 said:
Acrylic tends to retain heat as well so since most reef tanks tend to run hot due to lights and tons of equipment...... You may want to factor in the cost of a chiller. Pros though acrylic is easily buffed if it's scratched on the outside, it's clearer, it's stronger, it's cheaper, heat retention could be a pro or con for you just depends how much stuff you cram in it generating heat, and it looks as good as any glass tank in my opinion. Cons it scratches easier, it's heavier, and the euro bracing would be a con to you it sounds. I personally would go acrylic over glass. I have both and my acrylic has less scratches than my glass. Probably because I'm more cautious with it but either way I feel more confident in my acrylic tank than my glass with people around.
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:confused: acrylic heavier than glass?
 
That's odd....maybe mine was just thicker than it needed to be haha. My 180 acrylic weighs significantly more than my 210 glass. Ateast 100lbs heavier but It may just be the way the foot print of the tank is.
 
Different manufacturers have different standards. I have seen 200 gallon acrylic tanks made with 1/2" acrylic up to 1" or more thickness. Same to some degree with glass. A sheet of glass the same thickness as a similar sheet of acrylic is heavier, but a aquarium designer may elect to use thicker acrylic than they might with glass. So the acrylic tank may end heavier in some cases.
 
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