Acrylic vs glass...I'm considering acrylic and somewhat terrified.

[Biff0rz]

The first fear, getting the wife's approval, is out of the way. Now, I'm just trying to figure out which type to go with. I've always had a glass tank, and honestly, I'm not the best at keeping it clean. I tend to get sand stuck in the scraper and just shake it out. I also like scraping coraline off the glass. How bad are the scratches with acrylic? How careful do I really need to be? A friend told me he only uses acrylic now, and they have in-tank polishing kits, so I'm considering it. Is it a hassle to polish while the tank is running? Will it hurt the corals at all (sps)? I'm looking at a large 500g 120x36x27 tank, and the cost difference between glass and acrylic is pretty significant right now. The weight of the tank doesn't matter to me.

 

[felda001]

My personal preference is for the acrylic. Low iron glass seems to scratch easily enough and as long as you’re careful I don’t feel acrylic scratches much more easily. I’ve never had an acrylic tank separate at a seam or leak from anywhere but a bulkhead. Plenty of horror stories about glass doing so recently. The last big reason for me is I have kids and no matter how “careful” they may be acrylic is just more impact resistant and kids are kids they do things they shouldn’t

 

[Biff0rz]

My personal preference is for the acrylic. Low iron glass seems to scratch easily enough and as long as you’re careful I don’t feel acrylic scratches much more easily. I’ve never had an acrylic tank separate at a seam or leak from anywhere but a bulkhead. Plenty of horror stories about glass doing so recently. The last big reason for me is I have kids and no matter how “careful” they may be acrylic is just more impact resistant and kids are kids they do things they shouldn’t

Thanks this is helpful. My friend said the same thing that the low iron glass is prone to scratching similarly to acrylic. The thing is I use a metal scraper on my starfire glass right now and I don't ever really scratch it at all. But what I'm reading is people will scratch acrylic doing the same thing so that has me a little bit worried. I'm also aware of how those two different types of tanks are constructed and the pros and cons of each. I've never had a glass tank blow out on me but I have read that it does happen, not a huge concern for me I guess. I do have kids, but, they know not to touch the tank haha.

 

[felda001]

Thanks this is helpful. My friend said the same thing that the low iron glass is prone to scratching similarly to acrylic. The thing is I use a metal scraper on my starfire glass right now and I don't ever really scratch it at all. But what I'm reading is people will scratch acrylic doing the same thing so that has me a little bit worried. I'm also aware of how those two different types of tanks are constructed and the pros and cons of each. I've never had a glass tank blow out on me but I have read that it does happen, not a huge concern for me I guess. I do have kids, but, they know not to touch the tank haha.

I recommend an acrylic safe scraper. My kids know not to touch. But I've caught them playing catch in the living room enough times that I know that knowing and following rules aren't always the same thing

 

[Troylee]

It’s honestly no different.. different tools for different tanks.. they both scratch about the same but acrylic can be repaired! It’s not hard with a micro mesh kit to polish under water while the tank is going.. glass is just live with it or get a new tank. Sigh.

 

[Keko21]

I have both- a 90 Gal glass and a 5 gal acrylic. I will never buy another acrylic tank again. Yes you need an acylic safe scraper and i find they just dont do as well. Acrylic scratches so easily if you are not carful and accidently bump a rock while aquascaping. Id say stick with glass.

 

[exnisstech]

I was faced with the same decision a few months ago. I went glass because I've always been so succesful at scratching glass I figured I would destroy an acrylic tank. I get algae that I have to use a new razorblade to remove. I can not scrape it off the glass without using one so I'm not sure how I would be able to clean acrylic. I've read of the many advantages of acrylic over glass and that scratches can be buffed out but I'm sure I lack the patience it would take to do that. At the end of the day I didn't trust myself to own one.

 

[kvansloo]

I don't have and never had an Acrylic tank. Mine are all glass The oldest is an All Glass tank 15 years, a 1st gen 525 XL Red Sea that did not separate but is now in my garage to be rebuilt so that it wont, and a Marineland Starfire tank 5 years old. I keep hearing about glass tanks coming apart and have never seen that but I did see the aftermath of a 560 gallon acrylic popping at the left front seam. All aquariums have a certain amount of risk It comes down to your choice.
Best wishes.

 

[GARRIGA]

Been told since the 90s not to get an acrylic tank yet saw one monster 8ft by 8ft by 8ft where the LFS owner built himself because once joined they aren’t supposed to come undone. Awesome display with look down fish.

