Jaymeany
Coral Dreamer
So whats the deal with Acrylic scatching? How easy does it scratch? how easy is it to repair? It seems that the scratching is the only thing saving glass and I'm looking into some new options for tanks and want some opinions.
Acrylic scratching
- Thread starter Jaymeany
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mattseattle
Well-known member
Honestly, Acrylic is really easy to scratch. You always have to make sure your surface is clean before you use your cleaning magnet and make sure the cleaning magnet itself is clean. It's easy to buff out light to medium scratches though but the deep ones are tough if not impossible without causing distortation. I am still an acrylic fan but my next tank may be glass. 
shallowreef
Well-known member
Acrylics are over rated i think.
mattseattle
Well-known member
He asked about scratching though not if it was over rated. Glass has it's benefits and acrylic has it's.
shallowreef
Well-known member
touche!!!!
Jaymeany
Coral Dreamer
So say for a large tank,, what would be the best? I like the low weight of ac. but I don't like the scratch factor. Why is Acrylic over rated? Now I asked
Jaymeany
Coral Dreamer
could someone start a poll of what material members tanks are made of?
Krish
RF STAFF
Man...My new acrylic tank has one little scratch (luckily on the side no-one can see) from not using the "acrylic blade" properly along the tank. I had it slightly tilted and WHAM! I now use a very sofy 200% cotton cloth that I stick my hand down in the tank and clean the glass with Not sure if that would be up someones alley who has a 6 footer, but works for me! I think the key is to make sure the blade (if using one) is rinsed off from all salt deposits etc and is used perfectly even and flat along the surface. Just my opinion on what I've gathered thus far
Not sure if that would be up someones alley who has a 6 footer, but works for me! I think the key is to make sure the blade (if using one) is rinsed off from all salt deposits etc and is used perfectly even and flat along the surface. Just my opinion on what I've gathered thus far
mattseattle
Well-known member
Oh I already 2 decent scratches. One is from when I put my algae clip on and sliding it down. I forgot to check the surface to make sure it was clean and sure enough it had a small rock in it and scratch! I almost cried - it was my first real scratch on the brand new tank.
Personally, the only negative I can think of for an acrylic tank is it scratches easy. The positives are it's super easy to drill and it's light weight. I also like the clarity of it but you can get starphire glass and it has nice clarity to it as well.
Personally, the only negative I can think of for an acrylic tank is it scratches easy. The positives are it's super easy to drill and it's light weight. I also like the clarity of it but you can get starphire glass and it has nice clarity to it as well.
Jaymeany
Coral Dreamer
I'm considering planning for a new big tank but I don't know what to do. Do you guys use a special computer program to plan a new tank? I've seen soem cool drawings.Oh yeah Acrylic ships easier too. I haven't found anyone in the NE that I can pick up from. Glasscages does do shows that you can pick tanks up from. We'll see I guess.
Scooterman
Well-known member
It is easier to drill a million holes through acrylic also, better temp. insulator & 10 times stronger, clearer also. Only One down fall I know is the scratches but we can live with them if we're careful to lesson them throughout time, just like a new car & that shiny new paint. If you want a really large tank, there will be a crossover point that acrylic would actually be cheaper if it is going to be really big that is.
mattseattle
Well-known member
I was thinking a glass tank would be cheaper at almost any size now. I was looking at glasscages prices and they looked awfully cheap for any tank. I don't know what current acrylic prices are but I know the retail price of my tank a year or so ago and boy not cheap.
Scooterman
Well-known member
Ok I'm probably wrong about that, I was thinking shipping all that weight, then to move it to your house & drilling it etc would add up in labor but yea now that I think acrylic is very expensive. Unless maybe if you made it maybe? naw probably not, you could make glass tanks also LOL
mfinn
Surgeonfish
mattseattle said:
I am getting a 240 from glasscages and if I had to pay full shipping it would have added $700 to the price of a $670 tank.
I got some preliminary bids on a tank approx. the same size and the cost was above $1600
mfinn
Surgeonfish
Scooterman said:
Since they are making it, I'm having the size holes "I" want in it.
Jaymeany
Coral Dreamer
I am very curious about glasscages. They seem very reasonable. Any good/bad experiences?
mattseattle
Well-known member
Scooterman said:
True and I forgot about shipping a glass tank so they would probably be close to equal or close to it. I guess we are lucky to have a couple of great acrylic fabricators in our area as well.
My next tank will probably be glass.....but who knows
Krish
RF STAFF
Big tank???? Couldn't say man...I've seen people have some bad experiences with acrylic tanks cracking and seems coming apart and then you hear of glass tanks falling through at the bottom. I've had both (glass and acrylic) I was happy with both. The glass is by far easier to maintain in terms of cleaning. You just grab a razor and go to town, but the acrylic I think is a lot easier to deal with in terms of DIY'ing it. Much easier to drill etc...I guess that will be totally up to you. I couldn't say what I'd get if I upgraded to a bigger tank
james734
Well-known member
krish75 said:I couldn't say what I'd get if I upgraded to a bigger tank
Funny you say that Krish considering you seem to be going down in size more than going up..
I've had both glass and arcylic. They both have there advantages and disadvantages. I think you just have to figure out the plus and minus for both and then make a determination on what exactly you want.
shallowreef
Well-known member
The reason i say that acrylic is over rated is yeah its lighter and easier to drill and all that stuff that scooter mentioned, but look at the price difference! Okay now lets look at the weight difference, now i don't know exactly how much lighter acrylic is from glass but lets say on a 125 its 100lbs less. Is that 100lbs really going to matter when you fill it with water and add 100lbs of LR and 40lbs of LS? And unless you plan on moving your tank once a month the weight is really going to make a bit of difference. Now lets look at how easily it scratches. I believe matt said he scratched his from moving a vegi clip that had a rock stuck under the suction cup? Thats insane to pay all that money and then have it scratch that easily. Lets it face no matter how careful we are things are going to happen, its just a fact of life. Also to be honest with you if you look up any tanks breaking i am willing to bet that out of 10 incidents 7 were with acrylic. Any big tanks that i have ever seen are usually made with glass. I think if the price of acrylic came down then it would change my mind but until then i will take a glass tank any day.
Nick
GO GLASS
Nick
GO GLASS
