Just my opinion.
I will settle it for you from a liability and insurance stand point. 30 plus years ago I had the opportunity to purchase a fairly large regional glass tank manufacturer. When I went shopping for liability insurance not one company would underwrite the policy period. Then I looked at establishing my own company fabricating acrylic aquariums and 2 million aggregate only cost me $750 per year. In the actuarial tables there were very low risk levels for acrylic...not so with glass. I manufactured acrylic aquariums up to 16' long and 4' tall for over 30 years. Guess what those large tanks are still on display and being used today. I am glad I listened to the insurance companies and not the guy selling the glass aquarium company.
All the claims about yellowing are a thing of the past due to all the manufacturing processes using UV stabilized acrylics.
Acrylic is 6-10 times more impact resistant. Acrylic just like glass can scratch but just try to re-polish a glass tank with a scratch. Acrylic is lighter and I often delivered aquariums up to 240 gallons by myself...try that with glass. Moving a large glass tank is just dangerous and all it takes is a small tap to an edge or corner and the tank is chipped, split and done. Hopefully you or your buddies did not get seriously cut in the process.
Every professional level public aquarium has acrylic or glass clad acrylic panels. Guess why...thermal efficency, and impact resistance. Yep it is for the safety of their guests.
Bad mouth acrylic all you want but when it comes time to resell any aquarium you will only get pennies on the dollar since no one wants a used aquarium that might leak.
Alot of the custom glass tanks you can buy today are way more expensive than acrylic due to risk of damage due to shipping and crating requirements. And in an effort to make them stronger you often have big black seams to reinforce the main panels. Acrylic seams properly done are water clear and just as strong as the parent material.
I have noticed many manufacturing companies using continous cast or extruded acrylic for sumps and small tanks and this is just not acceptable. Only properly gauged cell cast acrylic with proper solvent bonds should be used ever. That means forget the Sci grip junk like weld on 3, 4, 16, and 40. 42 can be used for some designs but the panels will separate with impact cleanly along a seam versus using proper on site mixed solvents.
I will never convince some of the haters of acrylic until their beloved glass tank splits or explodes some day or night in front of them. In all the years of building acrylic I only had one warranty claim and it was due to using weld on 4 early on in my career. I researched the problem developed a solution, built the customer a new tank, and paid for the replacement livestock. Fortunately there was no damage to the customers house. I would do it all over again with acrylic versus glass. And yes I built and sold glass tanks for many years and have the experience necessary to just about build any glass tank I want. For any tank over 70 gallons I will never use glass due to the damage potential and liability.
Good luck with your choice.
I will settle it for you from a liability and insurance stand point. 30 plus years ago I had the opportunity to purchase a fairly large regional glass tank manufacturer. When I went shopping for liability insurance not one company would underwrite the policy period. Then I looked at establishing my own company fabricating acrylic aquariums and 2 million aggregate only cost me $750 per year. In the actuarial tables there were very low risk levels for acrylic...not so with glass. I manufactured acrylic aquariums up to 16' long and 4' tall for over 30 years. Guess what those large tanks are still on display and being used today. I am glad I listened to the insurance companies and not the guy selling the glass aquarium company.
All the claims about yellowing are a thing of the past due to all the manufacturing processes using UV stabilized acrylics.
Acrylic is 6-10 times more impact resistant. Acrylic just like glass can scratch but just try to re-polish a glass tank with a scratch. Acrylic is lighter and I often delivered aquariums up to 240 gallons by myself...try that with glass. Moving a large glass tank is just dangerous and all it takes is a small tap to an edge or corner and the tank is chipped, split and done. Hopefully you or your buddies did not get seriously cut in the process.
Every professional level public aquarium has acrylic or glass clad acrylic panels. Guess why...thermal efficency, and impact resistance. Yep it is for the safety of their guests.
Bad mouth acrylic all you want but when it comes time to resell any aquarium you will only get pennies on the dollar since no one wants a used aquarium that might leak.
Alot of the custom glass tanks you can buy today are way more expensive than acrylic due to risk of damage due to shipping and crating requirements. And in an effort to make them stronger you often have big black seams to reinforce the main panels. Acrylic seams properly done are water clear and just as strong as the parent material.
I have noticed many manufacturing companies using continous cast or extruded acrylic for sumps and small tanks and this is just not acceptable. Only properly gauged cell cast acrylic with proper solvent bonds should be used ever. That means forget the Sci grip junk like weld on 3, 4, 16, and 40. 42 can be used for some designs but the panels will separate with impact cleanly along a seam versus using proper on site mixed solvents.
I will never convince some of the haters of acrylic until their beloved glass tank splits or explodes some day or night in front of them. In all the years of building acrylic I only had one warranty claim and it was due to using weld on 4 early on in my career. I researched the problem developed a solution, built the customer a new tank, and paid for the replacement livestock. Fortunately there was no damage to the customers house. I would do it all over again with acrylic versus glass. And yes I built and sold glass tanks for many years and have the experience necessary to just about build any glass tank I want. For any tank over 70 gallons I will never use glass due to the damage potential and liability.
Good luck with your choice.
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