Glass or Acrylic?

[95Harley]

I'm very much considering downsizing my current 240g Glass FOWLR and 75g Glass FOWLR to a single 180g Reef type environment with a MH lighting, chiller, some of the easier corals, etc.

The question I have is which way would you go? Glass or Acylic

I have read how easy Acrylic is to scratch and with lots of LR and a 3' DME I could see this happening easily. Is there other up or downsides to Acrylic.

Having never owned Acrylic I'm looking for advice.

 

[Oldude]

I've had both and I would rate them this way.
Glass - good and tough
Acrylic - scratches very easily.
Starphire- scratches almost as easy as acrylic

I would go with a good grade of regular float glass if scratching is a concern.

 

[flyingclay]

Acrylic does scratch easy, but if you change your pads on your cleaner and know that it is easy, you will keep the acrylic scratch free

 

[95Harley]

Acrylic does scratch easy, but if you change your pads on your cleaner and know that it is easy, you will keep the acrylic scratch free

Note sure if the LR would be as easy on stuff. I think I've decided on Glass.

Thanks all.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've had both and I would rate them this way.
Glass - good and tough
Acrylic - scratches very easily.
Starphire- scratches almost as easy as acrylic

I would go with a good grade of regular float glass if scratching is a concern.

x2

especially if the aquarium is a 72" x 24" x 24" ("standard" size) 180


tip: search up thousands of pros and cons on this subject by using acrylic vs. glass as keywords in your search

 

[95Harley]

After thinking about this some I may just upgrade the lighting on my 240 from PC to MH, remove the canopy and turn it into my reef.

Would be a lot less hassle.

Thanks everyone for the sanity check.

 

[elijaher]

"Starphire- scratches almost as easy as acrylic" I didn't know that. In that case it's overprice imo.

 

[nyvp]

i saw that and laughed also. no way thats true

 

[serpentman]

Never had an issue with my Starfire glass.

IMO glass up until you get around 400g and then acrylic starts to look more and more attractive due to strength, weight and clarity.

 

[Elliott]

I have a 300g acrylic tank, had some rather deep and long scratches on the front panel, just recently hired a guy locally to come over a buff them out. He spent two hours with magnets and fine sand paper, tank looks like new, paid $300 and well worth it. Can't do that with glass!

 

[RBU1]

I have a 300g acrylic tank, had some rather deep and long scratches on the front panel, just recently hired a guy locally to come over a buff them out. He spent two hours with magnets and fine sand paper, tank looks like new, paid $300 and well worth it. Can't do that with glass!

Did he do that with fish in the tank or empty?

 

[Elliott]

Did he do that with fish in the tank or empty?

tank is up and running with coral and fish, he used magnets and progressively finer grades of sand paper

 

[RBU1]

tank is up and running with coral and fish, he used magnets and progressively finer grades of sand paper

Awesome...Wish there was someone near me that does that...How did you find him?

 

[RBU1]

Sorry Harley...

How have you been? How are the eels? I would go with glass on the 180 size tank.

 

[ls1boost]

i would go with glass although you can buy buffing and scrach removal kits for the acrylic

 

[Elliott]

Awesome...Wish there was someone near me that does that...How did you find him?

through our local reef club, FRAG

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Awesome...Wish there was someone near me that does that...How did you find him?

DIY acrylic buffing tips:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1662100&highlight=scratch

 

[viggen]

I prefer Acrylic however for that size glass is the way. Like others mentioned when you go bigger acrylic becomes a LOT more affordable to purchase and also to move.

I also have FO so no LR & all that stuff..... if I was doing reef I would stick to glass since the coraline algae is a PITA to remove on acrylic when it get's thick.

Sticking to your 240g and converting it to a reef tank would definantly be the easist/cheapest way to go. Or just downsize to 1 FOWLR tank....... For what it would cost to buy another tank it would be cheaper and easier to stick with what you have......

 

[95Harley]

Hey RBU how are you, planning on coming down for some fishing this Spring? I'll have the boat in the water come April 1.

After a lot of thinking last night I think I'll convert my 240g glass to a reef by restructuringing the LR, removing most of the current livestock, and changing out the lighting system. Once I'm done I'll move my Dragon to the 240g and plan the shutdown of the 75g. After I use it for a QT tank for the 240g while restocking.

 

[Untamed12]

Acrylic does scratch easy, but if you change your pads on your cleaner and know that it is easy, you will keep the acrylic scratch free

As an acrylic tank owner, I would attest that the above statement is not true.

My tank has thousands of scratches, none of which were caused by the pads on my mag cleaner. It is the fish that cause them....teeth, tail blades etc. They can't be avoided, regardless of good maintenance procedures.

Scratches can be polished out with polishing pads if any of them are distracting enough.

I would choose acrylic again because of the superior clarity and strength...but my tank is 400 gallons. Much smaller than that and I would choose glass.