large tank upgrade, acrylic questions

[skey44]

hello Everyone,

What are you guys experiences with rimless acrylic tanks? The size I am considering is either:

48x36x20
or
60x36x20

i am thinking i should use 3/4 or 1" acrylic for this height to be rimless. Will this work or will it bow out if it is not braced? If i do a 4" euro-brace would 1/2" be enough?

Thank you

Scott

 

[Acrylics]

For a rimless, 3/4" simply won't be enough. 1" might be okay but I tend to think it will bow a little too much for my taste over time.
4" eurobrace on 1/2" will hold water but I'd go 3/4" with no crossbracing.

JMO,
James

 

[skey44]

Thank you.

I have heard that acrylic will bow over time if done rimless. I appreciate the guidance. I will definitely go the euro brace route if this is the case and do the 5 foot tank and a 4 foot t-5 fixture so the brace is not interfering with the light system. I don't mind the brace and it will hopefully keep the fish in a little better anyways.

On another note... is white acrylic widely available just like black? I would like to do a black back, but a white bottom to go barebottom and show off the bottom by not hiding it with the stand or sand.

and besides i have to go five foot to get into the large tank forum anyways. the outside dims would be a 187... just over the line lol.

 

[Acrylics]

White acrylic is available, just not all that common in anything over 1/2" and even 1/2" can be a chore to find at times esp in sheets other than 4 x 8'. There just isn't all that much call for the thicker white; sign & graphics companies use alot of 1/8" thru 1/4" white but not so much in thicker sheets.

James

 

[dattack]

Hey James, what's the largest /tallest rimless tank one can make out of 1"?
You think 18" is a good height for 1"?

 

[Acrylics]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11972128#post11972128 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dattack
what's the largest /tallest rimless tank one can make out of 1"?
You think 18" is a good height for 1"?

Depends on a few things IMO. The longer the span the shorter the height, so you could probably get away w/ 18" height up to about 48 x 48 but if the span was shorter - you could go higher. It wouldn't bother me to build a 24" cube out of 1" as an example. There was a thread here not long ago about a 48 x 48 x 24" rimless tank from 1". At first I heard the deflection was minimal but I figured "give it time" and see what happens. I never did hear about how much deflection there was over a longer time period, my guess is around 3/4"-1" but I don't know. Which brings the other aspect; your deflection tolerance. If you can handle more deflection, you can build it bigger.
I've built many frag tanks from "scrap" that were 72 x 12-13"high and there was minimal to no deflection so if you got the info from the 48 x 24" rimless tank, you could formulate a good starting point anyway. I've never built a bunch of these to test the limits, I just don't have the time and space to do it.

James