Acrylic or glass on a 500 plus gallon tank ?

[angelsandtangs]

Thinking about upgrading currently have a 300 acrylic was going to get mother a glove tank built but local guy has a glass tank for sale the same dimensions I’m wanting .. . Would go acrylic and chance a big glass tank ? This is his pic not mine ..

 

[KrisReef]

I might put glass in my garage but inside the house I like bonded acrylic seams that don't have silicone to rely upon for the duration of the aquariums life. End of life issues for silicone seams keep me from big glass tanks.

 

[angelsandtangs]

I might put glass in my garage but inside the house I like bonded acrylic seams that don't have silicone to rely upon for the duration of the aquariums life. End of life issues for silicone seams keep me from big glass tanks.

That’s my main concern ..

 

[o2manyfish]

A few years ago I came across on a great deal for all the dissassembled panels of a 10x4x2.5' Starfire tank. The tank had been built on a site, then taken apart by the tank builder and never had a drop of water in it. After 30+ years of being careful around my acrylic tanks - and busting my butt to scrape coraline safely I was just thrilled to have a glass tank.

I've always preferred acrylic for numerous reasons. But as the decades roll on being careful all the time becomes less of a priority. After learning to not keep sand in my reefs I found that after 20 years an acrylic tank can still look stunning.

We remodeled our house to accommodate the new tank. After we finished the house and were finalizing terms for a tank builder to fly out and assemble the tank inside our house..... I woke up one morning to find out my 2 year old 340g glass sump. Blew an entire corner seam. The 4k GPD topoff had turned on at 6am and overfilled quite a bit because the water level never came up and dropped the salinity enough for a 99% wipe out of corals. 1250g worth of corals gone -- literally 1000+ because our frag tanks were packed.

As soon as my wife told me I couldn't take a break from the hobby and to build my new mega tank I immediately called Titan Exhibits and had an Acrylic Tank built to the exact same dimensions 10x4x2.5. One look at the 1.5" museum grade (100% transparent seam) and I don't have any concern about hearing a gigantic splash in the middle of the night.

Last year we had a new tank built for our planted FW tank. We had a 32x32x32 Starfire cube built. 112 gallons of water doesn't make me lose any sleep at night.

The 750g tank is 20 months old. The 112g Planted tank is 11 months old. The starfire has more scratches than the 750. Of course on the 750 the 3 scratches are from a snail under the magnetic algae wiper and they are 3-5' long. But I sat there patiently and went as low as 800 grit all the way up to some silly 4800 grit. And one of the 3 is gone. The other 2 are deeper and I haven't had the desire to ly ontop of the tank for a few hours rubbing in circles.

One of the other things I really appreciate with my 750 is that with the 4' depth front to back, and the back of the tank up against the wall. Reaching corals on the back wall of the tank is one long stretch. But Titan Aquatic Exhibits took my significant weight ( I am not some Vegan stick of a man) and ran my weight thru Engineering software and built the top of the tank out of a thick enough material that I can lay on top of the tank on the braces and work on the back of the tank and reach straight down the back wall.

My frag tanks (2 180g) are outside and they need to be glass because the sun grows coraline like crazy and not being able to clean with a razorblade would lead to a messy suicide situation.

I have a 120g low boy tank outside that is glass that holds my skimmer.

And the 340g Glass Sump that started this whole story, was replaced by one of those Chinese Blue Fiberglass tanks with the viewing panel in the side --- Awesome tank for a sump.

Dave B

 

[wishntoboutside]

My thoughts on this. for a fish only tank I think acrylic is just fine. If you are doing a reef tank and growing coraline algae you may consider glass. If you consider glass I would consider a hybrid aquarium. PVC bottom, Glass walls, and steel frame around the top and bottom. throw in a four inch acrylic slash guard. This is what I have done thru AGE and I am also sure that Planet does this style as well. You just have to pay for all of these add ons. AGE made a great tank for me but their stands is another story.

 

[Kfactor]

if its a good deal get the glass

 

[Wasabiroot]

I was able to take a 240g acrylic tank into my basement with one other adult. Trying that with a glass tank that size would have been either really dumb or impossible. Glass tanks are awesome, but they are heavy as heck when they're XL sized.
I like the longer term panel durability of glass (harder to scratch) but I also agree that i would prefer bonded seams for something that size. You can also see crazing along acrylic seams get worse which is a good visual indicator. And, if you are patient and have a free few days to a week, you can polish acrylic with Novus 1/2 and a power drill with a foam buffing head, and an oscillating sander with various grits, which you can't do with glass. Once those large panels are scratched, they're scratched forever unless the panel is replaced