Is acrylic no longer in style

[el chupacabra]

Ive been fantasizing about building a new acrylic aquarium but it seems few people choose acrylic for their tanks any more. It seems rimless glass is all the craze. I like some aspects of acrylic such as its light weight and strenth, but if its out of style i might have trouble finding a quality builder. What are some reasons people might not choose acrylic these days... Or is this all in my head.

 

[MellowReefer]

On another forum I use, 9 of 10 people advised me to choose glass when I said I was leaning towards acrylic for my 125 upgrade. I went with acrylic anyway, and it's only been 8 months but I am really happy with it so far. Yes, it scratches more easily than glass and you have to be careful, but I think people exaggerate that risk. I have only 1 tiny scratch so far that you wouldn't notice unless I pointed it out, and I'm a somewhat clumsy person (I actually think it was from the build of the tank, not something I did while setting it up). It is SO clear. I had a glass tank before and it is so much more clear. And I feel better just knowing that it's stronger and I won't have a rock slide if there's an earthquake and have the glass break. Maybe in 5 years when I have more scratches I will feel differently but for now I'm really happy.

 

[Jopalmighty]

I also felt the same thing. Most people doing large builds are using glass. I can say that the few acrylic tanks I've seen in person do seem to have a lot of noticeable scratches, which is why I made the decision to go glass.

 

[Orm Embar]

If you like the clarity, there is low iron glass that's still relatively scratch resistant

 

[Reefnut2010]

I love my acrylic tank for obvious reasons. BUT man, that sucker scratches if you breathe on it wrong !! The good thing is the scratches are easily buffed out.

 

[johnike]

I love my plastic tank, and would never go back.

 

[Curious George]

My next tank is going to be acrylic. The light weight and clarity are really appealing to me. I had a clearview 50 and loved it. Kept a small school of tropheus and it was a great little setup. Acrylic has such a different "feel" to it when looking at the fish.

 

[AZ_reefer]

Scraping algae off the acrylic can be a nightmare when trying not scratch it. The outside is easy to maintain with novus 1 and a microfiber cloth. Right now I am modifying my seaclear system ii 50 gal to incorporate a bean animal overflow and since the tank is 6 years old, it is covered in numerous scratches from moving, maintaining, ect. It will require elbow grease to remove the scratches, but it will clean up. Also, when filled with water, all but the heaviest scratches are even visible. There is also crazing along the top by the waterline.

I liked the ease of drilling the acrylic and the strength of the tank over the long term, but my next tank will be glass simply due to removal of coralline algae removal when the tank is full.

 

[Steveb]

its all opinion but if you want to go rimless glass is it and low iron is the way to go for clarity.

If your not concerned about a rimless tank acrylic is a great option. I'm building a 96x40x24 that is acrylic. Love the fact that my friend and I, yes that is 2 people, moved the tank off the pallet onto dolly's. and then we moved it from dolly's onto the stand using a single lift. Yes it does scratch but all you need is a micromesh kit to polish them out (even with water). Glass scratches, although not nearly as easily. When it does scratch it is pretty much there.

 

[Loserland]

I just ordered a 96 x 36 x 30 and was dead set on acrylic. After a bunch of quotes I could get a 3 sided starfire tank for about 66% of the cost of acrylic and the shocking news was the weight was within 200 pounds of each other. Glass can be much thinner than acrylic in large tanks since it doesn't bow. So glass was the easy choice with the no scratching.

 

[Steveb]

I just ordered a 96 x 36 x 30 and was dead set on acrylic. After a bunch of quotes I could get a 3 sided starfire tank for about 66% of the cost of acrylic and the shocking news was the weight was within 200 pounds of each other. Glass can be much thinner than acrylic in large tanks since it doesn't bow. So glass was the easy choice with the no scratching.

Its funny how oil prices influence the cost of acrylic. When I got my tank the acrylic quotes were between 2/3 the cost of low iron glass or close to the same. One of the things that was more was the shipping for the glass tank due to weight.

I'm assuming your tank is using .5" glass?

Just a few points...

It is incorrect to say that glass doesn't bow. It does. Just not to the extent that acrylic will.

It is also incorrect to say that glass will not scratch...It is just much more difficult to scratch. You don't have to believe me search RC. It is my understanding that glass can also be polished out but it appears to be a lot more difficult and I believe the tank must be drained.

 

[karsseboom]

People always use acrylic for larger builds. Glass is not a fad, acrylic is just as popular and looks a lot better when filled. It all up to your personal prefrence. Your just seeing some popular builds with glass so it giving a false sense.