I’m going acrylic most likely with PVC back and bottom and I’ll figure out how to safely scrape coralline or get someone every few years to come out and buff it. Saw that on Polo Reef.

Grandchildren and not ruining new floors and furniture with 400 plus gallons what convinced me I had no choice. Thickest acrylic I can afford. Make it bullet proof because kid toys are projectiles and one likely at some point banging their noggin on it

 

[o2manyfish]

Acrylic is the safer choice and you can sleep better at night. I had all the panels for 750g starfire tank on site (120x48x30). While finding a tank fabricator to assemble on site an 18 month old 340g glass sump blew a seam and we lost so much coral you can't imagine.

I've been keeping aquariums for 4+ decades. I have had several acrylic tanks up to 20 years. I have never kept a glass tank past 10.

After the 340g blew a corner seam (remember this is a sump and water was only 1/2 way up) it didn't take much thought at all to order a new acrylic tank, and never lie in fear at night waiting to hear a splash. And worse than the splash - dealing with the emotional loss of all the livestock.

If you can live without sand, your acrylic experience will be much better. I had a 125T acrylic I bought used for 14 years. When we broke the tank down and carried it out into the sun - the tank looked amazing. New owner didn't need to polish it.

Replaced it with a 360g acrylic with sand. When that tank was upgraded after 16 months the acrylic was trashed.

That was replaced with a 400g acrylic tank. 96x33x28.5. It was custom built with an entirely open top with a steel frame. The frame was supposed to be made of stainless and powdercoated. But the tank builder cheated and used regular steel and a textured spray paint. After 19 years the tank in the center had grown from 33" wide to 38". I put a pair of bar clamps on it, and by doing a 1/4 turn on the clamps everyday in a month I got the tank back to 33". The tank lasted 2.5 years with the clamps and then we replaced it with a 560g Acrylic (120x30x36). The 400g after 22.5 years packed with corals and rock I was able to sell the acrylic as material (not a tank) because they were in such good shape). That tank I had polished the inside (while up and running) maybe 3x in it's lifespan.

The 560g had gorgeous dimensions, but was impossible to work on.

We ordered the 750g from Titan Aquatic Exhibits. 120x48x30. It's 1.5" acrylic. The corner seams are transparent - museum quality joints.

The 750g is up against a wall. Reaching the back of a 48" wide tank for a short fat guy is not possible. Add to that 30" depth at 48" box -- What a joke. But Titan took the actual physical weight and engineered the top supports of the tank to hold my weight. Now I can lay on top of the tank and work on the livestock on the back wall.

The magfloat XXXL is expensive but grips the 1.5" acrylic and with an acylic pad on it keeps the algae away.
For coraline algae I use plastic credit cards bought on Amazon. They are orange (easy to find when you drop). I pull the out of the box and drag the 2 corners on something to round them. You can them cut the coraline right off.

In the past when something in life has occurred and the coraline just goes crazy, I have carefully used round ended utility knife blades. Being slow and keeping the blade steady I have scraped acrylic with a metal razor blade and not caused any damage.

But crap does occur. The worst is when a brother in law, nephew, fiance thinks they are going to do you a favor and grab the magnetic cleaner when a snail or even bristleworm has gotten into the pad. And then turn the front of your tank into a very expensive etch a sketch. I have 2 ways of fixing this.

If its in an area that has enough room between glass and aquascape for a polisher, I drain the water and use an auto orbital polisher and the standard Novus 1,2,3 system to bring the tank back to new. Bad scratches I may use the Novus heavy scratch with an 800grit sand paper and then polish down. None of the polishes have any ill effect on the livestock being used in the tank. I have done this dozens of times on many tanks over the decades.

If the aquascape doesn't leave enough room for an electric polisher then the process requires Ativan and Wine. You can purchase an acrylic polish kit from Aircraft Maintenance Suppliers for fixing Acrylic Plane canopies. These kits consist of sandpapers that can be used wet starting at 600grit and going up to 22k grit with about 16 steps from 600 to 22k.

I added velcro to the back of all the grits -- And more importantly numbered them from 1 to 18. You then slap on the highest grit that will remove the scratch and start sanding the tank. Most of the time normal scratches come out with 1200grit. You can dream you are only going to polish the area with the scratches - but once you start with every grit increase you sand a larger area and when you see how good it turns out you end up wanting the whole tank to be perfect again. It's a slow and laborious process, you have to stay calm. For my 400g tank with a front viewing panel of 96x28.5 - I would take 3 days to do it, working in 45 min increments at a time.

