Glass to acrylic dumb,dumb,dumb

t316

Active Member
Totally agree....but you will never convince the acrylic supporters on here. They will swear by their "light weight", "easy to clean", "I can use polish to get the scratches out", "mine cost less than yours", .......should I go on.
 

osuaquarist

Member
Glass is awesome, especially for smaller tanks if you get starfire on the front pane. But I think acrylic is better for the really big tanks 500g+
 

t316

Active Member
I have a 280 starphire, and I have one small scratch that I did with a MagFloat way back when. And this was enough to convice me that I would never have an acrylic, not even 10,000 gal, unless it was about 10' out of reach of any visitors, or myself. It's practically impossible to clean these tanks without eventually scratching them. But I'm waiting, because I'm sure there will be somebody to jump in on this with their personal history of going 25 years and it's a God send material.
 

kjr_trig

Active Member
I have acrylic and love it....Yes, you have to be careful, it is really easy to scratch, but for larger tanks (anything 8 foot or more), I would always go acrylic. I would rather have the occasional scratch (which are repairable quite easily) than a total break. Acrylic is unbreakable, and the seams are stronger than glass.
 

wangotango

Active Member
Each has their pros and cons, and they've been listed too often.
Two words for glass owners though: seam failure...
-Justin
 

emtguy

Member
My 28g is acrylic and i love it...i knew it was prone to scratches but i made it scratch proof by being CAREFUL whenever im cleaning it or moving rocks, it takes a few extra seconds to be slow and methodical but its worth it.
 

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by WangoTango
http:///forum/post/2611672
Each has their pros and cons, and they've been listed too often.
Two words for glass owners though: seam failure...
-Justin
Two words for acrylic owners:
scratches, scratches, and those scratches fill up with algea and your mag float won't reach into the scratches to clean the algea.
Oh, sorry that was actually 22 words, my bad
 

aquaferg

Member
I hear acrylic bows easily and that is a bad thing for larger tanks. My LFS has a client who they changed his 250g acrylic to glass because it was bowing from the weight of the water. Let me end this post by saying I have NO IDEA either way and I am not advocating one or the other. I just know if my glass seams fail, My wife is going to kick my but and by by aquariums forever.
 

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by aquaferg
http:///forum/post/2612527
I hear acrylic bows easily and that is a bad thing for larger tanks. My LFS has a client who they changed his 250g acrylic to glass because it was bowing from the weight of the water. Let me end this post by saying I have NO IDEA either way and I am not advocating one or the other. I just know if my glass seams fail, My wife is going to kick my but and by by aquariums forever.
You are correct aquafer. But I have also heard of very large glass panels bowing. Not nearly as possible as acrylic, but with all of that weight, it is possible.
....and I hear ya on the wife. Dude, we are dead if it ever happens
 

robn

Member
Glass can actually have a slight bow also, not as much as acrylic though.....the only time bowing is a problem is when the sides are too thin or the span is just too long (for glass or acrylic).
This debate has gone on since the beginning of aquariums and will probably be going on long after we're all dead.....to each his own for this issue, whatever works for you. They both have their pros and cons. I've had several tanks of both and prefer acrylic myself......I'm down to only one tank now, a custom 480gal.
Acrylic/glass, skimmer types, lighting.....people get pretty passionate about these arguments.....just beware of anyone that says "my way is the only way"
 

turningtim

Active Member
Originally Posted by WangoTango
http:///forum/post/2611672
Each has their pros and cons, and they've been listed too often.
Two words for glass owners though: seam failure...
-Justin
Hate to tell you this but acrylic can also fail at the seams! My LFS had one bust on a ten yo tank. Acrylic can also fail out right. Yes the panel just can break just like glass. It happens don't fool yourself that acrylic is unbreakable b/c its not. Some of the largest tank failures I've read and heard about are acrylic tanks. Besides all that, if you find an acrylic tank that is cheaper then glass I wouldn't buy it. Cell cast acrylic is far more expensive then glass!
Tim
 

wangotango

Active Member
Not saying acrylic tanks are indestructable it does have problems, but how often do you hear of a seam failure on pieces of acrylic that are bonded together versus sheets of glass that are siliconed together?
I'm not playing any one side, but you can't say that one material has an absolute advantage over the other. The only time I would use acrylic would be on a large custom job. Every tank I've own so far has been glass, one of them had a seam failure, and one leaked.
-Justin
 
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