Glass or acrylic tank specs

[jer77]

I posted these questions a while back in the DIY and Reef Discussion but got no replies. I am currently thinking of replacing my sps frag tank with a slightly larger one. The one I have is made from lexan and is not that strong, plus is not that clear. It is 36X26X12. I want a custom made tank made thats 36X26X16tall, but don't know whether it should be glass or acrylic. What are some advantages and disadvantages of both?

Also how thick should it be for either glass or acrylic? And what bracing should it have? I don't want to have a cross brace, but will I have to with a tank this tall?

Anyway I would like to make the tank a little differently than my old one. I want to add either a horizontal overflow, or two regular overflows. I'm currently in limbo between the two, any suggestions, comments?

Also I would like to have a closed loop on it. How would I best go about drilling my tank for it, if at all, and how should it be set-up? Like a manifold or without? Again I will be keeping sps corals and want to have around 40-50X flow, which should be around 2600-3200gph. What pumps are good for CL's? I want to have less laminar flow in the tank and more variating flow.

Thanks

 

[bertoni]

Do you intend to build the tank yourself? I don't really know anything about building tanks, but there's probably some reviews of various custom makers around.

I break tanks into three categories for materials: acrylic, low-iron glass (like StarPhire), and standard glass. The glass products are more scratch resistant, but aren't really repairable if scratched. The low iron glass is green enough that I don't like the looks. Acrylic is a bit clearer than even the low-iron glass, but scratches easily. It's a lot stronger, though, which is a consideration in earthquake country.

 

[jer77]

Thanks, Bertoni for repling.

Well I don't live in an earthquake prone area, so I guess thats good. No I don't plan to build the tank myself, I'm trying to find out what I want so I can order it. I'm leaning towards glass, because I hate having to scratch the acrylic to clean some really hard algae off the tank.

I have tried looking around for info on glass thickness for tanks, but it seems mine is an uncommon shape. It will be around 65 gallons though, so I do know that much.

What concerns me the most is the overflow and the CL, because this is entirely up to me. I'm considering the horizontal overflow idea and read a lot of posts with anthony calfo's comments, but I am still unsure if this way is somehow better than just having two regular teeth overflows with holes in the bottom. The CL really boggles me because I have never done one, and the unique shape of my tank makes it an interesting issue. I'm considering doing a manifold, but I'm still not sure if that will work. How else can I set it up?

 

[bertoni]

There are an infinite number of options. For a closed loop, maybe an opening every foot or two along the back. For glass thickness, the builder should know what to do (or you're in trouble).