acrylic or glass

dieselfish89

New member
I want to buy a new tank I was going to order one there other day but stopped. So my delema is I want to go to a 250 or 280 but don't know if I should spend the money and go acrylic or stick with glass like I have. Any imput would be great.
 
Acrylic sucks, plain and simple. I'll never own an acrylic tank. Whenever you see an acrylic tank in person it's almost *always* covered in scrapes and scratches, and over time it tends to kinda yellow. Not to mention how much more expensive it is than glass. Glass FTW :beer:
 
You can get a marineland 300DD that is glass "out of the box" I will call it. Anything larger will be a custom build. I would say anything over 300g should be made of acrylic due to the weight of a glass tank larger than that. Glass will scratch just like acrylic will
 
I was thinking of the marineland 300 did tank but its only one inch bulk head for overflows. Thought about doing the bean system with both bulk heads on both sides.
 
Glass will scratch, but it is much harder. As long as are careful, it will be easier to maintain.
 
My acrylic tank was much cheaper than glass....weighs less, much clearer than even starphire(fact), scratches can be removed unlike glass, I have one scratch on mine. Frankly I'm too lazy to buff it out.
Yes it has its cons, but it has pros as well. Having OWNED BOTH glass and acrylic, I am extremely happy with my acrylic tank and would buy one again.

Corey
 
Acrylic will scratch because of the sand rubbing against it, glass will not scratch as much do to sand.
 
But when glass scratches there is nothing that can be done about it. Acrylic can be buffed even while full

Corey
 
See I like the idea about buffing out scratches. Which holds heat better I have heard acrylic is a better insulator. I'm from mn and like the house cold so holding heat a huge plus.
 
Is it a easy job to buff clean acrylic. Cory were did you buy your tank from? All tanks I've seen acrylic are much more expensive.
 
My 80 gallon oceanvu acrylic tank is 13 years old and been in operation for 11 years. No yellowing either still clear as the day I bought it! When I get a scratch I'm lazy too but found putting a water proof buffing pad on my mag float, clean algae off every other day and in a week or two the scratch is nearly gone. Just be sure nothing is under the pad when cleaning.
 
I will only have glass solely due the fact that acrylic will scratch easily...and becomes dull. Star fire glass is great.
 
I had mine custom built from GEO. I will say this, when I priced tanks most were fairly comparable. Glasscages was only a few dollars off from my price. AGE, miracles, were about 300-500 more and reef savvy and coast to coast were over 1000$ more.

Corey
 
Thanks Corey. Will say I'll never buy a tank from glass cages but that my opinion. Mcgeezer is only your front panel star fire.
 
When I had an acrylic I honestly felt that if I breathed on it wrong that it would scratch.


Much happier with a glass tank.



The weight of larger glass tanks is a definite draw back, but I don't think I could go back to acrylic after having used both.
 
Both have negatives and positives. Currently have acrylic and it scratches easily. Had a scraper get a nick in it and it tore the heck out of my tank in short order. But, I have been buffing it out and it looks brand new again. Small tank i would go glass for sure. Acrylic for large
 
Ihad a 300 gallon acrylic what A PITA to clean, Glass and go wide and be careful and your tanks will last forever and look great, just buy from People who know what they are doing. Some manufacturers I believe way overcharge for glass tanks so shop around . Good luck
 
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