- Joined
- May 6, 2020
- Messages
- 95
- Reaction score
- 42
thanks for the feedback kangadrew. I am going for a 360 deg viewing island set up and yes some of my favourite fish are sand dwellers. The idea of making a ring of epoxy sand around the perimeter is something I will keep in mind if I go with acrylic. I love Joey's videos and yes that is exactly how I plan to clean my panels. But note that his 2000 gal aquarium has 1 viewing panel and its freshwater. So with a reef aquarium, i'm very worried about the coralline algae. I know with glass panels I can get a little more aggressive in removing it, but with acrylic...@DJKNOX, it may help to think of the worst case scenario with each option. With acrylic, you have the potential for a seam to fail IF you go with a shoddy manufacturer. Worst case, if you go a bit too thin, it bows. Acrylic will NOT shatter.
With glass - in time, the silicone deteriorates and tank fails. The amount of time this will take will depend on the quality of the craftsmanship. The other possibility is that before that happens, the pane just shatters without warning.
If I were going purely with glass or acrylic, the above settles it for me. A few options you might like:
- For an acrylic tank (or glass) - you can make an artificial sandbed. Mixing 2-part epoxy and the sand of your choice will let you make something that looks like a real sandbed, but it's hard to the touch. Would let you clean an acrylic tank without scratching it, and give you another plus of being able to keep a "sandbed" with super high flow. If you want a true sandbed for wrasses or other fish, you could do this around the edges and use loose sand in the middle.
- Overall - there are manufacturers that make tanks out of different materials like fiberglass, PVC, and steel. These can let you combine glass (or acrylic) viewing panels with a lightweight, strong frame. Less seals to fail and once you get over roughly an 8' by 4' footprint, it should get cheaper than pure glass or acrylic.
Few thoughts for you. Ultimately I would strongly advise against glass but hey man, your tank not mine.
- For cleaning a deep acrylic tank - the King of DIY has a 4 foot deep tank with acrylic windows. Check out this video. Shows some good, cheap ways to clean an acrylic tank.
As for design life, I asked that question before about acrylic tanks but never got much of an answer. This build will be used for 25 years. For the glass setup, yes I will likely have to re-seal the silicone once - big effort for sure. But acrylic has aging issues to - it can craze and haze, become embrittled, turn yellow etc.. and correct me if I am wrong, but once the acrylic is bonded, there's no easy way to start replacing panels. Sure would like to hear from acrylic tank owners who are past 15 years ownership...
Last edited: