Acrylic or Glass for new 200 gallon build?

I am thinking about trying to build a 200 gallon tank (btw I know lots of risks involved, but want to try it), I know this is a loaded question for tank people but would you do glass or acrylic for a tank that size? Also can you get custom glass or acrylic that is 3/8"-1/2" thick at home depot or lowes?
Thanks
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
That would be a no on getting the material from HD or Lowe's. My suggestion would to be call either a glass shop or plastics fabricators in the area.
If I were building it myself, I would probably go with acrylic (cell cast material). The preferred brands of tank builders would be like Spartec and their Polycast sheeting or maybe Plexiglas brand and their Plexiglas-G (general purpose) sheeting.
Cheaper extrude or import brands of acrylic are typically fine for smaller builds and sumps. I'd recommend erring on the side of caution if you build it yourself and don't try to skimp on the material thickness. In any event you should be considering 3/4" inch acrylic for a 200g tank. Although, tank height is generally the determining factor when choosing the proper material thickness.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
1/2" with some hefty bracing around the top can be doable. You'd still end up with a significant amount of bow or flex in the material from the water pressure. To me this distorts the view but some don't seem to mind too much. In any case tanks of that size built with anything less than 3/4" are much more likely to fail over the long term in my understanding.
HTH
 
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