Planning of a dream system.

[massman]

Yes, trilaminar is 3 sheets laminated together.

Low iron is a good choice. It will be close in cost to acrylic though.

What you have to remember, is that the glass isn't really 1.77" thick. For a constant pressure eg water, it will exhibit similar properties, however against a point impact, it wont.
You may crack a sheet without causing a failure, however, there is still a serious problem.

As far as possible dangers go, thats something that only you can answer.
I for one have small children, and I know that no matter how often I tell them things, they'll always try their luck.
I remember back to my childhood days, and I can't begin to remember the number of times we had balls flying through windows, or shoes and toys etc flying at each other.

It only takes a moment of stupidity for a lifetime of regret. As despite this risk being almost nil, it was one I was not willing to take on the life of a family member.
Paranoid? Perhaps I am, but thousands of gallons of water and glass won't let me sleep well at night, or if I'm out with the kids at home.

On the other hand if I was a single man, a couple, or a retiree, glass could well be something I'dve gone for.

I'd like to think that a good quality acrylic panel would go longer than 10 years before yellowing. Not sure. Then again would you even notice?
I mean normal glass is pretty green, however, when it's filled with corals and fish etc do you look into the tank and think gee thats green? Most likely you don't even notice.
Cracking would indicate either undersizing, or a defect. The latter being a manufactutors responsibility, the former, an engineers.

Scratching, well its bound to happen, just try to avoid as much as possible, and set time aside for routine buff sessions.

 

[WDLV]

I'll have to think about it. I do think you may have sold me on the acrilic though. Dozens of public aquariums can't be wrong.

 

[H20ENG]

Wet Sleeves,
The days of crusty yellow acrylic are long gone. That stuff will stay crystal clear forever. I've seen 30 year old glass in a public aquarium and it looks terrible.

Also, like massman said, it can be polished again and again if needed. It can take a better jolt, and is a much better insulator than glass to boot. You can also drill it for bolts easily if needed.
In a tank that size, you probably wont have the live rock very close to the panel. In any size tank, acrylic or glass, one should always secure the rock to prevent tumbling.

I dont see how the sun tubes can capture more light than a huge skylight. I do see how the tube would reflect the sun at whatever angle back to the tank, but a mylar lined skylight well would be about the same, wouldnt it? This would be easy to mock up outside with some cardboard for a test.

Chris

 

[WDLV]

I think of it this way.... For ease of discussion, lets assume this is a southern exposure we're dealing with.
If you have a huge skylight and it is later in the afternoon the sun is at a 45 degree angle to the skylight, it will be able to light one side of the tank if you're lucky. The same goes for January when the sun is more south. It never quite reaches the center of the sky.
If you have multiple tubes that catch the sun's rays regardless of the angle and are able to focus the light straight down you will get a more stable intensity throughout the day.
If you were to install a skylight with an extension that's lined with mylar, I agree that it would be better than a standard skylight but you would still be loosing more light than a group of sun tubes because the light doesn't have a chance to get bounced around in the tube and become more focused. Instead it is bounced off the mylar once and still travels at a wide angle rather than being focused straight down.
Does that make sense?

I still like the idea of putting in maybe four long rectangular skylights and maybe a line of three sun tubes on either side of them. I think this would be the best of both worlds.

 

[WDLV]

Does anyone have an idea of what it would cost to build such a tank out of acrilic +-20%???? It may be less of a headache to take the hit and do acrylic. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post.
I'll save you the trip to the first post.... The Dims are 144x96x96. I'm gonna guesstimate 2.5"-3" thick.

 

[massman]

I was quoted on a acrylic front, fibreglass reinforced panel tank, with 3" acrylic 19'x7'x5.5' by Living Colour last year for 51K.
Expect more for full acrylic.

 

[WDLV]

Ouch! That's about $38,250 US unless you were already speaking in USD.
That will definately fall outside my budget. Maybe I can get Home Depot to build me a tank too.
I was looking into just the sheets yesterday and found a 4'x8'x2" sheet of acrilic for 1,500. I asked for Acrilite. I'm assuming that is what was quoted. Of Course that was only 2" thick. That should work for the inside panel on a cement tank. I was figuring If I can get the whole tank built into the room for around 10K that would be acceptable. This does not include the equipment.

Does anyone have brands and models of acrylic that would be best suited for this type of application?

 

[massman]

That was USD.
10k is a pipe dream.

 

[WDLV]

LOL! I'm gonna stick with cement. I at least know builders that can help out with the cement building. I have no friends that are into plastics.

 

[WDLV]

Well I figured I'd revive this old fart of a thread. After being at the Sydney Aquarium last month and seeing the way they did the glass, I'm thinking that's not such a bad idea. They actually used several sheets for applications that I would have expected to see a single long sheet of glass. In stead of putting a metal or cement beam in between the panes of glass, they simply sealed them with silicone. I was pretty impressed with that. What I wasn't impressed with was the main reef display. It really left a lot to be desired. Very few corals, cyanobacteria, and lots of baserock looking liverock. The tank itself was impressive though. The H.Mag they had in there was the biggest I've seen.

I'm going to Atlantis Aquarium and The National Aquarium in Baltimore next month for more ideas. If I had that trip to Australia to do again I'd have definately gone to Townsville and checked out the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium. Not to say it wasn't a great trip in and of itself!