Building a 55 gal. acrylic fish tank

[jiminy_crime]

I have a few questions. First, I have found it quite a bit cheaper to purchase acrylic over glass. I am curious as to how thick acrylic needs to be to support the wait of the water? Also, what is the best way to bond the acrylic considering the safety of the fish and my home? My dimensions for the tank are 48 1/4 in. X 12 3/4in. X 21 in. Can anyone help?

Charlie

[ArkyLady]

Here is one website that has some detailed info on building an acrylic aquarium:

http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNdiytank/bndiytank.htm

Try searching on www.google.com you should come up with lots of information.

[oingbingboing]

Yes... from what Ive read you want to keep it under 19" high if you use 3/8" Acrylic...

I am building a tank as well from acrylic... My dimensions are slightly different than yours. I think the width on mine will make it a 75 gallon.

Are you building an overflow as well?

[jiminy_crime]

haven't really got that far yet. Still just going over in my head just what I want. But really looking for ideas and thoughts if you have any.:p

Charlie

[oingbingboing]

If you are going to go through the trouble of building a tank from scratch out of acrylic... youd probably want to build a drilled one that way you get more bang for your buck, as Drilled, Reef Ready tanks are much more expensive than non drilled.