glass or acrylic

[Anonymous]

glass or acrylic for a 180-240gal reef setup

 

[Anonymous]

swater,

FWIW, I have a 150 gal acrylic, and would hesitate to ever have one again. Glass can easily be scraped clean, and is not as easily scratched. Knowing what I know now, I might have less problems with acrylic, but since I can't see through the bottom 3" of my tank, it is hard to give in to acrylic again. With this all said, it does have advantages in being less prone to crack, more easily moved, and clearer. hope this helps. Adam

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When did this become a habit instead of a hobby???

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, its hard to say,I have an Acrylic tank now and love it..I had a 70 gal glass show tank for many years and loved it...it was scratched so bad you could hardly see inside.


Mark

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see my tank at
members.xoom.com/golfish1/reef.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Are there any companies that offer to bond some sort of clear scratch resistant coating to acrylic? I live in So. CA and am worried that if I setup a 180g glass tank it might crack in an earthquake, otherwise I'd opt for glass. Anyone know how big an earthquake glass tanks can endure?

 

[Anonymous]

my 70 gal tank got throught the Whittier narrows quake and the Northridge quake...just lost lots of water.In the WN quake the tank moved about 2-3" on the stand,plus lost about 15-20 gal of water,I had to drain the tank to move it back on the stand.I didn't have any salt mix so I had to wait until the LFS opened to buy salt.

I should add that this tank was a very well built tank and had extra thick glass with a extra extra thick bottom.

I always keep extra salt now.

Mark

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see my tank at
members.xoom.com/golfish1/reef.htm




[This message has been edited by golfish (edited 20 January 2000).]

 

[Anonymous]

I much prefer glass to acrylic. The only thats bad is clarity in the larger thickness. You should be able to get starphire for you tank tho, any larger than that and starphire wouldnt be availible.

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Dan
Minotaur15 on #reefs
Captive propagation will be our salvation. Do your part.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Swater,

Obviously there are benefits to both types of tanks. How cold does it get in your part of the country? Acrylic is a better thermal insulator, thus less heat loss during the winter. Do you ever plan on moving the tank? An acrylic tank at 180-240gal will weigh at least 1/3 to 1/2 as much as a glass tank (depending on the thickness of the glass on a comparable glass tank). How much time will you have to devote to cleaning the tank. Glass tanks take less time, you have to be more careful with acrylic tanks. With the same setup (aquascape, plumbing, etc..), a glass tank can take half the time to clean. Can the substrate and structure that the tank will sit on take the extra 300-500 pounds that the glass tank will add (versus acrylic) ? There are alot of factors that you have to weigh before choosing glass or acrylic.

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. Im still undecided though, every thing I hear and read is about 50/50. I don't plan on moving but I do live in Michigan (-20 wind chill today), and I have lost a large tank to a broken seal. I guess I might try acrylic be carful and live and learn...

 

[Anonymous]

They sell acylic plastic scrapers 2' long so you can see what your doing when you clean your tank. I only have had glass one's fail never an acylic one. They are DIY and look nicer. My reef now has very few minor scratches by the substrate. My new tank 150g is gonna be acyrilic also but it's all preferance. You just have to be a little more care full cleaning and DON'T get anything on the cleaning pad. I have one just for the upper part and one just for the substrate area just incase a rock gets in there.