thickness of acrylic for...

[akunochi]

say I was making a tank that was 48x24x10" what would the thickness of acrylic need to be?

 

[akunochi]

Wvery resource I have found states 1/4" is good for tanks under 10" tall. Should I bump it up?

 

[JPG@CFI]

I would not even bother with 1/4". I'd use 1/2, and have something I could pass down to the next generation. Depends on how many portholes you want. I would have one big porthole, instead of 2. If you need anything else, just PM me. Jason

 

[akunochi]

I shot you a PM jason.

 

[07FocusST]

I have been through all of this already.

48" & Below - 3/8" minimum acrylic thickness recommended

48" to 60" - 1/2" minimum thickness acrylic recommended

60" to 72" - 3/4" to 1" minimum acrylic thickness recommended

84" to 96" - 1" and beyond minimum acrylic thickness recommended

 

[akunochi]

Wouldn't it be based off of height and not length.....

I mean I could build a 8 mile long tank that was 1" high and it wouldn't bow with 1/4" lol. But if I built a 1x1" tank 8 miles tall well there will be a ton of pressure at teh bottom of the tank.

 

[07FocusST]

Correct, total dimension is what you base it off of... I somehow managed to delete a segment of my last post. The lengths are just a rule of thumb. Anything taller than 18" should have a 1/4" increase in thickness. Just follow the chart I listed and you wont go wrong.

BTW, I have a 180G (72"x24"x24") that is 3/8" thickness acrylic... just to show you that it is possible that any thickness can work.

 

[Kickwrasse]

:rockon::rockon:

Correct, total dimension is what you base it off of... I somehow managed to delete a segment of my last post. The lengths are just a rule of thumb. Anything taller than 18" should have a 1/4" increase in thickness. Just follow the chart I listed and you wont go wrong.

BTW, I have a 180G (72"x24"x24") that is 3/8" thickness acrylic... just to show you that it is possible that any thickness can work.

 

[Peppie]

Are you planning on bracing it? If no go min 3/8 I know that the thicker you go the more it cost. Sometimes it is better to bite the bullet early.

 

[bpiermat]

My advice...acrylic creeps under Continuous load, which in simple terms means....if you plan to keep the tank for more than 5 years full of water, it has to be designed with the proper thickness or the tank will bow!! I saw it happen to my old tank! Choose the recommended thickness given a depth...then go 1/4" more

 

[menace78]

I'm starting to wonder. I would think 3/8" - 1/2" but I have looked at 4 calculators for thickness safety and all are suggesting a "very safe" thickness to be 1/4 including one that shows in mm that calculated out to 4mm (1/5").

I would still go at least 3/8 if I were the one building it.
Especially if you plan on putting a bulkhead threw it.
Actually I would probably go thicker to leave it topless

 

[DonW]

I'm with Jason, 1/2" is great. If you wanted to go cheaper 3/8. If its rimless then 3/4". My last tank was rimless 48 long 18 deep 16 tall IIRC. Even with 3/4 it had a good amount of bow.

Don

 

[JPG@CFI]

Most of the online caculators is for freshwater, not saltwater, much less a Reef. There is a big difference between freshwater, and 1.026 that is 80.0+ F. with a MH pounding down on it. JMHO, Jason

 

[Reefreak]

Jason has spoken.... take him at his word Seth.
By the way welcome back to the hobby man. Your old 180 made a really nice fuge! Need some frags???

 

[Krish]

Calculators IMO can't always compare to experience, a bit of common sense and being "better safe than sorry".

My 38 gal cube was only 24 inches long and was made out of 1/2 inch acrylic. I wouldn't accept any less. My sump which only held about 15 gals of water @ about 20 inches long was made out of 3/8 acrylic and I was going to do that out of 1/2 inch as well but with all the baffles in place, we felt it would be more than strong enough especially seeing it would never be totally full. Here is the sump below to give you an idea.

Seth, I wouldn't go any less than 1/2 inch as Don and Jason suggested. I didn't even take that chance on a small tank that was only 24x20x18. Nothing like having peace of mind.

 

[akunochi]

yeah I have been talking to Jason already off line too. I just need to way the cost to benefit ratio of doing the custom tanks. Jason is def hooking it up though on his quote.