Acrylic or Glass
- Thread starter dad&son
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chuckcac
Member
sure... this is what i can think of off the top of my head :thinking:
glass pros;
easy to clean, hard to scratch, cheaper
glass cons;
very heavy, could crack/shatter, impossible to drill (if tempered)
acrylic pros; :thinking:
lighter weight, easy to drill, (almost) impossible to crack/shatter
acrylic cons;
easliy scratched, harder to clean(b/c it's easy to scratch), more expensive.
others may have more experience with the diffrences.... but this is what i've read
glass pros;
easy to clean, hard to scratch, cheaper
glass cons;
very heavy, could crack/shatter, impossible to drill (if tempered)
acrylic pros; :thinking:
lighter weight, easy to drill, (almost) impossible to crack/shatter
acrylic cons;
easliy scratched, harder to clean(b/c it's easy to scratch), more expensive.
others may have more experience with the diffrences.... but this is what i've read
stanlalee
Active Member
Glass=cheap, scratch resistant and unless you are doing something extrememly large or exotic there really isn't good reason not to use it.
acrylic alot lighter, no green tint (clearer than glass), customizable, repairable and suppose to be stronger. scratches easier (suppose to be repairable) and the top of acrylic tanks are often half covered with acrylic for structure so access to some parts of the tank is difficult.
I dont see why you'd consider acrylic for a standard size 125 or 135g.
acrylic alot lighter, no green tint (clearer than glass), customizable, repairable and suppose to be stronger. scratches easier (suppose to be repairable) and the top of acrylic tanks are often half covered with acrylic for structure so access to some parts of the tank is difficult.
I dont see why you'd consider acrylic for a standard size 125 or 135g.
dad&son
Member
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
Glass=cheap, scratch resistant and unless you are doing something extrememly large or exotic there really isn't good reason not to use it.
acrylic alot lighter, no green tint (clearer than glass), customizable, repairable and suppose to be stronger. scratches easier (suppose to be repairable) and the top of acrylic tanks are often half covered with acrylic for structure so access to some parts of the tank is difficult.
I dont see why you'd consider acrylic for a standard size 125 or 135g.
The main reason was 2 young children and a dog and a lack of flood insurance if one of them sends a baseball into it .But also the transportation of the tank itself would have to drive either on 60 plus miles to get home.
Glass=cheap, scratch resistant and unless you are doing something extrememly large or exotic there really isn't good reason not to use it.
acrylic alot lighter, no green tint (clearer than glass), customizable, repairable and suppose to be stronger. scratches easier (suppose to be repairable) and the top of acrylic tanks are often half covered with acrylic for structure so access to some parts of the tank is difficult.
I dont see why you'd consider acrylic for a standard size 125 or 135g.
The main reason was 2 young children and a dog and a lack of flood insurance if one of them sends a baseball into it .But also the transportation of the tank itself would have to drive either on 60 plus miles to get home.
stanlalee
Active Member
the trip home is a non issue as far as weight is concerned. any two grown men can carry a 125/135 quite easily and if your car/truck can carry a fat lady then a 125 will be cake. I can only speak for having one young child but there is no way in hell anybody is flinging balls around in the house hard enough to break tanks. A casual "oops" thrown by a kid isn't going to break a large glass tank. Perhaps a good wack will put a crack in it. At which point they are old enough, strong enough and dumb enough to break a tank by throwing balls you should be checking their book bag for weed. Now if you are already replacing windows on a regular basis well go ahead and get the acrylic.
Its alot more likely you'll flood the floor yourself upon set up, equipment failure and/or getting familiar with your equipment. If you get a coralife super skimmer and dont have it in the the sump with the remote collection port capped plan on it. I dont think that came out right
Its alot more likely you'll flood the floor yourself upon set up, equipment failure and/or getting familiar with your equipment. If you get a coralife super skimmer and dont have it in the the sump with the remote collection port capped plan on it. I dont think that came out right
dad&son
Member
Hopefully they are still to young to be smoking weed but he does have a hell of an arm. No New windows yet but not for lack of trying on their part I believe .I was mostly conserned about traveling with the tank as far as bumps and road conditions .The truck is in good shape with an excellent suspension just never moved anything that was glass that was that big.
seasalt101
Active Member
i have heard that pistol shrimp can break glass it's what i have heard anyway tobin
hatessushi
Active Member
I've never had a problem with scrtching my 90 acrylic. Granted it will scratch easier than glass but I don't do anything to scratch it.
On the other hand with glass I don't feel secure in the knowledge that it can break or the seams can come to leak whereas acrylic I don't have to even think about it. To me it is a no brainer, go with the acrylic. Of course if you are prone to using equipment that would scratch it or are careless enough to scratch it then I would reconsider.
On the other hand with glass I don't feel secure in the knowledge that it can break or the seams can come to leak whereas acrylic I don't have to even think about it. To me it is a no brainer, go with the acrylic. Of course if you are prone to using equipment that would scratch it or are careless enough to scratch it then I would reconsider.
tacoma38
Member
acyrlic holds it value too,no one said that. and all the scratchs can be buffed out.bought mine because of a bad back.Me and a friend moved my 180 gal into basement and my back didnt hurt.by are selves i mite add and that means alot.Cant always get people to help and they will not help no more once they help the first time.they seem to be busy from there on.I found staying away from the bottom and cleaning it last helps alot.Just be super,super careful and you will be happy with it.And you have alot more options when it comes to flow.You can drill acyrlic,most lfs want about 30 to 35 a hole to drill.So glass can be very restrictive and by the time you get all the holes you want,you dont really save that much.Also them three hole that come in glass isnt enough for reef.My thoughts your choice.Have fun.
twobitt
Member
I debated about this for a while before purchasing my tank and decided to go with acrylic simply for the fact that it is next to impossible to break. I have a 2 year old son and a couple of teenagers and the chance of something hitting a glass tank and breaking it may be small but it is still there and something I would rather not risk.
gnorman
Active Member
i have glass on my 150. i love it. we got the star fire crystal on the front panel so there is no green tint. its crystal clear. i don't have to worry about it scratching. is its heavy tho but,... 2 grown men could still carry it. you just have to be very careful. its not like ur going to move it half full, even with an acrylic tank you wouldn't do that, so why is weight such a big deal?
if ur worried about it cracking, then either go with acrylic or just go with a thinker glass
if ur worried about it cracking, then either go with acrylic or just go with a thinker glass