Acrylic or glass for 129.5x36x36

[Kennyboy1984]

While where on the subject of new tank planning. What equipment would go good with this setup?

Lighting: Lumenarc III's. Maybe four or five 250 watters.
Protein skimmer: I have no idea? I've been looking at h&s or mrc external skimmers.
Calcium reactor: ?
Sump: I'm going to use my 125 g as a sump
Chiller: No idea
Controller: Neptune III
Circulation: Those ecotech vortechs look really interesting. Not a fan of cl's
Return pump: Two darts or one hammerhead

 

[massman]

I thought I'd clarify my clarity comment.

No doubt acrylic is clearer, however, what I meant was, unless you had the two side by side, you will not complain about the view through normal float glass.

Kennyboy,

You will need minimum of 400w on 36" if you intended to keep any anemones, clams, sps lower down etc
250w is fine for soft or fish only.
Skimmer- how big is your budget?
Ca Reactor- don't know the full range in the us, but I have always used Korralins and found them to be great.
Sump- should be ok
Chiller- minimum 2hp
Flow- Tunze all the way.

 

[azreefer]

"I had no idea that they don't make acrylic longer than 120". I thought I had the perfect space for it in my basement I guess I will have to rethink my plan. So it seems unanimous that acrylic is the way to go."

We make tanks longer than 10ft. In fact, I am getting ready to do a 72' x 10' x 5' tank. The longest "standard" sheets available are 10 ft but as mentioned Reynolds offers 15ft sheets but the price is outrageous. Tp make a longer tank, you simply use mid-panel seams which we do very well. This tank is made from 14 seperate panels. Can you see the seams...

Brian

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[Kennyboy1984]

Wow that is seriously awesome. So you just use multiple arcrylic sheets to make one long one? If you say you can't see any seams then great! My only other concern is how strong is it? Will it hold up to years and years full of water in it? Now i've really got my head wound up about acrylic or glass! Now that length isn't an issue I guess the only things to take into account now is price and ease of moving into place.

I am expecting to spend about $500 for a skimmer. Thanks for the tip on the 400 watt metal halides.

 

[jcanute]

i'm building a 120x30x30 out of plywood/epoxy and glass.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=911981