early stage design of my DIY around the corner 400 US gallon aquarium

[fsu1dolfan]

Your words Got me to change the plans quite drastically!
I did some more research on the polycarbonate and found out that the uv coating will only last for 3 years max.
I don't want my tank to turn yellow so I must take another material. The options are quite clear, acrylic or glass.

My nearby DIY store sells acrylic, 10mm thick for only €30 ($45) per square meter. However this might not be thick enough.
Could someone please tell me whether it's thick enoug or not?
The tank will be 85cm high and the longest panel is 205 cm. Don't forget the strong wooden frame.

If this acrylic won't work out I'll probably go with glass.

Can anyone help me here?

Troylee seems to be the Acrylic guy around here. Maybe he will chime in. Personally i am voting glass.

 

[CJO]

I'm not an expert on acrylic, but IMO 10mm is way too thin for acrylic. Glad you found out about the polycarbonate before it was too late! Good job Christian!

CJ

 

[Electrobes]

I'm not an expert on acrylic, but IMO 10mm is way too thin for acrylic. Glad you found out about the polycarbonate before it was too late! Good job Christian!

CJ

I agree with CJ on 10mm being a little thin... it would worry me on a tank that size.

Heh CJ, I remember first getting into reefing and asked my Dad to build me a "Bullet-proof tank" using polycarbonate. He just looked at me and told me to invent a perfect coating to go with it.

 

[Raven1645]

Silly question:
Would the most likely problem of too thin material be the breaking of the material, leaking at the joined points or bending of the material?
I'd like to know because then I might try to find a solution without having to pick another material.

 

[swannyson7]

Silly question:
Would the most likely problem of too thin material be the breaking of the material, leaking at the joined points or bending of the material?
I'd like to know because then I might try to find a solution without having to pick another material.

More than likely it will be a combination of the two. 1 cm acrylic will definitely bow with that much water behind it, and that will weaken the seams.

 

[Electrobes]

Man I would worry about all three. Acrylic can take some stress but once that thresh hold is passed.. boom. I just wouldn't take the chance. Why not use thicker material.. is availability an issue?

 

[Raven1645]

Man I would worry about all three. Acrylic can take some stress but once that thresh hold is passed.. boom. I just wouldn't take the chance. Why not use thicker material.. is availability an issue?

Well, price is an issue.
I mean, I am willing to pay as much as required for it, but thicker material will have to come from another store as my local one doesn't sell thicker than 10mm. 20mm would have a safe factor of 3,8 according to a site, but the cheapest 20mm thick that I've found goes for a whopping €350 per square meter whereas the 10mm at my local store goes for €30.
The project uses 7,9 square meters, so the 10mm would only cost €237 but the 20 mm would cost €2765(!)

So that's the main problem...

 

[Troylee]

Okay dude here it goes..... Not trying to be rude or anything here but I wouldn't even attempt to try and build that tank if i was you honestly..."polycarbonate" aka lexan is useless and can never be used to build anything that holds water there is no glue that will adhere to it for squat!!!!! I wouldn't be comfortable building that tank myself and I have done it for almost 20yrs... There is so much involved in the aquarium it is about as far as you can get from a tank to learn on.... With that being said you want to use 1" acrylic and Weldon 40/42 which needs a oven to anneal it to get to full strength... I can tell this is your first project and I honestly believe you would waiste tour money and time trying to build that... I would leave that one to the pros if I was you I wouldn't even touch it myself lol... Sorry...

It's comparable to acrylic on every point except strength. It's 250 times stronger than glass an thus unbreakable.
If you search youtube for 'acrylic vs polycarbonate' there is a video that shows the strength of the polycarbonate. It's quite amusing, especially if you like gauge shotguns .

Best way to join it is with silicone kit, but stuff like bison kit can also be used (but is more visible and toxic, so not recommended for aquarium use).
It's not very scratch resistant (about the same as acrylic) so care should be taken with metal objects (so no glass-algea scraper for example).

It has about 85% light puncture (so more than glass but slightly less than acrylic).

The reason it's not often seen in aquarium use is due its price. I can get it very cheap though because one of the main lexan (biggest producer of polycarbonate) factories is near, so my local DIY shop can get it quite cheaply.

 

[Troylee]

You wanna use 25mm acrylic or 19mm glass.... Fwiw that tank has so many stress points and causes for concerns it needs to be over built....

 

[Raven1645]

>>>

 

[Raven1645]

Okay dude here it goes..... Not trying to be rude or anything here but I wouldn't even attempt to try and build that tank if i was you honestly..."polycarbonate" aka lexan is useless and can never be used to build anything that holds water there is no glue that will adhere to it for squat!!!!! I wouldn't be comfortable building that tank myself and I have done it for almost 20yrs... There is so much involved in the aquarium it is about as far as you can get from a tank to learn on.... With that being said you want to use 1" acrylic and Weldon 40/42 which needs a oven to anneal it to get to full strength... I can tell this is your first project and I honestly believe you would waiste tour money and time trying to build that... I would leave that one to the pros if I was you I wouldn't even touch it myself lol... Sorry...

I'm not much of a give-upper so I'm afraid I'll have to pass your advise... I'll just do my best and see what is the result.

If you're talking about this being my first aquarium project, then you are correct. But I must add that I am rather good in crafting, designing and constructing, I actually won a few national contests with it!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be ignorant or rude, it's just that I won't drop the project that easily. Also I am sure that I am able to construct this project (I won't be doin it ALL by myself, by the way).

 

[Raven1645]

You wanna use 25mm acrylic or 19mm glass.... Fwiw that tank has so many stress points and causes for concerns it needs to be over built....

Yeah going with 19 or 20mm glass now .

 

[Raven1645]

say, what about toughened glass?