where to order pre-cut acrylic

[csb]

Building a custom sump to fit beneath my tank stand ... I've been looking around, but does anyone know (or recommend) a good source of acrylic cut to order that I can buy online?

I need to make sure I can get good flat, square edges for a proper seal, and need to order 16 cut pieces of 1/4" acrylic.

--Chris

 

[BeanAnimal]

Well first of all 1/4" is VERY THIN. I would never dream of using it. I use 1/2" no matter what on everything. Some people use 3/8" and get away with it.

If you have a local Total Plastics (TPI) they will cut the acrylic for you. However don't expect tolernaces better than 1/16" or so. If you want more precise cuts you may have to find a jobber or CNC shop to cut the stuff for you (either from whole sheets or slightly oversized blanks from your plastics supplier).

Bean

 

[greenstarman]

Bean:
If a sump is only going to hold 15-20gallons of water why is 1/4" to thin. As long as bracing is used shouldn't it hold? I have read several threads from Melev, Zepherant. For smaller sumps they seem to think its ok. Or have I miss read?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Shrug... I don't personally like melevs sumps and fail to see why he is regarded as the "sump" authority. NOTE: I have nothing against the guy at all and think he does nice work, as well as contributes a lot to this community, all on top of being a pretty personable guy.

If you look around you will see a lot of 1/4" stuff on peoples galleries, most of it is bowed and twisted.

The bowing puts a lot of stress on the joints and 1/4" does not offer much in the way of strength.

DEPTH is what creates pressure. That said, under the same pressure (depth), a long panel will bow out further than a short panel. SO that means you need thicker material for LONG or DEEP sections.

In any case, with small compartments that are only a few inches long and a water depth of only a few inches I would imagine you could live with it. Like I said, I build everyting out of 1/2" and would not recomend anything less than 3/8". I am sure plenty of people have used 1/4" with some success... not me

You have not misread, you have just found another opinion.

 

[zapata41]

true 1/4" does bow alot but thats what bracing is for. so bean are you saying that you only buy skimmers that are made out of 1/2 material too. i just built a 4x3x1 tank out of 1/4" and used a 4 " euro bracing and there is no bowing. for a sump 1/4 is pefectly fine. but to each their own i guess

Tim

 

[hbn1234]

the majority of the sumps i've made are out of 1/4" material...(that being hundreds) and have yet to have one break/bust. If you need any help or suggestions, please let me know...if you can't find a supplier for the acrylic let me know as well...later
h bui

 

[csb]

1/4" is more than adequate for this sump. The design will hold between 12-14 gallons. It's a small sump and will have a lot of bracing in the form of baffles, etc.

If it were one of these 7 million gallon sumps that everyone likes so much, then I'd definitely use 1/2" material!

So, nobody knows of a place to order pre-cut acrylic????

 

[comatose]

Chris, i'm curious why you want to pay for the acrylic and shipping when you can just pay $25 for a 15 gallon all-glass at your local fish store,
i think shipping alone for your acrylic would be almost 10-15 bucks alone.

where are you from? maybe there is a plastic supply store around your area.

 

[BeanAnimal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7756370#post7756370 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zapata41
true 1/4" does bow alot but thats what bracing is for. so bean are you saying that you only buy skimmers that are made out of 1/2 material too. i just built a 4x3x1 tank out of 1/4" and used a 4 " euro bracing and there is no bowing. for a sump 1/4 is pefectly fine. but to each their own i guess

Tim

Come on tim, of course I would by a skimmer built with thinner material. A tube is much more rigid than a flat panel. Do you always see things in the form of an arguement?

Secondly, I think if you read what I said, I acknowledged that people use 1/4" material. I also acknowledge that some do so with a degree of success. Do you always have to make an arguement out of everything?

If you read furhter, you will also see that I made my comments based on size.... and also stated that I would never use 1/4" because I prefer to work with the thicker material. You are correct, to each his own. Do you have to find a reason to argue with everything?

You could have stated your opinon without the useless attack.

Good grief.

 

[BeanAnimal]

CSB,

Many plastic suppliers do not "pre cut" acrylic, some do. As I mentioned, you will need to contact a plastics (or sign) manufacturer that does jobber type work if you can not find a place to order and ship with a reasonable price. Expect to pay a fortune if you don't shop well. Where are you located? Most Total Plastics (TPI) have a CNC saw that can be used to cut your order for a nominal fee per cut. Again, the accuracy is about 1/16".

Have you even looked or called anybody?

A quick google search found these places that list custom cutting as an option:

http://freckleface.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/acrylicsheet.html
http://www.ridoutplastics.com/plasmat.html
http://www.rplastics.com/plexiglas.html
http://www.delviesplastics.com/ACRYLIC SHEET.htm

Call your local plastics stores and sign companies (though as a rule sign companies refuse to deal with the public at a reasonable cost or at all).

