WTB New Tank - Glass or Acrylic?

[Captain Quirk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7788056#post7788056 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikedege
Its simple, Kids like fish/coral. And love to touch the glass/acrylic. With acrylic, its difficult to keep it from getting scratched. Even small scratches bother the heck out of me. And imagine years of kids touching your acrylic tank.

Can anybody with acrylic tanks, and kids give their opinion?

-Mike

I knew what you were getting at when you said it.

Think BIG SCREENS TV's and screen protectors... Nuff said.

 

[Fmellish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7787722#post7787722 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikedege
For me it was an easy decision.

Children - Glass

No children - Acrylic



-Mike

For me it was an easier decision.

Children - Acrylic, (since glass can break)

No children - Glass, (since I don't need to worry about kids throwing hard objects at it).



If I ever change to a new tank I will give glass a closer look. I hate the whole green look of it, but the scratch factor of acrylic is a major detractor. I recently added large scratches to all the sides of my acrylic tank as I was mag floating it. I didn't even notice until I was done.

Josh

 

[ScotchMaster]

My uncle had a brand new 180 acrylic and the thing bowed like crazy....I dont feel safe when tanks bow that bad

 

[diddye]

i guess i'll chime in. My tank is acrylic and from glass cages. I got it b/c it was light, i was scared of earthquakes, and it is stronger then glass. Glasscages isn't the best build but i'm very happy about mine. They glue the pieces together but the bottom overlaps. But thats fine b/c I cover it w/ sand so you can't see anything. the service was great and the shipping was fast. Best of all its cheap!

 

[diddye]

btw they cut holes for overflows. I think its like $10-15 bucks per. They ask where you want it and how large.

 

[SPSFiend]

I am surprised that no one has chimed in more on the stregth of acrylic vs glass. Glass is glued together with silicon and acrylic is chemically welded together.

I love glass tanks and have only had glass tanks. I have so much coraline growth on my glass that I cannot imagine getting it off of acrylic. I had also heard that acrylic and get foggy after years...

Having said that, I recently had/have a problem with my 180G leemar starphire tank. The overflow leaks!!! I managed to place all my corals as low as possible and drain the tank about half way. I re-siliconed the top half of the overflow (it takes 24 hours to dry).

The overflow still leaks and my project for this weekend is to take everything out, drain the tank and re-silicon.

I have heard that you cannot get silicon to bond to arylic like it does to glass and it only last a couple years. I think it is BS that my over flow is leaking and now it got me worried that my tank might come undone some day. I now would feel more peace of mind if I had an acrylic tank.

 

[SPSFiend]

Can anyone quell my fears? My tank is about 3 years old

Thanks!

 

[ScotchMaster]

SPSFiend - My acrylic overflow has a layer of glass bonded to the inside of it Im guessing thats how they get the better bond with silicone

 

[BONDQ]

I have a 300G 3/4" acrylic tank.

I would say that acrylic must be more forgiving to stress and shock being as it is chemically bonded at the seams and is somewhat pliable, which glass is certainly not. Well not without a bunch of glass on your floor.

Glass is extremely strong, but it would scare me if a big rock rolled down and hit one of the panels. Even if it did not crack or chip the glass, it could conceivably "pop" or stretch a seal.

Acrylic would behave differently in the same situation.
It would scratch badly, but would be fixable. There is little to no chance in having an issue with the seal, if the tank was properly constructed to begin with.

I don't even know if it's possible to crack 3/4" acrylic, nor can I think of something strong enough to do that. I have heard that 1/2" and up acrylic is bullet-proof, so that says a lot.

The strength of the tank be would greatly dependant on the thickness of acrylic, as well as the positioning and strength of any braces, also known as Euro-braces on the top of most acrylic tanks. These serve to hold the longer pieces (front and back) of the tank together.

Any tank has "flex", much like a house moves during an earthquake.

I think that most of you with 100G+ acrylic tanks would be shocked to put a carpernter level across the face of your tanks, to find that the level will not sit perfectly flat. The pressure of the water results in some bowing of the tank. I would think that this same thing would instead occur at the seams of a glass tank, which is enough to freak me out.

That would mean that a glass tank has seams that are not bonded chemically, are forced to flex (since the glass pane cannot without breaking), and the sealant being used has a "life-span" that will ultimately need replacement.

I think everyone should get the tank they are most confortable maintaining. Scratches or seals, everyone is going to have to deal with something.

 

[john37]

here's a gorgeous starphire glass tank that you should look at.
it's so beautiful i want to cry.
starphire, braceless tank

BTW. only negative, probably cost A LOT! Hope you're rich or willing to spend top dollar on a gorgeous tank.

 

[Captain Quirk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7790642#post7790642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by john37
here's a gorgeous starphire glass tank that you should look at.
it's so beautiful i want to cry.
starphire, braceless tank

BTW. only negative, probably cost A LOT! Hope you're rich or willing to spend top dollar on a gorgeous tank.

Whoah.

Very nice... Wish he'd said what it cost, though. Be nice to know...

Not sure how comfortable I would be with the pvc bottom, though. The issue of not being able to be bonded to the glass disturbs me somehow (but then again, glass doesn't get bonded either...). Different heat expansion characteristics and such still make me wonder.

All in all, though, I still think I'm gonna go with glass.

 

[ichthyojason]

Despite the scratching issue - I think I am leaning towards acrylic - assuming I can afford it. (Which is a big assumption!)

Does anyone have any dealings with Atlantic Tropical Fish in Artesia? I was in there this weekend - and the tank guy was about as rude as possible. They had some good looking tanks in there, but still wondering . . . . .

 

[BONDQ]

I live in Orange County and I looked for a local builder for my 300G tank.

I found that I could get almost anyone to be the middle-man and "get" me what I wanted as far a tank was concerned, but that they couldn't get exactly the stand and canopy I wanted or they didn't do custom sumps, or stuff like that.

I know that there ARE a few custom builders locally, but I wasn't impressed with some of the stuff they did.

Ultimately, I got frustrated with the locals and contacted Chris at Midwest Custom Aquariums.

Midwest Custom

He made my tank to order, exactly to request.
He was also willing to adjust the design to meet up with additional requests. He even finished a couple of weeks early.

Although shipping 1,000 lbs. was pricey, it was worth every penny.

The tank, the steel-framed stand, canopy, and sump, all turned out very nicely.

Keep in mind that you don't get a new tank often, so make sure and get exactly what you want the first time.

 

[ichthyojason]

Any other suggestions for builders out there?

 

[ever818]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7803923#post7803923 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ichthyojason
Any other suggestions for builders out there?

I have a LEE-MAR dimond edge i think LEE-MAR is top quality for glass tanks.

i would never get an Acrylic tank they scratch 2 easy, I have a friend w/a 75 gal n one day he got his magnet n it had sand under it n
scratch the front of the tank.

It looks like crap :mad2: