Acrylic or Plexiglass

slowlyburn

slowlyburn

AC Members
Jun 26, 2006
355
0
0
46
Pittsburgh PA
Any1 ever bought acrylic to make an aquarium before? I'm lookin at 3 of the walls to be sealed cynderblock and the front wall to be acrylic at 8ft x 2ft x 2ft deep. I think it will be about 240gallons. Any1 know how thick the glass needs to be and will i need a center support like an all glass aquarium? Any links or articals would be helpfull also... Thank you
 
it would most likel;y be cheaper to go with glass to be honest. If you are already useing cyderblocks then you most likely already have a wirght problem with the tank. So a few pounds of glass wont make much of a differance.

BTW, post pictures when you are done i am sure it will look great and creative.



***** EDIT EDIT EDIT ******

Ya i know, my spelling sucks!!!
 
Last edited:
You would probably need at least 1/2" acrylic for the front window. www.garf.org has some good tank building information on their site under the how to tab. Finding a half sheet of acrylic that thick could be tough/costly. The last time I looked I think it was around $350 for a 48x96 1/2" sheet.
 
geez you think a 1/2 inch is enough? i was thinkin like an inch thick? is that over kill? ill check that site out now... If i use glass how thick does that need to be?
 
What kind of base are you planning on? And I'm with zave, would love to see pix of the final tank--great idea. Hey, Lexan is stronger, you can go thinner (which helps as it is usually more expensive).
 
slowlyburn said:
geez you think a 1/2 inch is enough? i was thinkin like an inch thick? is that over kill? ill check that site out now... If i use glass how thick does that need to be?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that tank depth is the most important determining factor in how thick the glass/plastic needs to be. 1/2" acrylic would probably be fine - remember that it's many times stronger than glass. You will certainly need to have cross braces at the top - I would say at least every 24" with some sort of rigid frame on top of the acrylic.
 
Ok now that i have done some pricing on acrylic and all i seem to find is 48" x 96" x 1/2" sheets that cost anywhere from 250 to 300 bucks. The 24" isnt much cheaper... If I went 4 feet tall and now to almost 480 gallons what thickness of glass would be needed or can I stay with 1/2" ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom