At what point is acrylic 'better' than glass?

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Can I throw a marble at your glass tank when its done?

Because, you know.. you have shown that acrylic is "NOT" stronger than glass?

When we are done you can throw a brick at my 1" thick plexiglass G tank.

 

[h2so4hurts]

Can I throw a marble at your glass tank when its done?

Because, you know.. you have shown that acrylic is "NOT" stronger than glass?

When we are done you can throw a brick at my 1" thick plexiglass G tank.

Like I said about 15 pages back, lost hold of an 80lb rock covered in coral when I was transfering tanks and it smacked hard into the front pane. Instead of 500g on the floor, I have a nice dime sized scratch. That is much preferred.

 

[DJKNOX]

I do plan to likely have this aquarium built in place. This is going into a new house and so in theory it can be delivered a

Can I throw a marble at your glass tank when its done?

Because, you know.. you have shown that acrylic is "NOT" stronger than glass?

When we are done you can throw a brick at my 1" thick plexiglass G tank.

Acrylic as a material is not stronger than glass, but it is tougher for impact as you suggest. Please read my post a little closer. Anyway, I don't plan to bounce marbles or golf balls off my tank, and if that was a serious concern, then no glass aquariums would have been built for many decades. If YOU bounce such things off your tank, I would question your ability to run a reef aquarium!

 

[DJKNOX]

I couldn't imagine trying to transfer that tank to his house. I would think it would need to to be built inside of his house. Seeing that video of Rico's 500g glass tank video was brutal enough lol

I do likely plan to have this tank built in place - but am leaving delivery options open as this is going into a new house built to spec.. Certainly transporting a glass tank of this size with silicone seals is not a good idea.

 

[DJKNOX]

Can I throw a marble at your glass tank when its done?

Because, you know.. you have shown that acrylic is "NOT" stronger than glass?

When we are done you can throw a brick at my 1" thick plexiglass G tank.

With all due respect, I am not sure I want to take advice from those who throw bricks at their tanks!

 

[kangadrew]

DJKNOX, with all due respect - why are you still having this discussion? It is clearly going absolutely nowhere. You seem to be pretty heavily leaning towards glass, everyone in the thread is suggesting acrylic. I think you would be much better off having this conversation with whoever's going to build your tank instead of some strangers on the internet, especially when it can be the difference between hundreds of thousands of dollars lost and thousands of gallons of water in your home.

My 2c
-Drew

 

[DJKNOX]

DJKNOX, with all due respect - why are you still having this discussion? It is clearly going absolutely nowhere. You seem to be pretty heavily leaning towards glass, everyone in the thread is suggesting acrylic. I think you would be much better off having this conversation with whoever's going to build your tank instead of some strangers on the internet, especially when it can be the difference between hundreds of thousands of dollars lost and thousands of gallons of water in your home.

My 2c
-Drew

I am only responding to asinine comments from some here... like bouncing marbles and bricks of aquariums or that if I don't believe acrylic is better then I don't have the capability to undertake this aquarium. I would like to point out that I was running a 280 gal reef aquarium, complete with anemones, soft corals, Moorish Idols and Mandarins back in 1985 thru 2000 - and I didn't have all the equipment and high quality salt that is available today. I came to this thread looking for a quality discussion of glass vs acrylic, not fan-boying of acrylic. If you don't like my comments, you too can ignore this thread. Everything I posted above concerning glass vs acrylic is factually true - acrylic has many benefits, but it has its disadvantages too. This thread has been very useful in understanding why some are so enthusiastic about acrylic (fear of tank failure being the primary), despite over-simplifications like "acrylic is stronger."

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

And acrylic is optically clearer and doesn't suffer the distortion that glass does.

Everyone roundly agrees that acrylic is 5x 10x stronger than glass... except you. Because glass has a lower degree of deformity.

But no, you are right. I just got a package the other day that had a sticker on it. "Fragile, acrylic"

Lol

At this point its just a game. You really do have to love a thread where someone asks a question then debates peoples answers.

 

[DJKNOX]

And acrylic is optically clearer and doesn't suffer the distortion that glass does.

Everyone roundly agrees that acrylic is 5x 10x stronger than glass... except you. Because glass has a lower degree of deformity.

But no, you are right. I just got a package the other day that had a sticker on it. "Fragile, acrylic"

Lol

At this point its just a game. You really do have to love a thread where someone asks a question then debates peoples answers.

I never asked the question - I only commented to the thread, asked other's opinions and later corrected misinformation being propagated. By your logic, I could say that acrylic is far much weaker because it scratches easier. But I don't. Materials have strength, impact toughness, hardness and flexibility, among many other non-structural properties. Read my post if you want to understand the topic better - or don't. But please don't propagate incomplete assertions. And again, as for "clearer" it's 93% vs 91 or 92% for the same thickness. For double thickness of acrylic vs low iron glass, I'm sure its not detectable by the human eye. So the clarity argument only works against regular green-tinted float glass. Again, read the post.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Actually, i suggest you do YOUR research. The refractive index of acrylic is much closer to water than glass is. This is one of the reasons you cant tell how thick the acrylic is when viewing water throught it.

If glass is so strong... why are deep water submersible sub windows and windows on space craft made of acrylic? You cant cherry pick data to support your assumptions.

 

[h2so4hurts]

It does appear that at this point you are trolling. Best of luck. This behavior should not be encouraged on forums. I'm out.

