Custom Tank Builder in St. Louis?
- Thread starter Sundog101
- Start date
What company did you use? I'm wanting a 30g rimless, but I need some odd dimensions.
smoothdog
Active member
Ha,ha, I stopped in the store one night and ended up being there a couple hours helping him with one of those.
Scubareefman
New member
He offered to build me a custom tank a month ago so he does do it.
South City
New member
Speaking of building tanks, does anyone know of a place locally to buy 1/2 inch acrylic at a good price? I've been thinking about taking up acrylic work as a hobby and building a frag tank for myself as the first project. It hasn't been encouraging though since the prices I've been given to buy the acrylic are so high that I could probably buy a built frag tank from someone else at a cheaper price. I'm thinking that I'm just not checking with the right acrylic vendors.
kegogut
Active member
South City
New member
Thanks! I'll check them out.
South City
New member
I will check them out too. Thanks!
I'm just hoping to find someplace where I can buy acrylic at a reasonable enough price where building things on my own makes sense over just buying them from someone else.
South City
New member
I gave Regal a call yesterday afternoon.(they were listed as the St Louis distributor for Sabic on their website) They gave me a quote of $282.30(+7.50 service charge) for a 4'x8' sheet of cast 1/2" acrylic. I'm still waiting to hear back from the others on their pricing. I'm not sure if around $290 is considered a good price or not for a single sheet.
For some perspective, with two of those 4x8 sheets, I'd have enough acrylic to make a 190 gallon tank with overflows.
For some perspective, with two of those 4x8 sheets, I'd have enough acrylic to make a 190 gallon tank with overflows.
Scubareefman
New member
Seems a bit high to me, but what do I know. Would you have any wiggle room with the build with just the two sheets?
South City
New member
You'd be using up the majority of both sheets to get a tank that big out of them. I'm not really to that point yet though. I've just started to experiment with bonding acrylic using weldon 4 and am still working on my application technique to get good seams. Once I start to feel comfortable practicing on scrap, I'm going to try some smaller projects like a custom top off container for my current build, an overflow box for my external skimmer, or a sump for my future seahorse tank. Once I've gotten good at the smaller stuff, only then would I consider taking on a big project like making a larger tank.
I just checked glass cages website, they want nearly $2,000 for an acrylic 180 gallon.(verses around $800 for a glass one) Even if $300 a sheet isn't a good price, it still seems like you could build an acrylic tank for around $600 that the pro's are charging nearly $2,000 for. That is a pretty big savings.
I just checked glass cages website, they want nearly $2,000 for an acrylic 180 gallon.(verses around $800 for a glass one) Even if $300 a sheet isn't a good price, it still seems like you could build an acrylic tank for around $600 that the pro's are charging nearly $2,000 for. That is a pretty big savings.
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South City
New member
If anyone wants to take advantage of their local delivery option, there isn't much time left for 2015. Per their website, the are scheduled to be coming through St Louis on Oct 4. They don't have another date after that scheduled for us so it might be some time before they coming through again.
South City
New member
According to the charts, 1/2" is acceptable for a tank up to 24 inches in height. Above 24 inches, and you'll want to go with 3/4".
Which thickness one would use I guess would depend upon whether it was a regular or tall 180. For a standard 180 with 6x2x2 dimensions, at least according to the reference material I've read and a few videos I've watched, 1/2 inch acrylic with eurobracing on the top would be acceptable.
I'm not building any large tank anytime soon though. Just more a theoretical discussion at the moment.
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