Acrylic fabrication questions? I can help!

[Kurkis493]

I have 48" of space to work with for this tank. I only thought to go 24x24x24 because I figured it was an easy "first tank".

If I ordered 1" how far can I go lengthwise before I start to have issues with bowing and the need to Eurobrace?

Can I do a 36x24x24 acrylic, rimless 1" without bow?

Atleast then I can justify putting my MP40 on the tank.

- If I went with a Eurobrace what do I need? 2" - 3"?

Thanks!

 

[peppie]

Yes, 36'' long will still work for 1'' material
If you go 1/2'' euro-brace a min. of 4''

 

[biecacka]

So I pulled the trigger and decided to go acrylic on my next tank. 48/48/24 cube. A friend has offered to build it for me and I'm going to help!! We are going do to a skimmer too! I've never done acrylic work before but he does it so I'm excited!
Stay tuned for details :lol:
Corey

 

[Rare Angels]

I have a question about the top of my acrylic tank. I am wondering if I can enlarge the cut-out in the top of the tank to hopefully get more light into the tank.

Here is a picture of the top:

The tank is made from 1/2" cast, the large viewing panels are 60", the depth is 24" and the height is 24"

The cut-outs are 21"x9", 22"x9" and the one in the middle is basically 18 1/2"x 19 1/2". Wondering if I can enlarge any of the holes for water surface exposed to the light.

Acrylic, I am really interested in your thoughts.

Dave

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I would not modify an existing tank like that personally. I guess it would depend on the manufacturer, but most tanks are underbuilt or improperly built. From this pic it looks like the cutouts allow for more than adequate width of eurobracing, so you might be OK. one of the telltale signs is the radius of the corners of the cutouts on the euro. Yours appear to be about 2 or 3" radius?

Also I'm not sure on the stresses on an L shaped tank. For me personally, I would hesitate to make any changes.

The other thing is, why would you worry about the light not penetrating the acrylic? IIRC acrylic allows more light transmittance than glass, unless it's Starphire glass. I think it's up above 95% transmittance.

 

[Rare Angels]

Thanks for the reply Floyd. Just worried about the build up of "gunk" on the acrylic limiting the light transmission through it. Guess I will have to be extra good about keeping it clean.

Thanks again for the thoguhts.

Dave

 

[biecacka]

I have heard like 98% transmittance Floyd. Not sure where I heard that but I think I did
Corey

 

[guserto4]

Hi! I'm thinking of cutting off the top of my acrylic tank and redoing the top so that it has a deeper lip. The tank is pretty big, 300g 9.5'x4'x15" with 3/4" all around (but I don't know who manufactured the acrylic) and I would like to redo the top so that the lip is somewhere around 16" deep all around so that I can put a drink or dinner plate on it (well not it- I'd get some 1/8" acrylic to rest on top of that and act as a slip so that the tank itself doesn't get scratched) and a second side kind of like this

. to bring up the water level and hide it in a canopy. Do you have any special considerations I should pay attention to in cutting, leveling and reapplying the top and then mounting an additional mini side?
Thanks!!!

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

I am going to glue a piece of acrylic into my 35 gallon acrylic sump to make a separate skimmer chamber. I have the acrylic (I think it is the .222" from HD) but I can't find any Weld-on 4 locally (or any other acrylic glue). Should I just use the professional super glue or just order the Weld-on 4 on line and wait a few days?

 

[mfinn]

Since it's just a baffle in a sump, I'd use Weld-On #16

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Unfortunately, I can't find that around here either.

 

[mfinn]

Unfortunately, I can't find that around here either.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=15X9W1YF9VHJP7XD2B92

 

[peppie]

Unfortunately, I can't find that around here either.

Most Hobby Shops carry # 16 also.

 

[Saltwaternooby]

I have 1 scratch in my 1" thick tank that would be to much to polish out, is there any way to fill it?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Hi! I'm thinking of cutting off the top of my acrylic tank and redoing the top so that it has a deeper lip. The tank is pretty big, 300g 9.5'x4'x15" with 3/4" all around (but I don't know who manufactured the acrylic) and I would like to redo the top so that the lip is somewhere around 16" deep all around so that I can put a drink or dinner plate on it (well not it- I'd get some 1/8" acrylic to rest on top of that and act as a slip so that the tank itself doesn't get scratched) and a second side kind of like this

. to bring up the water level and hide it in a canopy. Do you have any special considerations I should pay attention to in cutting, leveling and reapplying the top and then mounting an additional mini side?
Thanks!!!

Kind of confused by what you are trying to do - and that tank has a rather odd top on it.

But anyways, if you are intending to cut off the top and put on a more open eurobrace type top, that is not exactly easy to do with an existing tank, but it is possible.

I have 1 scratch in my 1" thick tank that would be to much to polish out, is there any way to fill it?

You would be surprised how shallow a really bad scratch is. Got a pic?

 

[1234]

James

I gonna to try and build my DT and sump, I've seen your recipe for your solvent but can't find it anymore would you please post it one more time, or someone post a link for me it's a lot of reading

thanks

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

For a one-off build, I would just use Weld-On #4.

If you are going to mix up and use a LOT of solvent, it's Methylene Chloride with no more than 10% Glacial Acetic Acid mixed in. Then store in a glass container (the AA will eat at more metal ones).

The "really good mix" is 80% MC, 5% AA, and 15% Elthylene Dichloride, which is $140 per gallon, and a hazardous substance, so good luck with that one.

You can get smaller amounts of MC and AA but WO #4 is good enough to build full size tanks. WO #5 if you can get it, but that has AA in it and is generally harder to find.

 

[1234]

Thanks, I found the Ethylene Dichloride for $55 a liter with $30 haz mat not including shipping

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yep that's about right. The chemical supply place I get it from in Omaha gave me that price. I bought a gallon of MC from them for $65 and nearly 2 years later it's still 1/4 full and I've done hundreds of builds. Stuff goes a long way.

My 2.5L bottle of Glacial AA is about 1/4 gone, and that's after giving about 1/4 of a liter to a buddy.

 

[Cuby2k]

This is my favorite thread on RC!