Scratches on the outside of the tank - even your fiance dragging her impressive diamond ring across 6.5' of the tank - are easy. It's just like waxing a car. Splatter the polish on, put on a clean terry cloth polish wheel and let the machine do the work. I could do the whole exterior front panel of the 400g in a little over 90 mins.

And you have to compare Acrylic vs Glass vs Low Iron -- Low Iron sucks! We have a 132g starfire cube planted tank. A brand new flipper scraper blade left marks within a month. And those scratches are never going away.

This is the 750. I don't regret at all switching from Glass to Acrylic for this tank. I have no fear of ever finding water on the floor in the house.

Dave B

 

[Troylee]

Acrylic is the safer choice and you can sleep better at night. I had all the panels for 750g starfire tank on site (120x48x30). While finding a tank fabricator to assemble on site an 18 month old 340g glass sump blew a seam and we lost so much coral you can't imagine.

I've been keeping aquariums for 4+ decades. I have had several acrylic tanks up to 20 years. I have never kept a glass tank past 10.

After the 340g blew a corner seam (remember this is a sump and water was only 1/2 way up) it didn't take much thought at all to order a new acrylic tank, and never lie in fear at night waiting to hear a splash. And worse than the splash - dealing with the emotional loss of all the livestock.

If you can live without sand, your acrylic experience will be much better. I had a 125T acrylic I bought used for 14 years. When we broke the tank down and carried it out into the sun - the tank looked amazing. New owner didn't need to polish it.

Replaced it with a 360g acrylic with sand. When that tank was upgraded after 16 months the acrylic was trashed.

That was replaced with a 400g acrylic tank. 96x33x28.5. It was custom built with an entirely open top with a steel frame. The frame was supposed to be made of stainless and powdercoated. But the tank builder cheated and used regular steel and a textured spray paint. After 19 years the tank in the center had grown from 33" wide to 38". I put a pair of bar clamps on it, and by doing a 1/4 turn on the clamps everyday in a month I got the tank back to 33". The tank lasted 2.5 years with the clamps and then we replaced it with a 560g Acrylic (120x30x36). The 400g after 22.5 years packed with corals and rock I was able to sell the acrylic as material (not a tank) because they were in such good shape). That tank I had polished the inside (while up and running) maybe 3x in it's lifespan.

The 560g had gorgeous dimensions, but was impossible to work on.

We ordered the 750g from Titan Aquatic Exhibits. 120x48x30. It's 1.5" acrylic. The corner seams are transparent - museum quality joints.

The 750g is up against a wall. Reaching the back of a 48" wide tank for a short fat guy is not possible. Add to that 30" depth at 48" box -- What a joke. But Titan took the actual physical weight and engineered the top supports of the tank to hold my weight. Now I can lay on top of the tank and work on the livestock on the back wall.

The magfloat XXXL is expensive but grips the 1.5" acrylic and with an acylic pad on it keeps the algae away.
For coraline algae I use plastic credit cards bought on Amazon. They are orange (easy to find when you drop). I pull the out of the box and drag the 2 corners on something to round them. You can them cut the coraline right off.

In the past when something in life has occurred and the coraline just goes crazy, I have carefully used round ended utility knife blades. Being slow and keeping the blade steady I have scraped acrylic with a metal razor blade and not caused any damage.

But crap does occur. The worst is when a brother in law, nephew, fiance thinks they are going to do you a favor and grab the magnetic cleaner when a snail or even bristleworm has gotten into the pad. And then turn the front of your tank into a very expensive etch a sketch. I have 2 ways of fixing this.

If its in an area that has enough room between glass and aquascape for a polisher, I drain the water and use an auto orbital polisher and the standard Novus 1,2,3 system to bring the tank back to new. Bad scratches I may use the Novus heavy scratch with an 800grit sand paper and then polish down. None of the polishes have any ill effect on the livestock being used in the tank. I have done this dozens of times on many tanks over the decades.

If the aquascape doesn't leave enough room for an electric polisher then the process requires Ativan and Wine. You can purchase an acrylic polish kit from Aircraft Maintenance Suppliers for fixing Acrylic Plane canopies. These kits consist of sandpapers that can be used wet starting at 600grit and going up to 22k grit with about 16 steps from 600 to 22k.

I added velcro to the back of all the grits -- And more importantly numbered them from 1 to 18. You then slap on the highest grit that will remove the scratch and start sanding the tank. Most of the time normal scratches come out with 1200grit. You can dream you are only going to polish the area with the scratches - but once you start with every grit increase you sand a larger area and when you see how good it turns out you end up wanting the whole tank to be perfect again. It's a slow and laborious process, you have to stay calm. For my 400g tank with a front viewing panel of 96x28.5 - I would take 3 days to do it, working in 45 min increments at a time.

Scratches on the outside of the tank - even your fiance dragging her impressive diamond ring across 6.5' of the tank - are easy. It's just like waxing a car. Splatter the polish on, put on a clean terry cloth polish wheel and let the machine do the work. I could do the whole exterior front panel of the 400g in a little over 90 mins.

And you have to compare Acrylic vs Glass vs Low Iron -- Low Iron sucks! We have a 132g starfire cube planted tank. A brand new flipper scraper blade left marks within a month. And those scratches are never going away.

This is the 750. I don't regret at all switching from Glass to Acrylic for this tank. I have no fear of ever finding water on the floor in the house.

Dave B

Great advice!

 

[Stevorino]

 

[bossman818]

Acrylic. I have both and trust acrylic. After having an acrylic tank sit in storage for 8 years I was able to bring out and use again no problem.

 

[Biff0rz]

Acrylic is the safer choice and you can sleep better at night. I had all the panels for 750g starfire tank on site (120x48x30). While finding a tank fabricator to assemble on site an 18 month old 340g glass sump blew a seam and we lost so much coral you can't imagine.

I've been keeping aquariums for 4+ decades. I have had several acrylic tanks up to 20 years. I have never kept a glass tank past 10.

After the 340g blew a corner seam (remember this is a sump and water was only 1/2 way up) it didn't take much thought at all to order a new acrylic tank, and never lie in fear at night waiting to hear a splash. And worse than the splash - dealing with the emotional loss of all the livestock.

If you can live without sand, your acrylic experience will be much better. I had a 125T acrylic I bought used for 14 years. When we broke the tank down and carried it out into the sun - the tank looked amazing. New owner didn't need to polish it.

Replaced it with a 360g acrylic with sand. When that tank was upgraded after 16 months the acrylic was trashed.

That was replaced with a 400g acrylic tank. 96x33x28.5. It was custom built with an entirely open top with a steel frame. The frame was supposed to be made of stainless and powdercoated. But the tank builder cheated and used regular steel and a textured spray paint. After 19 years the tank in the center had grown from 33" wide to 38". I put a pair of bar clamps on it, and by doing a 1/4 turn on the clamps everyday in a month I got the tank back to 33". The tank lasted 2.5 years with the clamps and then we replaced it with a 560g Acrylic (120x30x36). The 400g after 22.5 yearsregret at all switching rock I was able to sell the acrylic as material (not a tank) because they were in such good shape). That tank I had polished the inside (while up and running) maybe 3x in it's lifespan.

The 560g had gorgeous disuppose worst was impoI trye to work on.

We ordered the 750g fto glassn Aquatic Exhibits. 120x48x30. It's 1.5" acrylic. The corner seams are transparent - museum quality joints.

The 750g is up against a wall. Reaching the back of a 48" wide tank for a short fat guy is not possible. Add to that 30" depth at 48" box -- What a joke. But Titan took the actual physical weight and engineered the top supports of the tank to hold my weight. Now I can lay on top of the tank and work on the livestock on the back wall.

The magfloat XXXL is expensive but grips the 1.5" acrylic and with an acylic pad on it keeps the algae away.
For coraline algae I use plastic credit cards bought on Amazon. They are orange (easy to find when you drop). I pull the out of the box and drag the 2 corners on something to round them. You can them cut the coraline right off.

In the past when something in life has occurred and the coraline just goes crazy, I have carefully used round ended utility knife blades. Being slow and keeping the blade steady I have scraped acrylic with a metal razor blade and not caused any damage.

But crap does occur. The worst is when a brother in law, nephew, fiance thinks they are going to do you a favor and grab the magnetic cleaner when a snail or even bristleworm has gotten into the pad. And then turn the front of your tank into a very expensive etch a sketch. I have 2 ways of fixing this.