 

[csb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7757513#post7757513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by comatose
Chris, i'm curious why you want to pay for the acrylic and shipping when you can just pay $25 for a 15 gallon all-glass at your local fish store,
i think shipping alone for your acrylic would be almost 10-15 bucks alone.

where are you from? maybe there is a plastic supply store around your area.

I wish it were that easy! I'd love to go buy a cheap tank for use as a sump and be done with it. Unfortunately, my stand doesn't agree, thus the need to build a custom sump to fit my stand. The main tank is 30g. The interior stand dimensions allow about 10" of width, 30" of length and about 30" of height. 10" of width won't even fit a standard 10g AGA tank! (I tried). To complicate matters, access to the stand is through 2 12" wide doors on the front with a support brace between the doors, therefore, I can't stick anything in there that won't fit through a 12" hole! My sump design is actually 2 pieces which will be interconnected via bulkheads and a short pipe, allowing both pieces to be comfortably placed through the doors, then connected together to make the full sump. Get it?

So, each half of the sump would be 10"x12" with a 12" water level, giving 6.25 gallons each, for a total of 12.5 gallons in the sump. On a 30g tank, 12.5 gallons is a 41% increase in volume, which is fairly significant.

I've given this design a lot of thought. In fact, I've been thinking about this sump for at least 6 months! An alternative would be to place some sort of sump next to the tank. While it could be easy, I'm not sure it's any more practical than the current plan.

Another poster asked if I had started the search for acrylic yet... and my answer is, well, that's what I'm doing here. This is the beginning of the search. I live in nowhere, New Hampshire. There really aren't any plastics resources around here. But what do you do, look in the yellow pages for "Guys who cut acrylic for aquarium sumps"? Nope.

Well anyway, the tank has done very well without a sump, but being a 30g, it could certainly benefit from a few more gallons of capacity, if anything, to help control temp fluctuations here during the summer.

Maybe a sump next to the tank would work as well, but I'd be facing extra plumbing and it wouldn't be very attractive in my living room. (well, it would be attractive to me, but others might consider it unsightly)

I dunno. Someday, I'll have a ginormous tank with a hugungous sump and dedicated fish room. Until then, I'm going to have the best damn 30g reef tank on the planet

--csb

 

[comatose]

Well, your predicament is a common one as far as space in the stand and living out in the middle of nowhere.
This is just a thought, Have you thought of building or buying an attachment to the current stand which would fit all the stuff you need for the tank in it. That would be an added benefit along with hiding everything, do you have that kind of room next to the current stand?

If you can’t do that idea then what about just ordering just a couple small sheets of acrylic and doing the cuts yourself or a handy friend or neighbor? Most places shy away from cuts, and just send you their stock sizes of acrylic.

Do you already have your bulkheads drilled into the tank(reef ready) or are you going over the top with the overflow and return?

 

[slavearm]

A lot of glass shops sell acryllic as well and will cut it for you. Try this link to find something in your area.

http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py...t=42.788380&sln=-71.201462&cs=4&Submit=Search

I put in acryllic, but you will probably have better luck using the term plastics, and maybe even glass.

 

[csb]

Some good ideas there ... non-drilled tank, so the overflow & returns are over the top of the tank.

I thought about putting a cabinet or something next to the tank in order to hold the sump, but it wouldn't really work. I live in a small-ish condo at a ski area and a cabinet placed like that would block the stairs and make the living room look small.

BUT... that did give me another idea ... and I've love to hear some opinions on this one, because it's "out there"...

I'd use a standard tank (probably another 30g tank) for a sump and place it next to the tank stand on the floor (on an appropriate base I'd build). Then, I'd build a nice enclosure around the sides of the tank... and when finished, it would like like a nicely done coy pond in the living room. I'd leave the top open and it would look like a pond... heck, I could even put one of those desktop rock garden fountain thingies in the middle, which would further the illusion of it being a pond/fountain/decoration (and hide the skimmer behind it), but would also aid in evaporative cooling and aeration.

The more I think about it, I almost like that solution better than trying to cram a 12 gallon custom sump beneath a stand that really doesn't want a sump beneath it.

Here's a question though, regarding plumbing for the sump (aka, "my pond") located next to the stand... with the drain coming from the siphon overflow, the drain pipe would have to run horizontally over to the sump. Would it work ok if the drain drops vertically about 2 feet, then travels horizontally to the sump at a slightly downward angle?

Return pump capacity is going to be 300gph with 3/4" pipe (to a SCWD), while the drain side will be 1" pipe.

--csb