Totaly confused over acrylic!!!

yjjeep43

yjjeep43

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Apr 7, 2008
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I thought I had it figured out, plexiglass = bad because it is brittle and may yellow with over time. Acrylic = good because of clarity and strength. So I go to my local Lowes just to see what they have. I see two grades (brand names) of "acrylic" and then Lexan (polycarbonate). All grades showed the strength compared to glass from 10X up to 250X for the Lexan. The price also varied as you can imagine from dirt cheap to expensive. Here's my confusion. Is what they have labeled acrylic really acrylic or is it plexiglass or are they one in the same. The offered an 18" X 24" 0.22 thick sheet for $15 of the cheaper stuff (still labeled acrylic). I came home and did a quick internet query for acrylic vs. polycarbonate and it seems that acrylic is easily broken and frowned upon for certain things. Are the tanks offered from manufactures acrylic or polycarbonate. Which is better? :help:
 
Thanks guys. I have read that you don't want to use the stuff from those places, but I wasn't sure.
 
Plexiglas is simply one brand name for acrylic. Polycarbonate is another type of plastic that is used in many of the same applications. It is true that PC is stronger than acrylic, but acrylic works just fine for an aquarium.

If you're building a sump, the sheet you were going to buy at Lowes is just fine. If you're building a display tank then follow wackydan's advice and hit up a glass shop for cell cast acrylic. McMaster-Carr has a good sized selection of cell cast acrylic, but it will be quite pricey to ship large sheets (unless you happen to live near one of their warehouses).
 
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