Acrylic versus Glass

[tacocat]

Originally posted by JackRent
Good debate here. Still haven't spent the money, so bring it on. If I go glass I will be going low iron glass. I am still very much leaning towards Will at AO. Can urchins, starfish or other live stock scratch acrylic ??? Also, doesn't coralline gravitate to acrylic surfaces faster than glass surfaces ????

I've never had a problem with any echinoderms or mollusks. They have never scratched any of my tanks with their jaws. Coraline does adhere to acrylic far more, but It seems to come off just as easy IME.

I have had a few friends who had bad experiences with AO. Things may have changed though.

[asnatlas]

Originally posted by tacocat
I have had a few friends who had bad experiences with AO. Things may have changed though.

Mind going into details ??

[tacocat]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=383529
http://www.cvreefers.org/showthread....light=obsessed

The main complaint I hear is that it take quite a bit longer than the estimated delivery date. Then again, things may have changed for the better. Build quality looks good, and the price is great.

[tacocat]

Originally posted by xdusty6920
why would a glass tank just bust? i can only think of 2 reasons. 1) it had extremely weak seams and little to no bracing
2) the glass was far to thin and gave out with the pressure fromt he water.
in either case that is strictly a poorly built tank. its has nothing to do with glass being weak or not as strong as acrylic. if an acrylic tank was constructed with these same inadequate materials and methods, it'd be just as likely to bust. on that topic of strength, it doesnt have anything to do with glass or acrylic, it has to do with the builder.

Resurrection time.

The joint seam on acrylic tanks is significantly stronger than the joint seam on glass. Acrylic tanks are chemically bonded. Glass tanks are held together with flexible glue.

[Ironsheikh]

theres a guy on here w/ a glass tank thats lasted 30 plus years. I had to move a 65g tank full of substrate w/ 75g glass tank by myself off a stand clean it and they are solid quite a workout ...and I deadlift 400+lbs

I cleaned a little acrylic tank once -put it on its side and power washed the inside real quick and noticed the side was scratched just from sitting for that second

thing with the glass is it gets really heavy in the bigger sizes and just a little less expensive as an acrylic reef ready.

so when I upgrade I'll prob go acrylic cuz I never have anyone to help me move stuff around, just as expensive for a 252g delivered to my door, reef ready --

i'll just have to make sure I have a good acrylic magnet and keep any rock WAY AWAY from the front wall

[shivametimbas]

it was really a pain to clean this without scratching the tank!

[purpletang26]

acrylic for large aquariums and glass for small aquariums.
acrylic does scartch, but just keep the rock away from the front and the sides and you will be fine.i just don't want 800gallons of water all over the floor. The wife would kill me. So i would lean towards acrylic if your going with a big aquarium. Just my 2 cents

[Omar H]

So who are reputable builders of both acrylic and glass aquariums in the 180 plus sizes subject of this forum?

Such an endless discussion almost makes feel glad that I can't afford a new tank now in either material...

Omar

[Kennyboy1984]

What kind of glass are ALL GLASS aquariums made from? Just plain regular glass? Where does one get one of these "starfire" glass tanks?

[nyvp]

I dont know about you guys but most larger tanks ive seen on RC are made from glass. I have a new 560g and it took 6 people to move. My question is how often are you guys moving tanks around? If in 5 years from now you need to move it who cares? You break out a 6 pack and have a party. I have gone the acrylic route and HATED Hated Hated it !!!! The guy that built my tank has the same exact tank as mine and is going on 20+ years with no problems. I got low iron glass and saved 1500 on not going acrylic.

[dgasmd]

You could go on for years arguing about the same issues here. I had a 360g in acrylic before and now have a 750g in glass.

Acrylic:
-very light weight and easy to move. It took 2 people to move my 3/4" 360g tank before and took me and another pretty strong guy to move my current sump: 460g in 3/4" acrylic.
-material is extremely strong
-material is extremely flexible taking shaking (earthquakes) well.
-extremely easy to drill
-joints are virtually indestructible if built correctly
-it is by far the most clear material a tank can be made out of. Nothing compares to it in clarity.
-very good to ship as it will take tons of pounding and poor care by the shiper with poor crating and still make it just fine.
-just like any plastic, it attracts coraline like there is no tomorrow. It may not grow anywhere else in your tank, but the acrylic will grow it extremely well and fast.
-if you look at it the wrong way, it scratches. No matter how carefull you are, one is bound to scratch it pretty often and in too many places if you do try to keep it clean. Magnet or not, acrylic only pads or not, acrylic only blades or not, it will scratch almost the same. I scratched my previous acrylic tank before it made it even into the house. Then some more even without getting water into it yet. That was trying to be carefull.
-extremely easy to take scratches out, but it will take work. Just because it is simple it doesn't mean it is not annoying, tiring, tedious, repetitive, and a PITA for some of us.
-Plenty of extremely good manufacturers around the country.
-tends to get built and shipped quicker than glass.
-in larger sizes, price is pretty comparable to glass depending on the manufacturer of course.
-in larger sizes will almost always require a eurobrace in addition to cross braces.
-fairly easy to put into any location in a home, including a basement.

