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Ben1

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So whats the deal with acrylic tanks. I have never had one but am planning on buying myself one for x-mas if all works well in sales this year.

I want a 48 x 48 x 24 240 gal. I was thinking acrylic so I dont need 50 people to get the thing in my house.

How bad does the coralline get to be, thinking it will grow like mad on the acrylic and then I might scratch the tank cleaning it all the time. Is scrapping an acrylic tank easy?

For those that have had acrylic tanks have you later wished you went with glass?
 

H@rry

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While the weight is a big advantage, I have always figured I would scratch it to the point that I would regret it. I have scratched my glass tanks, think how much worse it would be with acrylic. Some people say they are clearer than glass but I don't have a problem seeing through my glass.

Just be real careful cleaning it.
 
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Anonymous

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I want a 48 x 48 x 24 240 gal. I was thinking acrylic so I dont need 50 people to get the thing in my house.
Careful there, acrylic can be heavy especially as the thickness increases, not sure how thick your tank would need to be as it's only 24" high and 4 feet long, but it might surprise you to how heavy it is... besides you'll be limited to how many can carry it because there'd be only way way to get it in the door at those dimensions :D

How bad does the coralline get to be, thinking it will grow like mad on the acrylic and then I might scratch the tank cleaning it all the time. Is scrapping an acrylic tank easy?
Scraping it is real easy... with a razor blade, but then again my acrylic is scratched to hell so I don't care.. my theory is maybe there will be so many scratches it'll look clear once again :D But in all seriousness it's a royal PITA to scrape acrylic to get coraline off.. especially if you let it build up. I don't know if it's simply my calcium and alkalinity levels but acrylic just LOVES to grow on my sides (yet not so much on the rocks) initially I tried the plastic scraper deal and it took so much work just to get a little patch clean I decided I didn't care about the scratches and used a razor blade (which can clean acrylic scratch free but you need perfect swipes each time with no imperfections in the blades edge). And once you get a scratch forget about it, you'll never get the stuff out of the scratch, as a result all growth will start at the scratches and go outward.

For those that have had acrylic tanks have you later wished you went with glass?
I love the acrylic for my ability to modify the hell out of it as I see fit, but my next tank is going to be glass all the way, I have a soft tank that's glass, and cleaning that is such a breeze by comparison... except when I poke myself with Vermetid snail tubes, and have to go to the hospital to get antibiotics for the infection..
 

Ben1

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The qoute I got was 1800 for the tank made with 3/4" acrylic.

I was looking at glass tanks and seems like I could do starfire glass for around the same ($1500), then maybe just hire a moving company to bring it from my curb to the tank stand.

I have scratched my glass tanks when a piece of sand is stuck in my magnet so I imagine acrylic might be worse.

Who makes reliable glass tanks though? Ive looked at glass cages but after hearing of the thin glass pane falling out in dadstank, and hearing other complaints I worry about using them. Any suggestions?
 

SnowManSnow

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IMO you can't beat a glass cages GLASS tank. I have one and love it. They aren't OCEANIC quality, but the glass tanks are built very well IMO.

Some people don't like glass cages.. I WILL definitely buy my next glass tank from them though.

they've always been friendly and informative with me.

B
 
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Anonymous

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If I had the chance to do a starfire tank over acrylic and the starfire was cheaper I'd take that in a heartbeat! Although a $1500 SF tank on 4 sides seems a bit low.
 

Ben1

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That was a qoute from glass cages for front and side starfire. I am putting this tank into a corner so only two sides will be visable.
 

mr_X

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pay me ben. i'm at strong as 2 or 3 regular men. i'll get the tank from allentown to yuor living room for you.
 

Ben1

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lol maybe Ill pay you in corals, I think this wont happen for a few months. I have got to curb my spending on corals soon or I will be broke. I cant get any more sps in my tank so Ive decided to do acans and chalices etc on the bottom of my current tank. Man, I thought LE SPS were expensive....I am in over my head now :lol:
 
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Anonymous

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4 ft X 4 ft acrylic tank is about 275-400 lb. Not light esp. if you want to use 1 inch thick materials.
 

Ben1

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All my stuff is still growing out, I dont plan to do much fragging for a long time. I want big SPS colonys :P
 

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