glass or acrylic?

[sir_prize]

hey all,

ive heard a lot of stuff coming from all kinds of sources about choosing between glass and acrylic

i just wanted to get some facts straight

is it true that good acrylic doesn't scratch?
is it true that if you want a saltwater tank, go acrylic? why?
i once had an oooooooooooooooooold acrylic 29, and the front of the tank started bowing! is this common in old tanks?

thanks for any reply.

[J double R]

perhaps they meant that good acrylic ISNT scratched... all acrylic will scratch.

[Corvina]

I have a glass & an acrylic. Be careful, they both scratch. Probably the acrylic scratches more easily however I prefer the acrylic. I believe it has more clarity plus no visible silicone or seams.
As far as bowing? Mine does'nt bow and I've had it for 6 years.

[Mgamer20o0]

i like glass. both will scratch.

[Rbishop]

Both will scratch, acryllic, very easily so.
Glass has the best clarity.
Acryllic is nice for seamless and unusual shapes.
Put a straight edge on the acryllic, unless it is real small, all acryllic tanks bow, as do most glass tanks.

[ryry123]

yes acrylic scratches very easy, i have a 180 gallon acrylic and it bows a bit. the good thing is, is that it is very easy to sand and buff out the scratches.

[Jin_Uzuki]

I've got a 75g acrylic. For a tank this small, I would have preferred glass, but I was scared that I may end up having to move the tank on my own one day. Yeah, acrylic will scratch easily.

[krytan]

www.talkingtanks.com/why.php (http://www.talkingtanks.com/why.php)

[Notophthalmus]

I've heard that some common household cleansers will leave a cloudy mark on acrylic (which could be a problem if a cohabitant or coworker decides to clean the outside of the tank for you). And it definitely scratches more easily than glass; you can scratch acrylic with a plastic scrubber.

But with big tanks, I feel safer with acrylic. It can still break, of course, but I think it's less likely to develop a leak, since the pieces are fused together rather than relying on a bead of silicone to seal the seams.

[Fishy_Fun]

i prefer glass but they will both scratch.

[Fishfiles1]

i like glass, because the view is not distorted, and i think the sillicon on glass is just as strong, but it dosent matter, acrilic is cheaper

[Notophthalmus]

Really? On the few tanks where I compared prices, glass was cheaper. Maybe I'm just shopping in the wrong places.

[krytan]

Glass tanks are cheaper and the sillicon on glass is nowhere near as strong.

[Fishfiles1]

you dont see what i saying

[Fishfiles1]

and it was a typo, i ment glass is cheaper, becasue you dont have to special make it

[Cory Keeper]

After taking a class aimed at materials used in Aircraft, one of those covered was acrylic. Acrylic scratches very very easily.

Pros and cons of Acrylic vs glass
Acrylic
Light
clear
can be shaped
flexible

cons:
Scratches very easily.
can change color over the years (acrylic acetate is known to yellow over the years)
some cleaners have adverse effects to acrylic

Glass
Pros
strong
scratch resistant
not affected by cleaners
doesn't bow very easily

Cons
Hard to shape
very heavy compared to acrylic