Glass vs Acrylic

[grouper42]

In a 225 or 230 gallon tank. If acrylic is that easy to scratch and such a pain why is there a market at all for them. I am not that woried about the weight but what would the difference be? Do acrylic tanks usually have built in overflow filters like my Oceanic does? I did a search and saw that Tenecor is a good but $$$ maufacturer of acrylic. I also found a company on the internet called Advanced Aqua Tanks. Any opinions on either company?

 

[beefller]

I currently have an acrylic tank and yes they do scratch. The good thing is if you get a scratch, it is really easy to fix. You wont believe the difference in the weight too. I wont have another glass tank because if I ever decide to change setups (like I have done in the past) and need an extra or bigger hole in the tank, I do it myself. I dont have to take it down to the glass shop to drill it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[whipple]

I have protective laminates applied to all my tanks, and damn do they work well. Just a thought but something you might think about. We have a child and his freinds are over alot and the laminate can withstand a bb gun shoot with out cracking for the glass and if for some reason if it gets scratched i can remove protective laminate and reapplie a new one. HTH

[hr]
Bill

 

[jimi]

Scratches may seem simple to repair until you are repairing them constantly which is what will happen over time with acrylic.

 

[grouper42]

Are these mostly exterior or ******** scratches tht are the problem? No one touches my current tank but me. I am not afraid of exterior scratches that much for that reason. If you are very careful on the inside can you avoid this problem.

 

[jimi]

******** would be the problem. The glass/ acrylic will need to be cleaned frequently to rid it of algae. Some of this algae is very hard and needs to be scraped off not just brushed over with a magnet. I have scratched my glass in places with live rock or places that sand got between the magnet and the glass, acrylic is a 100 times worse.

 

[apexkw]

on my acrylic tank i have a sponge that is only for acrylic. also i clean the glass by hand not with a magnet that way i can make sure that there isnt any sand in the sponge. and for the hard to remove coraline algea i have a plastic sraper similar to the metal ones for glass. several lfs's told me that they wouldnt even carry glass IF acrylic didnt scratch so easily. the one store said that it mostly scratches from people using the wrong thing to clean their tank. IMO i love acrylic and i am not going to get another glass tank.