3/4in acry on 10x5x30 tank?
 

Hi i was wondering if i had to use 1in thick acrylic on a 10x5x30.

i was going to orginally have a 10x4x30in tank and the maker said that could be 3/4in acrylic. but i am wonderin if i go to 5ft wide can i stick with that or have to go to 1in thick?

do the tunze magnets still work for waveboxes on 1in thick acrylic?

any one have a tank this big with just 3/4in acrylic?

I am by no means an acrylic expert but I strongly believe 3/4" is too thin for a tank of this size. I would think 1" - 1.25" would be the right thickness. Tunze magnets work on a tank up to 3/4". Who is supposed to make the tank? I would call James from Envision Acrylics. I trust his opinion as expert and if I were to build a new tank I would use him.

I think 1 inch would be a minimum even though someone here has a 10 foot x 24 inch tall tank made out of half inch. 1.25 would be your safest bet IMO.

i would get as thick as u can afford. i have a 180 gallon 3/4 inch acrylic, this was one size up of what they recomend. believe me it cost more.

Tunze 6200 magnet will be able to hold the 6201 with 1" thick acrylic. I was going to use tunze magnet on my new setup (acrylic) but i decided to go different route. You can drill a hole on the euro brace for 1" bulkhead or 3/4" then order the tunze holder from wavysea (just the holder) to mount your pump so you don't have to worry about the magnet may scratch the tank. JMO

By doing that, you can adjust the pump up, down and left, right. It will cost way less than Tunze magnet holder

A lot depends on how you want the top of your tank. I wanted perimeter bracing only and my builder said definitely 1" acrylic and no less than a 6" perimeter for a 84"x36"x28" Stepping up to 1.5' I would have been able to get my perimeter down to 3"-4" but it added an additional grand to the overall price. Going from 3/4" to 1" is a big price jump, but going from 1" to 1.5" is serious coin.

Either way, with this being my 4th acrylic tank I'd never do a tank such as you are describing in 3/4". I just can't believe that you wouldn't start to see some noticeable deflection on your sides after the tank had been in place for a while. There's nothing worse than dropping several grand in a tank and having it start bowing on you 6 months down the road.

Brett

I have a 88x60x30 in 1". No problem with bowing. Be safe and go up.

I have a 120x48x30 in 3/4 made by Tenecor and it has no bow in it at all. Not sure about the 5' width though...my guess wouldbe to go with 1".

You could get away with 3/4" from a structural point of view but 1" would be highly recommended. 3/4" would require alot of bracing which limits lighting schemes. 1" would give more a warm fuzzy which IMO will help you sleep better at night :)

James

well looks like the guy who is making my tank was originally going to make it out of 1 in and 3/4 in brace and bottom. i was mistaken with what he told me. but with a 5 ft wide tank i might have to to go with 1 1/4 in thick. but not sure yet.

being 5' wide has no bearing at all to the material thickness required. The water pressure on a 120 x 30" panel is exactly the same whether the tank is 12" wide (front to back), 36", or 60" wide. Thickness is based on a per-panel basis and tolerance for bracing is the only other factor. If your tank is 120 x 24 x 30", the pressure on the front panel is exactly the same as a tank 120 x 60 x 30". Now on the 60" wide tank, you may require a crossbrace going length-wise, but that does not affect, in any way, the material thickness of the front if the crossbracing (front to back) is the same.

Hope this makes sense.

James