Acrylic of Plexi. Different Or Not?

[angelo68]

I have a friend that owns a customization shop. He has acess to most anything at cost. One of the suppliers he deals with has a listing for plexi/acrylic. Are they one in the same as long as it's cast? I'm planning on a 225g reef which I would build out of this material. 72 x 30 x 24 x .5 Anyone have any ideas on how I should cutout the top since the rest of the material will come pre cut from the supplier. Not sure if the supplier can cut the top for not. I was also thinking if I used thicker material for the top maybe I could make larger openings for the top. Thanks for reading.

 

[mflamb]

Check with these guys:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=562051
or this one:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169326&highlight=DIY+pins+method
Mike

 

[Acrylics]

Re: Acrylic of Plexi. Different Or Not?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8630505#post8630505 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by angelo68
I have a friend that owns a customization shop. He has acess to most anything at cost. One of the suppliers he deals with has a listing for plexi/acrylic. Are they one in the same as long as it's cast?

"Plexi-Glas" is just a brand name of acrylic.

I'm planning on a 225g reef which I would build out of this material. 72 x 30 x 24 x .5 Anyone have any ideas on how I should cutout the top since the rest of the material will come pre cut from the supplier. Not sure if the supplier can cut the top for not.

Tops are normally cut out with a router

I was also thinking if I used thicker material for the top maybe I could make larger openings for the top. Thanks for reading.

If you are going to invest in thicker material - use it for vertical panels.

HTH,
James

 

[angelo68]

Thanks for all you input. I've spent part of today calling around for prices on acrylic to compare. So far to build a 72 x 30 x 24 tank with 1/2 inch material will cost me around 900. Any thoughts or comments.

 

[Acrylics]

I'd call around and see what it would cost to have made, maybe a local fabricator? one that does tanks often would be a big plus. I'd ask the fabricator to supply material and compare pricing against your cost for material alone. You may be surprised
BTW, what brand acrylic did you get pricing for? all cast is not the same, there are better and worse brands out there.

HTH,
James

 

[Virginia Reef]

1/2" acrylic is too thin. 3/4" is what you need.

 

[Ironsheikh]

you can get a 240g acrylic reef ready delivered to your door for $1089 --check ebay acrylic and it will come up

 

[angelo68]

I spoke to a sales person from Franklin Fiber out of Wilmington DE. and I got a price quote of $800 for all the acrylic material. Not bad, but the more I think about it do I really want to go with acrylic. I mean I was looking at my 110 reef and all the coraline algae on the glass. If I had to scrape that off acrylic I'd have a mess. I found a LFS that would sell me a 180 glass RR tank only for 643.