Starhphire/Acrylic combo tank

[Entacmaea]

So, this is something I have been pondering for a while. A hybrid tank.
'Leftovers', in his pipe dream tank description(NICE!), said he would use an acrylic exterior, starphire interior on a huge tank- so I had to start a new topic. I am searching for anyone who has done this, or opinions on the matter. A few questions:

1)Is there an adequate procedure or adhesive to bind the glass to acrylic?

2)Would this actually be additive strength, or would the less rigid acrylic, bound to the stiff glass, cause the glass to break if impacted? (As I understand it, not only is acrylic stronger empirically, but has better shatter resistance because of its limited "give" during an impact?)

3)Relative thickness between the glass and acrylic: Would having, say, a 1/4 inch starphire pane laminated to a 1 inch acrylic pane be sufficient? So you are basically relying on the acrylic for structural integrity, while capitalizing on the starphire's scratch resistance while cleaning, moving rocks, etc. This of course begs the question referred to in # 2.

Gosh, lots of questions. Casting out the wisdom net I suppose! Having just left the hobby temporarily, I am of course contemplating that next huge tank upgrade, and wondering if this could be a part of it since I'll be moving back to earthquake country...

Thanks!
Peter

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
I had asked aobut this laminated panel option long time ago, and the response that I got was that the thermo expansion coefficient of the glass is very different from acrylic, and this will lead to crazing and structural problem. There are numerous laminating chemical that can be used to join the glass with acrylic, but as I said, the problem is crazing in long term usage.