 

[kangadrew]

It does appear that at this point you are trolling. Best of luck. This behavior should not be encouraged on forums. I'm out.

+1

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I know this has been debated to death by now.

Just a few observations. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. Not sure who said that originally but it seems to bear weight in this discussion.

Of all the large acrylic failures mentioned only one resulted in death and injury and the core reason is substandard Chinese acrylic panels. Unless you have experience with various cell cast acrylic you have no idea the difference in quality and process. There are two types of acrylic cross linked and linear and I am sure the tanks that failed in Disney World were cross linked and maybe a couple of the others as well. You see when you get into public aquarium size displays there are only a few players world wide and I know some of their work and reputations. Unless you know the difference you can not appreciate the difference in risk during the bonding phase. The other aquariums allowed time to save the majority of the livestock and no one was injured. A glass panel would explode and you would be riding a wave right out the nearest opening. If the panel was not tempered you would be cut by large shards of glass. Know a guy that builds submarines and there is no glass in any viewing panels...wonder why?

Before you build just try to get an insurance company to underwrite a policy for your glass aquarium. Compare the cost of that insurance and you will discover why cell cast acrylic is the choice of public aquariums world wide.

You never owned an acrylic tank but you are an expert and authority on both glass and acrylic?

As a manufacturer of acrylic tanks my insurance was $750.00 a year for $2 million aggregate. I could not find an insurance company to underwrite my purchase of an existing glass tank manufacturer that was for sale at the time. This was 1988 for a dollar comparison. Insurance companies must know something about risk would you agree?

 

[Victor_C3]

I read this thread in its entirety a few months back, right as I was preparing to place my order with a local builder for a custom tank.

I have had only glass tanks in the past and I seriously considered going acrylic this time, but I eventually opted for standard glass. The deciding factor for me was the ease of scraping coralline off of glass versus acrylic.

I’m away from home for multiple weeks several times a year. Scraping excessive coralline growth off my tank is unavoidable for me.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I read this thread in its entirety a few months back, right as I was preparing to place my order with a local builder for a custom tank.

I have had only glass tanks in the past and I seriously considered going acrylic this time, but I eventually opted for standard glass. The deciding factor for me was the ease of scraping coralline off of glass versus acrylic.

I’m away from home for multiple weeks several times a year. Scraping excessive coralline growth off my tank is unavoidable for me.

Now that is a reasoned choice given the various properties of both products!

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I never asked the question - I only commented to the thread, asked other's opinions and later corrected misinformation being propagated. By your logic, I could say that acrylic is far much weaker because it scratches easier. But I don't. Materials have strength, impact toughness, hardness and flexibility, among many other non-structural properties. Read my post if you want to understand the topic better - or don't. But please don't propagate incomplete assertions. And again, as for "clearer" it's 93% vs 91 or 92% for the same thickness. For double thickness of acrylic vs low iron glass, I'm sure its not detectable by the human eye. So the clarity argument only works again regular green-tinted float glass. Again, read the post.

I’m not trying to get in the debat I just wanted to let you know I own a 20 year old acrylic 300 gallon tank. The Dimensions are 96x24x28 and 1/2 inch thick. So I want to tell you after 20 years of use this tank is as clear as it was on day 1. No yellowing at all. Tank is cloudy on inside a little from normal cleaning a wear. Just needs some buffing and will be crystal clear. Tell me what glass tank would have seals that are not leaking after 20 years? 20 years !!!!! My only beef is the obvious a 300 gal with 1/2 acrylic has the whole top braced so only has little holes on top for access and due to the 1/2 acrylic I can see slight outward bow in front panel no one would notice except me. 20 years ago this is how they was being built. So anyways I’m in process of restarting that system after complete tear down to clean and buff inside of tank. Just thought I’d throw this out there to confuse you more

 

[kangadrew]

I read this thread in its entirety a few months back, right as I was preparing to place my order with a local builder for a custom tank.

I have had only glass tanks in the past and I seriously considered going acrylic this time, but I eventually opted for standard glass. The deciding factor for me was the ease of scraping coralline off of glass versus acrylic.

I’m away from home for multiple weeks several times a year. Scraping excessive coralline growth off my tank is unavoidable for me.

Definitely a valid argument and choice here. What size tank do you have?

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Lowell.. what part of WA state are you in? I thought for a second you were James from Envision.
FWIW, here is a picture of my DIY 600 acrylic build. James told me to go 1" for Zero deflection on the 30" tall panels and of course, he was right. Machining 1" thick acrylic is NOT fun. The tank was not full of water at the time. You can't see the waterline now. With the lights off, the tank looks AMAZING.

 

[kangadrew]

Lowell.. what part of WA state are you in? I thought for a second you were James from Envision.
FWIW, here is a picture of my DIY 600 acrylic build. James told me to go 1" for Zero deflection on the 30" tall panels and of course, he was right. Machining 1" thick acrylic is NOT fun. The tank was not full of water at the time. You can't see the waterline now. With the lights off, the tank looks AMAZING.

Very nice tank, I like the paneling around it. Got a build thread?

 

[Squidward]

Lowell.. what part of WA state are you in? I thought for a second you were James from Envision.
FWIW, here is a picture of my DIY 600 acrylic build. James told me to go 1" for Zero deflection on the 30" tall panels and of course, he was right. Machining 1" thick acrylic is NOT fun. The tank was not full of water at the time. You can't see the waterline now. With the lights off, the tank looks AMAZING.

Love that aquascape!