How bad is acrylic for reef tanks?

[Zante]

Talking about a 200cmx70cm base, 60cm tall tank for approx 800 litres.
(which for the non-metric would be approximately a base of 79x27 inches and 24 inches tall for approx 211 US gallons)

Sand, rocks, corals, fish, hermits, snails, shrimps, crabs, urchins... the lot.

How bad is that going to be for acrylic?
Any CUC group I should avoid and any that are safe?
How bad would sand being lifted into the currents be?
How difficult is it to remove coralline without scratching the acrylic?

I'm hesitant to go glass because the cost will be more or less the same at this size here, and it will be easier to deal with a much lighter tank when putting it in place. Mainly though because of kids: I'd rather have a panel scratched by a carelessly thrown toy than a panel smashed by a carelessly thrown toy.

So... basically what should I know about having a reef in an acrylic tank?

 

[albano]

I've had many many acrylic tanks since 1991 from 120g to my newest 500g 6'x5'... Still have 3 120-130g tanks that are over 20 yrs old and can look like new... My son in law and myself moved the 500g from the garage, into the playroom and up on the stand without any other help.
My first acrylic tank in 1991 was a 300g that I purchased because I was worried about the tank with young children 'with toys' in the home.

 

[Zante]

I've had many many acrylic tanks since 1991 from 120g to my newest 500g 6'x5'... Still have 3 120-130g tanks that are over 20 yrs old and can look like new... My son in law and myself moved the 500g from the garage, into the playroom and up on the stand without any other help.
My first acrylic tank in 1991 was a 300g that I purchased because I was worried about the tank with young children 'with toys' in the home.

Cool, so you say I can go acrylic without too much worries about scratching on the inside? What about animals like urchins or hermit crabs?
I'm planning to get also a few diggers, such as valenciennae, pistol shrimps and various wrasse (with some sand sleepers). Are animals chucking sand around going to be an issue?
Scraping coralline from the panels?

 

[albano]

If you let coraline grow and remain on front or sides, urchins could possibly put lite scratches on panel, but most scratches are usually from sand caught between magnet cleaners. I use an acrylic sleeve over the magnet which keeps most sand particles off the acrylic. Sand being stirred up by fish or currents is not an issue.

My #1 suggestion is to NEVER leave the magnet cleaner on the tank...children and guests love to try them out, and will definitely cause the first scratches!

 

[EDJFA]

You do have to be careful with urchins. Their beaks can scratch the acrylic.

There are loads of acrylic tanks out there and specialized tools to manage tasks like scraping algae. You do have to be careful, but it's manageable. I think most scratches come from magnet scrapers that accidentally pick up grains of sand and you don't notice until you swipe it across the front of your tank and find there's a nice big scratch.

The good thing about acrylic vs glass is that you can buff out acrylic scratches. Once a glass tank has a scratch, you're stuck with it.

 

[Sk8r]

The two worst aspects are bowing (braces are there for a reason) and age: a glass tank will still be serviceable after an acrylic tank maybe begin to craze under the heat and light: modern low-temp LEDs may lessen this threat.

 

[Zante]

You do have to be careful with urchins. Their beaks can scratch the acrylic.

There are loads of acrylic tanks out there and specialized tools to manage tasks like scraping algae. You do have to be careful, but it's manageable. I think most scratches come from magnet scrapers that accidentally pick up grains of sand and you don't notice until you swipe it across the front of your tank and find there's a nice big scratch.

The good thing about acrylic vs glass is that you can buff out acrylic scratches. Once a glass tank has a scratch, you're stuck with it.

I am tempted to give urchins a miss for exactly that reason, but I really like hermits, and I can hear them banging their shells on the glass of my nano. Maybe in a larger tank they'll have more to climb on and won't spend as much time up against the edges...

As albano suggested I'll probably keep the scraper outside of the tank and put it in only to use it. That should seriously reduce the risk of sand getting under it.

 

[Zante]

The two worst aspects are bowing (braces are there for a reason) and age: a glass tank will still be serviceable after an acrylic tank maybe begin to craze under the heat and light: modern low-temp LEDs may lessen this threat.

