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Acrylics, I found this in a thread from july last year. you made specific comments about the cell cast acrylic that is sold by Laird Plastics below. Bottom line, do you think that this acrylic is worth using and do you think that 1/2 inch or .47 inch thickness is enough for a 84x30x24 tank?
Lastly, what is a fair price for a tank like this made right?
Plesiglas GM is pretty good material, the rest of it is incorrect. Plex GM is made in Mexico so not exactly domestic (it's nickname is "MexPlex", and is made in a horizontal waterbath cell while Polycast is made in a vertical cell - does this stuff matter? not really but does show your instincts correct Unless he simply referring to "cell cast".
It's slightly cheaper than Polycast and not *quite* as good IMO but still good material. TruVu uses Plexiglas quite a bit for their tank as do many mfrs so is very suitable for aquaria.
The reasons I don't use it much, in case you're wondering, are four-fold, but none of them major.
A) does not come with the overage that Polycast does. A 4 x 8 of 1/2" Polycast measures 51 x 100, MexPlex is usually 49 x 97. The extra coupla inches makes yields come out better for me.
B) Generally, only comes in a handfull of colors, clear, black, white, bronze, and that's basically it. There are other but large minimums must usually be met.
C) For the most part, distributors only stock 4 x 8 sheets, while 5 x 8' and 6 x 8' sheets of Polycast are not at all uncommon.
D) MexPlex thickness is metric so 1/2" is actually 12mm (.472") while Polycast is imperial thickness so 1/2" actually measures .500".
Thanks for all the help.
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John
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