Glass versus Acrylic

[jeffbrig]

I've had glass and acrylic, and I think each has its place. My smaller tanks are glass, but my 250g reef is acrylic. Scratching has been minimal, and at 18+ months, nothing requires removal yet.

With any acrylic tank, selecting a quality builder is very important. My current tank is 72x30x27 and is 1" acrylic and fully eurobraced. For large volumes of water, I prefer the peace of mind that acrylic brings. No silicone seams to fail, no glass panes that can potentially shatter (it may be rare, but it happens).

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8783326#post8783326 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
I've had glass and acrylic, and I think each has its place. My smaller tanks are glass, but my 250g reef is acrylic. Scratching has been minimal, and at 18+ months, nothing requires removal yet.

With any acrylic tank, selecting a quality builder is very important. My current tank is 72x30x27 and is 1" acrylic and fully eurobraced. For large volumes of water, I prefer the peace of mind that acrylic brings. No silicone seams to fail, no glass panes that can potentially shatter (it may be rare, but it happens).

I agree completely... :thumbsup:

 

[Rudy]

Thanks again for all the discussion. After conducting research it seems glass is much more expensive.

 

[steri]

I have both currently. I really like the look of acrylic better, but I have gotten a couple of sctahces that I have had to cover up with decorations and what not.

Also, it does appear, to me at least, to be easier to clean glass then acrylic, but that's just my opinion. I'm suprised to hear that glass would be more expensive as I would consider acrylic to be more durable, but weighing all things, I think I like glass better.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8783606#post8783606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rudy
After conducting research it seems glass is much more expensive.

since when?

 

[Rudy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8783690#post8783690 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
since when?

Since all the price comparisons I have done on comparably sized tanks. Glass is significantly more expensive.

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

I like acrylic, for a few reasons..
the main reason is i like the clarity. Im into aquarium macro photography, IMO nothing shoots like acrylic.
Another biggie for me is the repairablity of the material. I woud be pretty darn sick if i scratched my new starfire tank.
I also like the colored acrylic backgrounds, and the workablilty of the material, you can cut, notch, drill or what ever you want to acrylic.
Dont get me wrong, i have had glass tanks forever.. i just always scratch them just like acrylic. If your carefull you wont scratch either.
I happen to have built a few acrylic tanks, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, im definatly partial, i love the customablilty of the stuff.

 

[mcrist]

When I did my research I came to the conclusion that the price was almost identical when looking at large tanks and starphire glass. Of course you can find budget tank builders but if you compare a quality glass tank manufacturer to a quality acrylic manufacturer they should be about the same in price.

 

[Rudy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8783748#post8783748 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BrokeColoReefer

Another biggie for me is the repairablity of the material.

I have read mixed opinions on this matter. Some have said the acrylic scratches can be repaired while others have stated you can repair them, but then you are left with a opaque area?

What is your experience ahving repaired some scratches yourself?

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8783785#post8783785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcrist
When I did my research I came to the conclusion that the price was almost identical when looking at large tanks and starphire glass.

OK, that I can see.

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

my experence is as good as new material after repair. On the expterior its a no brainer. You sand the area with 1500 grit, then 2000 grit, then polish it out with novus 3 and 2. On the inside its a little tricker, but not bad. You buy a acrylic scratch kit (wich is basicly 2500 grit paper and some finer cloth. You glue a thin, hi density spounge to a cleaning magnent, glue verlco to the sponge, and stick the kit contents to the magnent. It works very well and will give you a perfectly clear finish if done by the instructions (in otherwords, the corect order of abrasives)

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

this is a email i just sent. thought i would post it here if any one reading this needs info on acrylic repair.

First, here is the kit. You modify a mag float (one thats appropriate for your tank thickness) and attach some 1/4" black foam to the magfloat (epoxy), next you take some self adhesive velcro (buy it in a sheet and cut it) and attach one side to the mag float foam and the other to the back of the approiate mesh from the kit. Buy enough velco to make all the kit pieces.

the same kit can take care of external scratches too, but those are rare. If your careful, and buy a quality magnent, and NOT keep it in the tank, you will have minimal, if any scratches. Glass can scratch at the sand bed too.

I use novus http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/cleaning-products_polish.htm to polish the exterior of my tanks.

Here is the link to the kit : http://www.aquariumsdirect.com/aqua...e&tid=AAT045&gbid=Acrylic_Scratch_Removal_Kit

IMO, once you scratch glass, its done. If you scratch acrylic, its reparible. Im not saying its a 5 minute job, it takes some elbow grease, but it IS repariable.