I am already equipped with 4 Radions for this tank, and I plan to keep them fairly raised to increase the spread. Also since I work from home the air con will be going in hot weather, and it will cool the tank as well as the house. This should also mitigate the issue.

 

[Tastee]

I'm personally a glass fan, and have a glass tank, but I use the Tunze Long scraper which would be well suited to Acrylic, as it uses thin plastic blades inside the tank and felt outside rather than anything flat and abrasive. They are a little expensive but well worth the money IMHO.


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[Zante]

I'm personally a glass fan, and have a glass tank, but I use the Tunze Long scraper which would be well suited to Acrylic, as it uses thin plastic blades inside the tank and felt outside rather than anything flat and abrasive. They are a little expensive but well worth the money IMHO.


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Thanks for the tip. I'll look into them.

 

[lapin]

I have an acrylic tank. It is large and if made from glass it would have been too much weight for me to handle. Besides weight, scratches are the other concern. I have not found any live stock to be a problem. I check for snails before cleaning and move any that could get caught in the cleaner. Because I keep my panels clean the urchins do not visit them for food. The way to avoid problems with sand and magnet cleaners is to move the sand away from the edge before cleaning or place something flat over the sand so it does not get disturbed while cleaning. Mighty Magnets in the USA makes large magnets for thick acrylic. They also have an algae scrapper bag that fits over them to safely remove coraline, if the std pads wont.

 

[Zante]

Thanks for your experience. All these messages are giving me more and more confidence in my future acrylic tank.

I'm very much a fan of glass for aquariums, but over a certain size (and under a certain age for children ) I have to concede that acrylic looks better and better.

 

[reefteaser]

My first "large" tank was an acrylic 90 gal. It looked terrific, I loved the curved sides, and the easy of moving it on the rare occasions I would break it down for complete "do over" or move it.
BUT--over time it did accumulate scratches. No matter how careful I was (and certainly when I wasn't) sh** happens, and eventually whether it's a fallen rock, sand in a scraper, or whatever it's extremely easy to scrach it. Also, unless I was UBER vigilant cleaning the coraline (I wasn't) it seemed to practically epoxy itself to the tank.
My lastest reef is a 115gal glass. It was tough to get it up a flight of stairs and into place, but SOOOOOO much easier to keep clean. It also seems to me that the temp runs a degree or two warmer on average, although it is twice as thick. I've been told glass is a better insulator.
YMMV, that's just my experience.

 

[albano]

I've been told glass is a better insulator.

Someone lied to you

 

[reefteaser]

Gee, THAT'S never happened before.
Just relating my experience. Might be a move in the near future and I'm gonna wish I went acrylic again, but otherwise the glass has been a good choice.

 

[64Ivy]

I've been maintaining a 500g acrylic tank for over 30 years now. Got a little crazing going on top (400W Halide lights) but that's it. Been pretty diligent about buffing out any scratches on the front. In fact, the only reason I'd want glass is for photographs; I just don't think shooting through acrylic renders as sharp as (low iron) glass. Still debating the acrylic/glass issue for my next build, which I'd want more or less the same size.

 

[Rio1969]

I will be upgrading to a 300g + tank in the near future (the boss has given her blessing). I am still undecided on acrylic or glass. Most online say get acrylic but almost all the reefers (and LFS) I have spoken to in Houston say to get glass. I will have to make a decision soon.
BTW none of the LFS's are selling acrylic tanks.

 

[Zalick]

I just ordered a custom 300g acrylic to replace my 300g glass. I don't want the risk of seam failures or glass cracking with little kids around.

From what I've heard, I'd stay away from urchins.

You can use a piece of acrylic, fitted in a kent scraper, to easily clean coraline. The acrylic will not scratch the acrylic.

I watched lots of videos and read about how to remove scratchs. Its a little effort but very easy and makes it look like new (with water inside).

I pick my acrylic up September 16th and can't wait. I did tons of reading before pulling the trigger.

 

[Zante]

BTW none of the LFS's are selling acrylic tanks.

That might be why they are saying to go with glass :lol: