Acrylic bonding to acrylic and to glass.

[Uzair Aiman]

Hi. I’m currently planning on making a DIY AIO tank. I’m planning to use acrylic as the back compartment (overflow and baffles) and ive ordered them seperate of each other.
How do I connect the acrylic sheets to each other? And how do I connect it to the glass? I’ve also bought some black silicone and am planning to use it with the acrylic-glass connection. How do I do acrylic-acrylic connection? Is silicone viable enough?

 

[fishguy242]

hi, as far as acrylic to acrylic,no silicone ,weld on . i use # 16 ,for acrylic to glass ,silicone will work ,but i would make sure reef safe ,i feel in years will eventually fail in spots,jmo, lets ask a couple of experts..good luck..
@Joe Glass Cages @Lowell Lemon ,thoughts?

 

[NowGlazeIT]

hi, as far as acrylic to acrylic,no silicone ,weld on . i use # 16 ,for acrylic to glass ,silicone will work ,but i would make sure reef safe ,i feel in years will eventually fail in spots,jmo, lets ask a couple of experts..good luck..
@Joe Glass Cages @Lowell Lemon ,thoughts?

Agreed your going to want to weld the acrylic to acrylic then silicone the acrylic to the glass. Whenever I do acrylic to glass I leave 1/16-1/8th gap, that gets filled with cone. Then I make sure to have at least 1/4inch of silicone on both the acrylic and the glass.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

hi, as far as acrylic to acrylic,no silicone ,weld on . i use # 16 ,for acrylic to glass ,silicone will work ,but i would make sure reef safe ,i feel in years will eventually fail in spots,jmo, lets ask a couple of experts..good luck..
@Joe Glass Cages @Lowell Lemon ,thoughts?

So for acrylic to acrylic, no silicone but instead use weldon? what is actually #16? hahah

 

[fishguy242]

hang tight let others chime in, poss different # to use..

 

[rezaktp]

Weld-On has a number of different solvents for acrylic. some are thick, others are thinner than water, depending of the use. https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=444&clickid=popcorn

 

[Joe Glass Cages]

hi, as far as acrylic to acrylic,no silicone ,weld on . i use # 16 ,for acrylic to glass ,silicone will work ,but i would make sure reef safe ,i feel in years will eventually fail in spots,jmo, lets ask a couple of experts..good luck..
@Joe Glass Cages @Lowell Lemon ,thoughts?

totally agree @fishguy242. Acrylic to Acrylic with Weld-on and Glass to Glass with Silicone.

we build our AIO's and Overflows in Glass and then wrap them with Acrylic to achieve the weir teeth.

Hope that helps.

 

[Uzair Aiman]

Agreed your going to want to weld the acrylic to acrylic then silicone the acrylic to the glass. Whenever I do acrylic to glass I leave 1/16-1/8th gap, that gets filled with cone. Then I make sure to have at least 1/4inch of silicone on both the acrylic and the glass.

What do you mean by 1/16 - 1/8th gap? is that inches?

 

[Uzair Aiman]

totally agree @fishguy242. Acrylic to Acrylic with Weld-on and Glass to Glass with Silicone.

we build our AIO's and Overflows in Glass and then wrap them with Acrylic to achieve the weir teeth.

Hope that helps.

Im planning to use acrylic glue for the acrylic-acrylic connection and use silicone for the acrylic-glass connection. Should be okay right?

This is the product Im going to use for the ac-ac connection, bought it from where I custom cut my acrylics. waiting on it to arrive

 

[Sleepydoc]

for and acrylic to glass connection, I would not trust silicone long term. It bonds poorly to acrylic and will leak over time. If it's just for internal baffles it should be OK but if it's an external overflow you're asking for a flood.

Even for internal baffles you need to consider what happens if the seals leak. When the tank is running it would be fine, but if the power is cut and the water slowly leaks through the seal it could still cause a flood.

finally, be aware that acrylic will swell somewhat in water. If you make an acrylic baffle that is tightly fitting, it can swell and stress or even break the glass over time. It's best to leave about ⅛" (3mm) at the joints.

 

[Joe Glass Cages]

for and acrylic to glass connection, I would not trust silicone long term. It bonds poorly to acrylic and will leak over time. If it's just for internal baffles it should be OK but if it's an external overflow you're asking for a flood.

Even for internal baffles you need to consider what happens if the seals leak. When the tank is running it would be fine, but if the power is cut and the water slowly leaks through the seal it could still cause a flood.

finally, be aware that acrylic will swell somewhat in water. If you make an acrylic baffle that is tightly fitting, it can swell and stress or even break the glass over time. It's best to leave about ⅛" (3mm) at the joints.

@Uzair Aiman, please read this from @Sleepydoc. this is spot on.

 

[Sleepydoc]

亚克力和玻璃使用瓦克131玻璃胶连接。我已经使用它两年了。

I can’t tell exactly how you’ve used it, but that appears to be plain acid-cure silicone sealant. It will stick to acrylic initially but will not hold long term. If you are using it for any critical joints expect them to fail over time.

 

[ljc]

Hi. I’m currently planning on making a DIY AIO tank. I’m planning to use acrylic as the back compartment (overflow and baffles) and ive ordered them seperate of each other.
How do I connect the acrylic sheets to each other? And how do I connect it to the glass? I’ve also bought some black silicone and am planning to use it with the acrylic-glass connection. How do I do acrylic-acrylic connection? Is silicone viable enough?

Hi Uzair,

What did you wind up using? I am planning a rather large AIO in a 210 Gallon Tank. Still am not sure on the Acrylic to Glass Part.

Hi. I’m currently planning on making a DIY AIO tank. I’m planning to use acrylic as the back compartment (overflow and baffles) and ive ordered them seperate of each other.
How do I connect the acrylic sheets to each other? And how do I connect it to the glass? I’ve also bought some black silicone and am planning to use it with the acrylic-glass connection. How do I do acrylic-acrylic connection? Is silicone viable enough?

 

[Uzair Aiman]

Hi Uzair,

What did you wind up using? I am planning a rather large AIO in a 210 Gallon Tank. Still am not sure on the Acrylic to Glass Part.

Hi! Since Ive just really made and set up the tank myself, in the long run I dont know if my set up is "okay". But I ended up in using acrylic cement for the acrylic-acrylic part (I bought it online and its relatively easy to use and its cheap). Whereas I used silicone to bond the acrylic to the glass. Be sure that the silicone work is nicely done as I messed up a little bit at the baffles and some water leaked out from one compartment to the other (it was just small drips of water so I wouldn't bother in fixing it). For now everything seems to run fine! Ill send the pics of the filtration system tomorrow as all my lights are out now and I dont wanna disturb my fish sleeping haha. But you can see the "progress" here by now :

Build Thread - Hello! I welcome you to my journey.

Hello everyone. Im currently building my AIO tank as the silicone is setting. Right now my 2 clowns (Pochi and Nami), a frag of GSP and my turbo snail (Thunder) is in a 10 gallon tank for more or less the last month and Ill be transferring them in a few days! Hope you guys can follow through and...

www.reef2reef.com

make sure that u have something to hold on your overflow compartment while the silicone sets so it doesnt fall off or create leaks in the future

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Rough up the acrylic edge with sandpaper to help the silicone adhere.

 

[DancingWind]

Problem with acrylic <-> glass is that acrylic expands as it absorbs water.
It puts extra strain on the bond

 

[DancingWind]

Edit: Double post