advantages of acrylic?

G

gurahl

Registered Member
Sep 28, 2005
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i found a toold somewhere that said i would only need a 35w heater for my tank if it was made of acrylic and 30w if it was acrylic with a felt pad under it
verse 115w heater if i used glass with a felt pad

are there any other pro's and cons of acrylic besides easier machine ability and being able to save some money in the run from less heating costs
 
I know acrylic weighs alot less but scratches easily
 
gurahl said:
i found a toold somewhere that said i would only need a 35w heater for my tank if it was made of acrylic and 30w if it was acrylic with a felt pad under it
verse 115w heater if i used glass with a felt pad

are there any other pro's and cons of acrylic besides easier machine ability and being able to save some money in the run from less heating costs
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That's a new one..I've never heard that acrylic has any superior insulation capacity over glass...and I haven't observed it with my acrylic tanks....4-5 watts per gallon is the general rule of thumb....
 
Jericho said:
Yep that is a load of poop
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Sorry people, acrylic has better insulating properties over glass . Actually acrylic has four times the thermal resistance as the same thickness of glass. Acrylic aquariums also allow more than 98% of light to pass through where as a glass tank only allows 70%. They are also much stronger and don't tend to dramaticly fail as glass dose, therefore much safer. They also can be repaired in the case of scratches.
 
ashdavid said:
Sorry people, acrylic has better insulating properties over glass . Actually acrylic has four times the thermal resistance as the same thickness of glass. Acrylic aquariums also allow more than 98% of light to pass through where as a glass tank only allows 70%. They are also much stronger and don't tend to dramaticly fail as glass dose, therefore much safer. They also can be repaired in the case of scratches.
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Well I 'll be dammed....I did a little research..and its true! Thank you Ash....various sites did state that acrylic does indeed have 3-4 times the insulating capacity, and the "5 watts per Gallon" rule does not hold for acrylic, as it does for glass...this old dog has learned a new trick....and I definately appreciated my 75g acrylic tank during the 1989 earthquake!
 
yup my acrylic 180 only has a 250 watt heater on it, my glass 60s run 250s and 40s uses 150 watts.
 
YoFishboy said:
Well I 'll be dammed....I did a little research..and its true! Thank you Ash....
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No worries YoFishboy, you have helped me out many times.
 
ashdavid said:
Sorry people, acrylic has better insulating properties over glass . Actually acrylic has four times the thermal resistance as the same thickness of glass. Acrylic aquariums also allow more than 98% of light to pass through where as a glass tank only allows 70%. They are also much stronger and don't tend to dramaticly fail as glass dose, therefore much safer. They also can be repaired in the case of scratches.
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While I agree with the thermal properties. I disagree with the light tranismission. There are various qualities of both acrylic and glass. Low E glass has nearly the same light transmission as acrylic, and has nearly the clarity as well. Acrylic is stronger, but softer. Scratches can be removed from both glass and acrylic, by the same method. Its harder to remove scratches from glass for the same reason its harder to put a scratch into glass, its a much harder surface.
 
Well I stand corrected... I have a 300w in my 60 gal acrylic, I guess it is not working that hard then...
 
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