To those of you with Acrylic tanks

[edgley]

Thinking about upgrading my 48x20x18 to a 72x24x24 and for the weight reason am thinking of ditching glass.

I have read and read about the subject, but wondered what the real world thoughts are about scratches and yellowing?

I am clumsy, I would take out all the rocks in the tank increase the wood to help, but I am bound to end up scratching it. Is it something that once a year one can have a go at removing them? Or do you find that you tend to stop seeing them after a while?

Mine would also be in direct sunlight, how many out there have actually yellowed over time please?

I want to give my plec more space, but only if I can live with these two problems.

Thanks
simon

 

[Fenrisulfer]

Hey Simon,

I am sure there are people with more experience than me, but thought I'd reply since I'm coincidentally working on my acrylic right now. I have to say that I prefer the glass tanks, but this is largely a personal preference. I find that they are easier to remove algae from and its simply what I grew up with so its kind of a subconscious thing I think.

However, I am now on my third acrylic tank and I have not had any major issues with it. I too am very clumsy, accident prone, I can tear up anything...seriously, I am a walking disaster zone. I haven't managed to tear up any of them with gravel, stones, or anything else. My apartment is not very well designed for space against the walls and such so there is a rather limited tank space, consequently the only place I had to put my long acrylic tank happens to be near a window where it gets filtered light for a couple of hours a day. Obviously this is not ideal as algae will grow despite the best efforts of my perpetually hungry snails! I will not use anything abrasive to clean it-which I only have to do once a month as the snails eat most of it, and if there was room for algae eating fish I'd have to do it even less. I use soft, very cheap, plastic scrubbing pads that are made for dishes to remove the algae and have not had any issue with this damaging the tank with scratches. The only tank I have had that yellowed was a very cheap, very small, 1.5 gallon and it was very rarely in any sunlight as it was in a room with one window all the way across the room. I think it was entirely the grade of acrylic used since I have not had any similar issues with this on any of the bigger, better tanks.

I would definitely say that if it is a choice between a monthly algae cleaning or the fish not being happy or healthy that I'd go with the algae cleaning. Just be sure you are getting a quality product, be careful what you use to clean the algae with, and don't give it full son constantly if at all possible.

 

[revchristinejday]

Dear Edgley,

I have had a 55 gallon for several years now. I also am clumsy but have had no problems with the acrylic. As said above one simply uses non-abrasive items to clean algae and gunk. In addition to the cheap plastic scrubbies, I have found that a micro-fiber dish cloth works well for drying and polishing. Mine has never yellowed also so just make sure it's of good quality and thickness. Also make sure the top opening(s) is adequate for you. Sometimes the top opening(s) can be ackward to use. Good luck!
Chris