If its in an area that has enough room between glass and aquascape for a polisher, I drain the water and use an auto orbital polisher and the standard Novus 1,2,3 system to bring the tank back to new. Bad scratches I may use the Novus heavy scratch with an 800grit sand paper and then polish down. None of the polishes have any ill effect on the livestock being used in the tank. I have done this dozens of times on many tanks over the decades.

If the aquascape doesn't leave enough room for an electric polisher then the process requires Ativan and Wine. You can purchase an acrylic polish kit from Aircraft Maintenance Suppliers for fixing Acrylic Plane canopies. These kits consist of sandpapers that can be used wet starting at 600grit and going up to 22k grit with about 16 steps from 600 to 22k.

I added velcro to the back of all the grits -- And more importantly numbered them from 1 to 18. You then slap on the highest grit that will remove the scratch and start sanding the tank. Most of the time normal scratches come out with 1200grit. You can dream you are only going to polish the area with the scratches - but once you start with every grit increase you sand a larger area and when you see how good it turns out you end up wanting the whole tank to be perfect again. It's a slow and laborious process, you have to stay calm. For my 400g tank with a front viewing panel of 96x28.5 - I would take 3 days to do it, working in 45 min increments at a time.

Scratches on the outside of the tank - even your fiance dragging her impressive diamond ring across 6.5' of the tank - are easy. It's just like waxing a car. Splatter the polish on, put on a clean terry cloth polish wheel and let the machine do the work. I could do the whole exterior front panel of the 400g in a little over 90 mins.

And you have to compare Acrylic vs Glass vs Low Iron -- Low Iron sucks! We have a 132g starfire cube planted tank. A brand new flipper scraper blade left marks within a month. And those scratches are never going away.

This is the 750. I don't regret at all switching from Glass to Acrylic for this tank. I have no fear of ever finding water on the floor in the house.

Dave B

Wow, what a response! Thanks a ton for the advice and many years of experience / wisdom. I suppose worst case is I try it and if I dislike it, I move back to glass. I don't mind putting in some elbow grease. These tanks tend to take effort but that's half the "fun" lol.

 

[GARRIGA]

Another option I'm considering is the way Planet builds their tanks with PVC and going to check with them if seal permanent since they ditto a groove into the PVC to join the glass therefore I could go bottom and back PVC and a thicker iron glass front and sides although past 200 gallons acrylic at half the weight much more manageable getting delivered unless one having it built on sight. Best know all the options and especially if final resting place there next 20 plus years as tearing a big tank down to have it replaced won't be fun.

 

[BlazingLlesco]

The first fear, getting the wife's approval, is out of the way. Now, I'm just trying to figure out which type to go with. I've always had a glass tank, and honestly, I'm not the best at keeping it clean. I tend to get sand stuck in the scraper and just shake it out. I also like scraping coraline off the glass. How bad are the scratches with acrylic? How careful do I really need to be? A friend told me he only uses acrylic now, and they have in-tank polishing kits, so I'm considering it. Is it a hassle to polish while the tank is running? Will it hurt the corals at all (sps)? I'm looking at a large 500g 120x36x27 tank, and the cost difference between glass and acrylic is pretty significant right now. The weight of the tank doesn't matter to me.

About the scratches they won’t show once water in it, the one thing you need to add is a top frame for support or else is going to warp. I made this one my self.

 

[BlazingLlesco]

The first fear, getting the wife's approval, is out of the way. Now, I'm just trying to figure out which type to go with. I've always had a glass tank, and honestly, I'm not the best at keeping it clean. I tend to get sand stuck in the scraper and just shake it out. I also like scraping coraline off the glass. How bad are the scratches with acrylic? How careful do I really need to be? A friend told me he only uses acrylic now, and they have in-tank polishing kits, so I'm considering it. Is it a hassle to polish while the tank is running? Will it hurt the corals at all (sps)? I'm looking at a large 500g 120x36x27 tank, and the cost difference between glass and acrylic is pretty significant right now. The weight of the tank doesn't matter to me.

About the scratches they won’t show once water in it, the one thing you need to add is a top frame for support or else is going to warp. I made this one my self.

 

[Reefering1]

After 19 years the tank in the center had grown from 33" wide to 38".

5" of bowing!?! Wow that I would be scared even clamping that down with water in it.. how thick was this acrylic?

 

[Troylee]

About the scratches they won’t show once water in it, the one thing you need to add is a top frame for support or else is going to warp. I made this one my self.