 

[SaltwaterSensei]

I've always have used acrylic my first tank (40B) was acrylic and all those after it were as well. The largest and last tank I had was 100 gallon acrylic and I loved it. However the build I'm planning now will be low iron glass. Reason why is the harder it is to scratch it. My 100 gal tank was relatively scratch free for the first few years but they became quite noticeable after awhile. Though its possible to buff them out its not an easy thing to do, it takes lots of practice and in some cases you can make it worse. This isn't to say I've turned my back on acrylic I would still use it for smaller tanks or nano reefs. BTW this is just my opinion hth fwiw

-jess

 

[chriscobb]

Its funny how oil prices influence the cost of acrylic. When I got my tank the acrylic quotes were between 2/3 the cost of low iron glass or close to the same. One of the things that was more was the shipping for the glass tank due to weight.

I'm assuming your tank is using .5" glass?

Just a few points...

It is incorrect to say that glass doesn't bow. It does. Just not to the extent that acrylic will.

It is also incorrect to say that glass will not scratch...It is just much more difficult to scratch. You don't have to believe me search RC. It is my understanding that glass can also be polished out but it appears to be a lot more difficult and I believe the tank must be drained.

Exactly what came to my mind, and it does.....

 

[Jeff000]

I have a 72" x 30 x 24h sump made from acrylic.
And a 72 x 32 x 32 DT being made with starfire glass.

Acrylic was cheaper to make the tank until a certain size, then glass (even going starfire) becomes cheaper. And then once you get really big you are pretty much limited to acrylic.

The glass tank is retarded heavy, but really, how often do you move this stuff people? The starfire looks nicer, and the sump even only being 24 high and thicker than the starfire by 25-30% still bows noticeably, if the glass tank does bow, my straight edge can not tell.

Something that will make a hardly noticeable scratch in glass will leave a gouge in acrylic.

And to whoever said a glass tank wouldn't survive an earthquake, but an acrylic would.... I'd call bs on that. A glass tank can self support, so if the stand tweaks you are still good with glass, acrylic will twist with the sand, past the breaking point... I'm not sure.

For the simple fact that glass is harder to scratch is why I would go glass.
I've never, NEVER seen an acrylic tank where I couldn't see scratches. Even the tiny ones you can not see stand out like crazy since the scratch is the first place for algae to show.

 

[bezlar]

I just switched a twelve year old acrylic to a starfire glass. I couldn't be more pleased. The glass looks every bit as clear as the plastic and has a more classy look to it. My old plastic tank scratched way to easy and after years of scrapping coraline off looked hazy. Also plastic tank bowed, glass does not. I would never have another plastic tank again. But I do love my plastic sump.

 

[Timfish]

Besides some of the excellent points above bent glass tanks are now available from several manufacturers where acrylic used to be the only option for bent or bow front tanks of any size. aquavim.com is one glass aquarium manufacturer that makes some fairly large bent glass and glass cylinder tanks.

 

[b0bab0ey]

Ive been fantasizing about building a new acrylic aquarium but it seems few people choose acrylic for their tanks any more. It seems rimless glass is all the craze. I like some aspects of acrylic such as its light weight and strenth, but if its out of style i might have trouble finding a quality builder. What are some reasons people might not choose acrylic these days... Or is this all in my head.

After more than 30 years in the hobby, I bought my first acrylic tank about 6 months ago. To say I hate this thing would be an understatement. It seems like every single time I clean the inside, I create a new scratch. I bought an expensive magnet cleaner (Algae Free Hammerhead) to use during the week, and that seems to make even more scratches! And then I get these encrusted algae spots that I have to scrub and scrub to get off, because you can't use a razor blade on acrylic.

I think if I had the time to wipe down the tank everyday using those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers I wouldn't get as many scratches. But I only have time to do a thorough cleaning once a week, on the w/e.

 

[Meanmike]

I just ordered a 96 x 36 x 30 and was dead set on acrylic. After a bunch of quotes I could get a 3 sided starfire tank for about 66% of the cost of acrylic and the shocking news was the weight was within 200 pounds of each other. Glass can be much thinner than acrylic in large tanks since it doesn't bow. So glass was the easy choice with the no scratching.

I call bull. You can get an acrylic tank with those exact dimensions for just over three grand. That's not going to happen with a three sided starphire tank.

 

[DHyslop]

I think if I had the time to wipe down the tank everyday using those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers I wouldn't get as many scratches. But I only have time to do a thorough cleaning once a week, on the w/e.

Use a sharp paring knife to "filet" a quarter-inch slice of a Magic Eraser. It might take you a few tries to get a good clean slice. Use the slice between the magnet and the glass. It won't help with accumulated coralline, but it will do a much better job than the magnet itself.