Glass:
-Extremely heavy. It would have taken 16+ people to lift mine (1,800 Lb dry). I am sure we would have dropped it too if we had tried. A little ingenuity and planning got it from a trailer into the stand inside the house in less than 25 min. with 5 people. Never lifted it once either.
-If you move frequently (>1 per year), you might want to re-think going this material.
-when going with thicker gass than 1/2", there will be a very noticeable green tint to the glass that may change the colors you see a little.
-One can use low iron glass in 1/2" and 3/4" for a clearer view. Hoever, even the low iron glass is nowhere near as clear as acrylic.
-not that many manufacturers of glass tanks as there are acrylic.
-they tend to take much longer to build than acrylic for some reason. I think it mostly has to do with the glass manufacturers being smaller outfits and are always running way behind in construction. That is not true to all of the manufacturers, but for the most part it is true for the majority.
-requires more delicate shipping with much better crating and care required.
-surprisingly, prices for shipping larger tanks are almost the same as for acrylic.
-would be a real chore to get into a basement if not having a walk out basement.
-very very easy to clean.
-most strong magnets will take off even coraline if used repeatedly without scratching the glass.
-Extremely forgiving on maintenance. I left my 360g go without cleaning the panes for about 8 weeks and took me 16+ hours to scrape the coralline off with allt he care in the world not to scratch it. I still got it scratched. I did the same to my glass tank a few months back and it looked almost the same as the acrylic. However, it took me an hour to get the it cleaned. No scratches.
-it does scratch too if one is extremely careless, but it takes a lot. HOwever, unlike acrylic, the scratches are permanent!

Personal conclusion:

I get out of the hobby before having another acrylic tank!!!!

[acroporia]

I know that glass sheets can be essentially glued together to make a thicker sheet of glass. Can this be done with acrylic and glass? I am wondering if you had an inwall tank and just wanted to transparently bond a thin sheet of Starfire glass inside the acrylic sheet that goes on the front would this work? I assume you would have to bond something like 1/4" Starfire to one side of the proper thickness acrylic and then build the acrylic tank as you normally, taking care to make sure the side panels fit flush against the edge of the glass sheet (and making sure you remembered to put the glass side inside the tank as you glued it up).

I appreciate this works best for tanks where you only see the front panel of the tank but with careful work you could probably also do it for the sides too. I guess if you were one of those neatness types that like the back to be completely clear you might have to do it all the way around. I am thinking that you might want to leave the back 100% acrylic to make it easy to put in bulkheads, overflows, closed looks, etc.

Just wondering.....

[dustybuddy]

Originally posted by acroporia
I know that glass sheets can be essentially glued together to make a thicker sheet of glass. Can this be done with acrylic and glass? I am wondering if you had an inwall tank and just wanted to transparently bond a thin sheet of Starfire glass inside the acrylic sheet that goes on the front would this work? I assume you would have to bond something like 1/4" Starfire to one side of the proper thickness acrylic and then build the acrylic tank as you normally, taking care to make sure the side panels fit flush against the edge of the glass sheet (and making sure you remembered to put the glass side inside the tank as you glued it up).

I appreciate this works best for tanks where you only see the front panel of the tank but with careful work you could probably also do it for the sides too. I guess if you were one of those neatness types that like the back to be completely clear you might have to do it all the way around. I am thinking that you might want to leave the back 100% acrylic to make it easy to put in bulkheads, overflows, closed looks, etc.

Just wondering.....

acro has a good point. what if u put a thin sheet of glass on the inside to make cleaning coraline and algae easier but kept the outside acrylic for the clarity.

ALSO what would happen if u had a glass tank and created a back chamber out of acrylic. would difference in expansion from temperature make this impossible??

[Untamed12]

Aside from all the other feedback...I've just begun to learn that the scratches I get in my acrylic tanks are caused by fish. As careful as I am, I can't stop the fish from occassionally slashing the walls.

I never even considered glass for my 400 gallon.

[steve the plumb]

so far I have 1 or 2 very small scratches on my acrylic 300 witch are not noticeable.I have a scratch removal kit but its to early for that.I only have had the tank about 4 months now and I have been very careful.I find when I had my glass tank I wasn't as paranoid about scratching it and I had the tank for almost 3 years and it never scratched.I did have a rock fall over on my acrylic tank and I thought the tank would have scratched but it didn't.I have read it takes some leg work to get scratches out.Mine are very superficial so I wasn't going to attempt anything.I figure if I get any bad ones then I will try to removal pads.

[Howieytown]

I asked this same question on the Cleveland reefers site and what I have to agree with is ...
that if you do your maintenance and cleaning very regularly you can get by with acrylic and all of its benifits but if your like me and spend the summers out of the house, sailing, scuba, cutting grass, etc, etc, etc, the easier the maintenance the better!

I'm planning on a bigger tank right now and I have let my 75 reef setup with fish go "unscraped" for sometime during the summer. Sometimes for 5 or 6 weeks at a time especially if I wasnt having any company over! My kids would complain that they cant see the fish, lol.
Then when I do clean it the coraline/algae etc scrapes right off with a thin metal scraper blade and looks like new! I dont think I could do that with acrylic!
If you have time to clean maybe acrylic is for you.
I have heard enough now that the 240 I want will probably be glass. I have seen older acrylic tanks going for pretty cheap but they all have that "used" look to them

[Chihuahua6]

I was wondering how acrylic owners get that stubborn coralline off. I have some crazy tough coralline on my glass tank and only a sharp razor will get it off. Also can you use the same method on acrylic if you're extremely careful as in go in one direction, clean the blade then go over it again?

[Dejavu]

I currently have an acrylic tank and hate it. the tank is scratched so bad it almost embarrassing to show it to anyone. Acrylic is a coralline magnet and if you don’t keep up with it will etch into the acrylic and leave scratches.

[FFrankie]

I have owned glass aquariums all my life. My latest one is a starphire tank that i built. The only dealings i have with an acrylic tank long term is my sump. That being said i am going for the acrylic on my 300 i am getting. I like the clarity compared to starphire and drill ability. I really don't want to drill another glass tank for over flows and CL again. And i want a clearer tank.
From what i have read it all comes down to personal preference. You really need to evaluate your husbandry. I am the guy who can't stand a tank with coralline on the glass or overflows and clean on a daily basis. I will remember this thread and post how i feel about acrylic next year. Happy new year everyone!