By "pc" I mean poly carbonate. Is that what your front window pane is? I keep seeing "pc" through out the thread.... I must be missing something....
PC on this thread equals POND COATTheFishGuy;3985054; said:By "pc" I mean poly carbonate. Is that what your front window pane is? I keep seeing "pc" through out the thread.... I must be missing something....
Ok, I'm LOL, I've been working with poly carbonate quite a bit lately LOLnolapete;3985132; said:PC on this thread equals POND COAT
My window is cell cast acrylic. As far as I know, poly carbonate is an extruded product and not acceptable for large aquarium construction.
Extruded polycarbonate is more than strong enough for a fish tank. But it will be more expensive and more flexible at a given thickness. But if you can get leftover for free or cheap from work then it's worth considering. I have found polycarbonate harder to scratch and much harder to polish vs. acrylic.TheFishGuy;3986288; said:Ok, I'm LOL, I've been working with poly carbonate quite a bit lately LOL
Why wouldn't poly carbonate work? What reasons besides it's an extruded product are there?
EXTREMELY BAD ADVICE! It is well-known that extruded is NOT strong enough to hold the pressures of larger aquariums. While extruded may work for sumps and smaller aquariums. DO NOT attempt to use on larger aquariums. You need CELL CAST acrylic.CJH;3986988; said:Extruded polycarbonate is more than strong enough for a fish tank. But it will be more expensive and more flexible at a given thickness. But if you can get leftover for free or cheap from work then it's worth considering. I have found polycarbonate harder to scratch and much harder to polish vs. acrylic.
There is a lot of fuss made on fish forums about "extruded", "continous cast" and "cell cast" acrylic.
Unfortunately with all of the cheap cell cast acrylic coming in from China it's no longer as simple as saying one is better than the other. There are cell cast acrylics I would not use for a large aquarium. I might use them for a window in a plywood build but I would not use them if surface prep and solvent welding an entire acrylic tank were my goal.
So without getting anymore indepth, I'll just say that it's no longer a case where acrylic is always better than polycarabonate and cell cast acrylic is always better than continuous cast or extruded.