Acrylic safe for fish?

J

jethangar

Registered Member
Feb 23, 2005
2
0
0
Hi, I'm a sorta-newbie. I kept freshwater fish several years ago and now I'm getting back into it. This time, however, I've purchased an acrylic tank...and it stinks!! I mean it smells like a powerful plastic-chemical smell. Will this wear down and evaporate with the cycling of the tank? Do I need to keep rinsing and re-rinsing to try to get rid of it? ...just don't want to freak out the fishies unnecessarily. Btw, I'm keeping Platies...playing it safe with the hardy ones. My tank is 25 gallons. Hope that's big enough. Thanks for advice.

Steve (NYC, USA)
 
well i would assume that if you bought an actual 'fish tank' from a store it would be fish safe...since they make just about every size tank imaginable now in acrylic! what type did you get? some of the kits that are out there i think are asking for a bit of trouble if you are looking for anything beyond goldfish.
 
New acrylic tanks do have a kind of strong smell at first...it will dissipate over time....my LFS talked me into buying a new 75G acrylic tank instead of an all glass 100g back in 1989...It definately was easier to lug up to my third floor apartment...and I was real glad I had it a few months later when the 7.2 Loma Prieta earthquake hit...it bounced around on the stand, sloshed a little water but it was fine....a glass tank would have shattered! I still use that tank to this day!
 
Yeah, acrylic is awesome- I love the optical properties of an acrylic tank. But you do be careful, it can scratch easily. Don't use anything but a very soft cloth and water to clean it- lots of cleaners will make the acrylic fog up.

Best of luck with your new tank.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom