GLASS or ACRYLIC? Decisions, Decisions...

[MeskeetDog]

This has obviously been discussed before Im sure but I thought that this would particularly pertain to the MONSTER tanks and just found this forum.

Glass (Starfire or whatever) vs Acrylic

WHY one or the other? I know cost has a lot to do with it but when you are talking about hundreds or gallons of water to contain your critters PLUS the weight factor on the floor or getting it from the truck to the final location in the house...it seems like a good start.

Also Flooring support? What have people done for these large tanks..Ive heard you have to reconstruct your floor essentially...wonderful! Repour a new 18" slab underneath like a highway? What is this gonna cost me...lol.

Ive been out of the hobby for awhile (college) and now wanting to get back into the swing of things and do a LARGE tank (Ran a 150 for numerous years but that seemed to be TOO small).
A steel stand is a MUST(I also work for a Steel fabricator so essentially the stand will be a freeby. Nice considering the cost of Steel nowadays and it continues to climb).

But really i want to see where my money can be spent wisely and to assure the longevity of the tank too. I know most of the pros and cons of both but wanted to get all the facts straight and misleading info and rational corrected. Can you help me out?

Glass
Less of a cost but not really considering the large size?
Heavy as HELL to carry into house and added weight to total weight on floor.
breakable but more durable to scratches and HotWheels driven across the front....lol.
Seems are silicon that wear out but can change out if need be.
Supposedly clearer (heard mixed opinions on this one whether it is or not im not sure)
Cant climb on top and into tank like an acrylic tank (just my thinking but i could be wrong..help me out on this one)
Flying toys could break it?

Acrylic
"Seemless" look
Clearer?
colored backround
More money
Lighter in weight (dont need the whole neighborhood to help move it in)
Fizzures from lighting overtime (could lead to a crash and splash accident at 3am )
Can withstand a shot from a gun...lol. (IM guessing a large tank hads to be 1" thick...bullet and flying toy bat and ball proff, right?)
Yellows in color overtime
Scratches easily


I think that it

Please help me out with this one. Why do people chose the style tanks that they do?

Thank in Advance

 

[huskerreef]

Personally I like the acrylic safety factor, less chance of a crash from falling rock, kids and stupidity. I have had a glass tank crack after a year and cause about 5k in damage to my wood floors and house. I also worry about my 3 year old smacking the tank with something only to have 600 gallons of water a debris smashing down on her. Now I will admit that I hate the ease of getting scrathes and have often wished for glass, but when they are clean the scratches are hardly noticeable any way. Just my 2 cents

 

[Sir Crabby]

I have a 350 acrylic and wish I went glass.
starfire is clear and my acrylic gets wavy if you look at the tank from an angle. But when you look straight on it is extremely clear. Also it is a pain cleaning the acrylic and always being careful about how close you get to the sand. If I do another large tank it will be GLASS!

 

[Diablo]

Just some thoughts on this one...

Past a certain size, weight weight becomes less relevant. If its too heavy to carry, its too heavy to carry.

In general, acrylic is stronger than glass, but also more flexible. From an engineering perspective, a glass pannels thickness is usually determined by required strength x safety factor. For acrylic, its more about how much bow can you live with. By the time the acrylic is thick enough to make the bow managable, it is usually much much stronger than required. So a tank made from acrylic would be less prone to pannel failure.

Also, past a certain thickness (say 3/4") glass is much less managable than acrylic.

For a rectangular tank that can safely be made with glass pannels up to 3/4", I would always go with low-iron glass.

For curved tanks, or tanks that are so large that 3/4" glass is not thick enough, acrylic is a better choice, IMO, than laminating safety glass.

 

[8BALL_99]

Glass for me.. I hate scratches. Acrylic is just to easy to scratch. IMO the weight of the tank doesn't matter much.. Your talking atleast a few thousand LBs of water for most large tanks. Whats a couple hundred pounds more for the weight of the glass.. But I also agree with the above. Once you get to Really big tanks that need +3/4 glass then Acrylic starts looking much better.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

had to go with 1" glass for my next tank by laminating 2x 1/2" low-iron glass together but I think I'll be very happy with the results. Don't have it yet but my vote goes to glass.

Should be solid as a tank as well.

 

[cudaruner]

Your in a ballpark that seems to favor how well you like the playing field...My 2 cents says that most people would take Starfire or low iron glass over Acrylic once the size of the tank is past 200 gallons. It seems they like the false feeling of the safety glass gives you more. Or perhaps they just feel glass is more durable. I feel with the pros and cons of Acrylic, its a lot safer then glass and depending on your situation worth the extra cost and scratch factor. Yes if you look at it too hard it will scratch and yes it does cost more, but I like the pros of it better then glass. For starters, you can drill it yourself, its lighter and easier to move. Where I'm at I have no one to help me move anything that takes two or more guys to move it. So I had no option with my choice. I had to go Acrylic or it was the no bigger then a 50 gallon tank for me. Granted my tank is only a 5 ft 150 gallon tank and not the dream size tanks that most have here in this section of the forum, but I do have something to work with for now. I should add that I did have the wife to help carry in the tank, stand and hood. If cost and weight was no object, I'd probably buy glass myself. But I'm very happy with my forced choice of Acrylic. When I move and do a bigger tank I will probably go with Acrylic again. Just because of the ease it is to work with, even with the scratch factor.

 

[chrissreef]

get both! A.G.E. makes an acrylic tank with a glass front. Thiw will be my next tank =) they also make starphire tanks with PVC bases... pretty cool i think.

i'm just to clumsy for an acrylic front panel. Murphy is my roommate...