HTH
Ryan

 

[bureau13]

Yes, once you scratch glass its done...but its a LOT harder to scratch glass. Also, I think the ease of repair of large acrylic tanks is being dramatically overstated. I bought my 240 gal deep bowfront used, and it had quite a few scratches. I used the Novus system and improved it, but being inherently lazy, not having 36" arms and the fact that my wife was getting a little cranky about having a giant plastic empty tank in the living room all contributed to the continued existence of many of these scratches. Now, after almost a year, I see a bunch of very short, vertical scratches that only appear at certain angles. I suspect my "acrylic safe" magnetic algae scraper and my sand bed....although I'm not sure how that resulted in these types of scratches. Sure, they technically COULD be fixed...but its a LOT of work. And if you're using the mag float method described above, well...a magnet with enough muscle to work properly on 3/4" acrylic or better is about $75 or so, and if you go through the various abrasives necessary to get all the scratches out and get it perfectly clear...well, don't go too far down or unless you do the whole panel there will be distortion caused by differing panel thickness.

All that said...glass would have been a serious pain in the butt in that size. I am not sure I know enough strong people to get a glass tank like that into position. And, even with the scratches, the acrylic is really clear. I honestly don't notice the scratches most of the time, what's in the tank is much more compelling to me. And finally, if you're building a room divider tank with 1" acrylic like jeffbrig, you can always dive behind it in the case of a drive-by...I don't think armor piercing bullets would penetrate that thing!

jds

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8791298#post8791298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bureau13
And finally, if you're building a room divider tank with 1" acrylic like jeffbrig, you can always dive behind it in the case of a drive-by...I don't think armor piercing bullets would penetrate that thing!

:uzi: | :lolspin:

 

[Rudy]

Thanks bureau13,

Bascially I think your saying glass is better, but if I am looking at ~280 gal, I may ultimately be better off with acrylic anyway?

 

[zuzecawi]

I don't think that looking at this as glass better acrylic better is really realistic. It all depends on what you require and how much you are willing to put into it to get what you want. Hands down, the majority of large systems seems to be cellcast acrylic, for the ease of manufacture, the druability, and the ease of installation, if not for the visual clarity. If you want extreme clarity, lighter materials, more trustworthy construlction, and ease of modification (ie drilling etc) then acrylic is the cats meow. If you want something that is more maintenance free, glass arguably could do it. The thing is, no matter what your tank is, if you let it go, it'll go wild. If you don't clean your viewing surface regularly, it will be a pain in the butt to clean, and if it's glass, a razor and a few hours might work, but if it's acrylic, an acrylic scraper and several hours will be your fate. If you stay on top of cleaning, and make sure you don't pick up sand in your magnets, you're in the clear (forgive the pun) either way. I don't see my acrylic tanks as being harder to manage than my glass tank, I did let the glass tank get a little out of hand with the corralline and consequently just spent two hours with a razor and a lot of under breath improper words cleaning the walls of my Oceanic. As far as glass being harder to scratch... well... in my experience that hasn't been true. Maybe I exdercise a little too much aggression on my tank cleaning days!!! I've had glass tanks leak after two years, I've had one acrylic tank spring a brace off after 20 years.
And yes, it is a pain to remove a scratch on an acrylic tank. No arguement there, I've refurbished all my acrylic tanks and spent a LOT of elbow grease on other people's carelessness. But the point is... you CAN fix acrylic. You CAN'T fix glass.

So either case, it's more a matter of what you want, than what's better. Heh, that's ambiguous enough to be perfectly unhelpful, aye?

 

[Rudy]

Is it to much to now ask about bracing. :eek1:

In other words, what is the benefit of each style when manufacturing a relatively large (~280 gal) acrylic tank? I have read quite a bit about euro bracing and perimerter bracing, but I am having difficulty digesting the pros and cons of each.

Thanks

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

thats pretty simple... form vs function. euro bracing is not as strong, and its better to go up in size for tank material to keep the bowing down. The upside is you get full access to your tank and no shawdows. My tank is euro braced and i love it, if done correctly, it can be almost as strong as cross bracing. Cross bracing is obviously the strongest way to go if you want to save money on tank materials. You can use thinner acrylic and get the same amount of deflection as a euro brace.
I havent owned a cross brace tank in some time.

 

[Rudy]

Thanks broke,

I have a prospective tank dealer who uses 1/2 Ploycast for the tank with "perimeter bracing" I guess I was expecting thicker acrylic for a tank measuring 72 x 30 x 30. (~280 gal).

Do you think 1/2" with perimater bracing will suffice, i.e. be safe and not bow?

 

[jeffbrig]

Not even close. Your tank dimensions are almost identical to mine (72x30x27). I had mine built by James at Envision Acrylics, and he's well regarded as a builder of quality tanks. He built mine in 1", with a 4" lip around the top, and predicted <1/8" of deflection along the 72" side. To go thinner would require a much wider lip around the top, or have signficiantly more bowing.

As James likes to say, 1/2" might be enough "hold water", but it's not something I'd want in my house long term. I'm not even sure I'd want a cross braced tank in 1/2" in that size.