the big questern is how much bigger do you need to go in acrylic to glass say for example 8x3x3 or a 8x4x4 ?
GLASS VS. ACRYLIC
- Thread starter TCZeli
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Im in thé same boat as you. Will be moving into a house sôon & am wanting to build a 650/700g tank into thé wall. Brick, marine ply, epoxy. Thé question is, is that glass will be awésome but you gonna pay, but will last a lîfe time. Acrylic will be cheeper but im worried about the long term results (scratching cleaning) etc. Mabe bite thé bullet & bend thé plastic..?
From my personal experience with both glass and acrylic tanks, I would always go with glass from now on. Though I do own a 65 gal (36"x24"x18") acrylic and a 225 (72"x30"x"24) acrylic currently. My main reason is scratches, it's just way too easy to put a mark on it. I own numerous scratch repair kits and polishes. My next tank or tanks after these will be glass, I'll deal with the weight and no the headache of dealing scratches.
One thing I havent seen mentioned is the different types of acrylic, such as abrasion resistant acrylic which... obviously... is designed to withstand most scratches.
juanynfante;5049082; said:
When determining the appropriate size tank for a 3rd story apartment the weight of the actual tank is peanuts compared to it being filled with water. Acrylic or glass the difference when its filled is not much comparitively. if a 400 gallon glass tank is too heavy filled than a 400 gal acrylic will be too.
i prefer acrylic to glass, its lighter, clearer( unless you go with starfire, but thats $$$) holds in heat better, cleaner edges with no silicone or anything, so easy to drill, has ALITTLE give to it, so unlike glass if your stand is alittle un-even, it will flex and not crack like glass would. and if your carefull, you shouldnt have any scratches.
Hi,
Just wanted to drop some input to clear the air about glass vs. acrylic.
1) Acrylic scratches. Yup. We can't really deny that. But on the flip side, it comes out easily. There is a reason it is used in public aquariums where little kids are scraping against it all day. Acrylic can be buffed out, and made to look brand new again. A scratch repair kit is easy to come by as well.
2) Acrylic is lighter than glass. Yes, by about half actually.
3) Acrylic insulates better. This is one that almost no one ever mentions. An acrylic aquarium will insulate 20% better than any glass aquarium. Doesnt matter if you have cold water fish, but for a tropical tank, this is a pretty big deal.
4) Acrylic has almost the exact same refraction index as sea water. That means that there is no bending of light as it passes from the acrylic into seawater, providing brighter color and sharper shapes in acrylic aquariums. Even starfire glass has a small amount of iron in it, which gives it a bluish hue. Regular glass will have a green hue to it. Acrylic will virtually disappear if you drop it in water. We have a piece here at the factory that we show new employees. We drop it into the tank and see if they can find it. Pretty fun game actually.
5) We don't have silicone seams. Acrylic is chemically bonded, so the seam basically becomes a part of the acrylic itself.
We will give glass what it deserves though, for smaller applications it is the easier way to go. But for big jobs where you want something that looks absolutely perfect, yeah, acrylic is the way to go.
Just our thoughts at Tenecor
Just wanted to drop some input to clear the air about glass vs. acrylic.
1) Acrylic scratches. Yup. We can't really deny that. But on the flip side, it comes out easily. There is a reason it is used in public aquariums where little kids are scraping against it all day. Acrylic can be buffed out, and made to look brand new again. A scratch repair kit is easy to come by as well.
2) Acrylic is lighter than glass. Yes, by about half actually.
3) Acrylic insulates better. This is one that almost no one ever mentions. An acrylic aquarium will insulate 20% better than any glass aquarium. Doesnt matter if you have cold water fish, but for a tropical tank, this is a pretty big deal.
4) Acrylic has almost the exact same refraction index as sea water. That means that there is no bending of light as it passes from the acrylic into seawater, providing brighter color and sharper shapes in acrylic aquariums. Even starfire glass has a small amount of iron in it, which gives it a bluish hue. Regular glass will have a green hue to it. Acrylic will virtually disappear if you drop it in water. We have a piece here at the factory that we show new employees. We drop it into the tank and see if they can find it. Pretty fun game actually.
5) We don't have silicone seams. Acrylic is chemically bonded, so the seam basically becomes a part of the acrylic itself.
We will give glass what it deserves though, for smaller applications it is the easier way to go. But for big jobs where you want something that looks absolutely perfect, yeah, acrylic is the way to go.
Just our thoughts at Tenecor
I hear that acrylic tanks also hold temperature a lot better than glass tanks do. This means that keeping the temperature regulated in an acrylic as apposed to glass is a lot easier. I prefer an acrylic over glass just from what i've heard and researched.