Glass or acrylic for tank?
- Thread starter Scatcat
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Brenden
Aquarium Advice Addict
There are several threads on this in getting started area I think. I prefer acrylic.
My tank weighs 650lbs empty. if it were glass it would be over 1300 lbs. I have little boys that throw balls a swing baseball bats in the house so acrylic was a no brainer on strength. "they" claim it is 17 times stronger than glass the same thickness but I will just take there word for it. Acrylic scratches easier but can be buffed out. Acrylic is clearer than glass (green tint) unless you get the high dollar low iron glass. Acrylic seams are stronger than glass/silicon seams. Acrylic requires stand support under entire tank, glass does not. Glass is cheaper unless you get low iron glass. I think I covered most of it.
My tank weighs 650lbs empty. if it were glass it would be over 1300 lbs. I have little boys that throw balls a swing baseball bats in the house so acrylic was a no brainer on strength. "they" claim it is 17 times stronger than glass the same thickness but I will just take there word for it. Acrylic scratches easier but can be buffed out. Acrylic is clearer than glass (green tint) unless you get the high dollar low iron glass. Acrylic seams are stronger than glass/silicon seams. Acrylic requires stand support under entire tank, glass does not. Glass is cheaper unless you get low iron glass. I think I covered most of it.
i have crabs
Aquarium Advice Freak
today a talked to the owner of bow vally aquariums wich is a large distributor of tanks in canada all are made here in calgary he told me they wont make acrilic tanks because the silicone or what ever they use does not bond well with acrilic and is not something they can garantee or agree is a good product
but at the same time almost every fish store in town has acrilic tanks in use
and dont discourage them so i do agree acrilic is a whole lot nicer but im a little scared of water in my house
but at the same time almost every fish store in town has acrilic tanks in use
and dont discourage them so i do agree acrilic is a whole lot nicer but im a little scared of water in my house
Bearfan
Aquarium Advice Addict
Glass is cheaper and I don't like scratches, but I see some advantage in acrylic.
Salttanker
Aquarium Advice Addict
I currently have a 90 gal glass tank, but will be transfering everything over to my new 120 gal acrylic tank. My tank weighs 110lbs, so it is much easier to manage. However, I haven't had to deal with scraching of the tank yet. I bought a mag float acrylic-only cleaner, so hopefully that will help. 
Mike
Mike
seaham358
Aquarium Advice Addict
from what I have read acrylic tanks hold the heat in and are harder to keep cool in the summer.
Scratching it the #1 reason I would not get one. A guy in my reef club has acrylic and he kicked up some sand and thought the cleanign pad was clean of grit!! Well he found out it was not and has a large scratch about 20" long.
Scratching it the #1 reason I would not get one. A guy in my reef club has acrylic and he kicked up some sand and thought the cleanign pad was clean of grit!! Well he found out it was not and has a large scratch about 20" long.
OceanMist
Aquarium Advice Freak
I would go for Glass ... Acrylic (imo) is one of these new ideas they've brought out to make money (trust me ... all the major companies couldn't care less about the reliability of an aquarium ... if its money-in-the-till, they'll sell it!) and it has many disadvantages including the main disad. of bad scratching - which you do not get from glass... i mean ok, its lighter, but how often do you decide to move a 140g aquarium once its set up? and what RELIABLE evidence is there to say its stronger .. because the suppliers or even the person working at the lfs says so !?
glass has always been used ... before this day of age where all anyone cares about is money, it's up to you of course, but i would go for glass
glass has always been used ... before this day of age where all anyone cares about is money, it's up to you of course, but i would go for glass
Brenden
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have seen a car drive up on a piece of I think it was 1/2" acrylic so I belive it is stronger than glass. It was not a demo but was done by some grown men that were bored and had nothing better to do. I also know they use acrylic all over the production floor where I work for safety shields due to it not breaking when impacted.
Yes acrylic does insulate better than glass, but that is a advantage in my case. During the summer I leave the lids off (heat rises) and run 4 small 4" fans built into the canopy to push out the hot air produced by the MH. In the winter I put the covers on and the water temp does not change during the night. Little 4" fans are cheaper to run than water heaters. It is just a personal preference. I have had both and my next one if there is a such thing will be acrylic.
Yes acrylic does insulate better than glass, but that is a advantage in my case. During the summer I leave the lids off (heat rises) and run 4 small 4" fans built into the canopy to push out the hot air produced by the MH. In the winter I put the covers on and the water temp does not change during the night. Little 4" fans are cheaper to run than water heaters. It is just a personal preference. I have had both and my next one if there is a such thing will be acrylic.
My next tank will be acrylic.
Like Brenden said scratches can be buffed out, in glass once it is scratched your basically screwed.
Acrylic is and weights a heap less which will work for me since my next tank will be alot bigger than 70gal.
Like Brenden said scratches can be buffed out, in glass once it is scratched your basically screwed.
Acrylic is and weights a heap less which will work for me since my next tank will be alot bigger than 70gal.
hman2853
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I just scratched mine
I used my mag float (yes, it's the acrylic safe one) to clean my glass right after I added substrate. I made one swipe and noticed a semi-deep 2 inch scratch write on the front of my tank. I wanted to go ring the mag float peoples necks when it happened, but I learned not to use a mag float when particles are floating in the water. I just wanted to let everyone know not to do this so they can avoid the horrible feeling of scratching your tank. Thanks.
-John
I used my mag float (yes, it's the acrylic safe one) to clean my glass right after I added substrate. I made one swipe and noticed a semi-deep 2 inch scratch write on the front of my tank. I wanted to go ring the mag float peoples necks when it happened, but I learned not to use a mag float when particles are floating in the water. I just wanted to let everyone know not to do this so they can avoid the horrible feeling of scratching your tank. Thanks.
-John
