Starfire Glass vs. Acrylic

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JMacIII

JMacIII

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 20, 2005
Messages
56
Location
Des Moines, WA
So it is the aged old question, do you go with a glass tank or an acrylic tank?

I know there are pros and cons for each, and a lot depends on just personal preferences, but I am hoping to get some more discussion points between the 2 that I haven't thought of.

Acrylic is lighter than glass
Acrylic has nicer seams than glass, and these seems should last longer
As far as clarity, with Starfire Glass, I am thinking they are equal
Acrylic scratches much easier, though glass does scratch
Glass is much easier to clean coralline algae off of with out scratching the tank
I am not positive, but I think I can get a longer warranty with Acrylic

So those are the points I have thought of so far. My larger tanks have always been Acrylic where about half of my smaller tanks have been Glass.

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.
 
Also strength, Acrylic is very strong but if not properly built seams can break and last you can drill a zillion holes in acrylic! :D

Acrylic scratches and you are guaranteed to scratch it but it can be polished out.:bored:
 
I am a glass person period.
I had a acrylic 125 back in about 1993 and I hated it.
It had a large eurobrace and was hard to get into.
Seems like all you had to do is look at it and it scratched.



I do like Starfire glass, although you do have to be careful.
If you are reckless with it, it will scratch.
I would rather try and gather up 6 people to move a large tank.
With either glass or acrylic you still have to build the same quality ( sturdy) of a stand.

That 4' x2' x2' glass tank really looks like a sweet size.
A lot can be done with it.
 
I went with an acrylic when I purchased my 150 last year. My reasons:
1) liked the idea of a chemically bonded seam better than silicon (note absolutely get an acrylic tank with the proper thickness of material, one of the reason of blowouts is when the material is too thin).
2) lighter to move
3) have little kids around, acrylic is more "shatter" proof

As far as cleaning/scratches goes, yes acrylic does scratch. But it hasn't been as bad as I had thought from reading about it prior. I use a combination of magic eraser, and a plastic scrapper that was provided to me from James @ envision that is suppose to be a slightly softer material than acrylic and hence wouldn't scratch (of cource avoiding sand).
 
I like glass for a tank that size, I have a 48X24X20 tank (starfire), never had acrylic, would only go that route if I go significantly bigger for my next build.
 
Yes the plain original ones. Cleans everything off except coralline. I slice the eraser in half the long way and put that between my tiger shark magnet to clean. Usually one pass does the trick.
 
My preference would be starfire. Easy to clean and doesn't scratch. Biggest con to acrylic is resale especially after the 2 year mark.
 
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