advantages of acrylic?

[ashdavid]

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.

I should have mentioned that when refering to your average glass tank these properties are the case. As slipknottin stated there are super clear glass products plus this has not been mentioned but there are also glass products that are stronger than and safer than acrylic but for your average fish tank this products are not used becuase of the cost factor involved(prices are usually much higher), and for that reason acrylic is far clearer and stronger than your average fish tank.

 

[Siklid]

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

who told you that acrylic was easyer to machine, they lied, its more involved to assemble an acrylic tank, the right tools should be used, if you realy want to make a decent DIY acrylic tank except to buy a triple chip blade for your table saw, now the matter of heating a 30 gal tank neather acrylic or glass, with or with out felt, you would be using the same heater, i would be using at least a 75w heater, but a 50 would probably work depending on how much draft your getting at the tank

 

[slipknottin]

perhaps he meant easier to cut/drill?

 

[Must4ng s4lly]

I find acrilic gets algea on it faster and scratches way too easily! Slip - how do you get scratches out of it??

 

[slipknottin]

Slip - how do you get scratches out of it??

Essentially you sand/buff down the surface around the scratch so the scratch disappears. Its usually a considerable amount of work, but acrylic is much easier than glass, as acrylic is significantly softer.

 

[Must4ng s4lly]

Cool thanks!