Shouldn’t need a top frame if built correctly.

 

[OlafsReef]

Acrylic is the safer choice and you can sleep better at night. I had all the panels for 750g starfire tank on site (120x48x30). While finding a tank fabricator to assemble on site an 18 month old 340g glass sump blew a seam and we lost so much coral you can't imagine.

I've been keeping aquariums for 4+ decades. I have had several acrylic tanks up to 20 years. I have never kept a glass tank past 10.

After the 340g blew a corner seam (remember this is a sump and water was only 1/2 way up) it didn't take much thought at all to order a new acrylic tank, and never lie in fear at night waiting to hear a splash. And worse than the splash - dealing with the emotional loss of all the livestock.

If you can live without sand, your acrylic experience will be much better. I had a 125T acrylic I bought used for 14 years. When we broke the tank down and carried it out into the sun - the tank looked amazing. New owner didn't need to polish it.

Replaced it with a 360g acrylic with sand. When that tank was upgraded after 16 months the acrylic was trashed.

That was replaced with a 400g acrylic tank. 96x33x28.5. It was custom built with an entirely open top with a steel frame. The frame was supposed to be made of stainless and powdercoated. But the tank builder cheated and used regular steel and a textured spray paint. After 19 years the tank in the center had grown from 33" wide to 38". I put a pair of bar clamps on it, and by doing a 1/4 turn on the clamps everyday in a month I got the tank back to 33". The tank lasted 2.5 years with the clamps and then we replaced it with a 560g Acrylic (120x30x36). The 400g after 22.5 years packed with corals and rock I was able to sell the acrylic as material (not a tank) because they were in such good shape). That tank I had polished the inside (while up and running) maybe 3x in it's lifespan.

The 560g had gorgeous dimensions, but was impossible to work on.

We ordered the 750g from Titan Aquatic Exhibits. 120x48x30. It's 1.5" acrylic. The corner seams are transparent - museum quality joints.

The 750g is up against a wall. Reaching the back of a 48" wide tank for a short fat guy is not possible. Add to that 30" depth at 48" box -- What a joke. But Titan took the actual physical weight and engineered the top supports of the tank to hold my weight. Now I can lay on top of the tank and work on the livestock on the back wall.

The magfloat XXXL is expensive but grips the 1.5" acrylic and with an acylic pad on it keeps the algae away.
For coraline algae I use plastic credit cards bought on Amazon. They are orange (easy to find when you drop). I pull the out of the box and drag the 2 corners on something to round them. You can them cut the coraline right off.

In the past when something in life has occurred and the coraline just goes crazy, I have carefully used round ended utility knife blades. Being slow and keeping the blade steady I have scraped acrylic with a metal razor blade and not caused any damage.

But crap does occur. The worst is when a brother in law, nephew, fiance thinks they are going to do you a favor and grab the magnetic cleaner when a snail or even bristleworm has gotten into the pad. And then turn the front of your tank into a very expensive etch a sketch. I have 2 ways of fixing this.

If its in an area that has enough room between glass and aquascape for a polisher, I drain the water and use an auto orbital polisher and the standard Novus 1,2,3 system to bring the tank back to new. Bad scratches I may use the Novus heavy scratch with an 800grit sand paper and then polish down. None of the polishes have any ill effect on the livestock being used in the tank. I have done this dozens of times on many tanks over the decades.

If the aquascape doesn't leave enough room for an electric polisher then the process requires Ativan and Wine. You can purchase an acrylic polish kit from Aircraft Maintenance Suppliers for fixing Acrylic Plane canopies. These kits consist of sandpapers that can be used wet starting at 600grit and going up to 22k grit with about 16 steps from 600 to 22k.

I added velcro to the back of all the grits -- And more importantly numbered them from 1 to 18. You then slap on the highest grit that will remove the scratch and start sanding the tank. Most of the time normal scratches come out with 1200grit. You can dream you are only going to polish the area with the scratches - but once you start with every grit increase you sand a larger area and when you see how good it turns out you end up wanting the whole tank to be perfect again. It's a slow and laborious process, you have to stay calm. For my 400g tank with a front viewing panel of 96x28.5 - I would take 3 days to do it, working in 45 min increments at a time.

Scratches on the outside of the tank - even your fiance dragging her impressive diamond ring across 6.5' of the tank - are easy. It's just like waxing a car. Splatter the polish on, put on a clean terry cloth polish wheel and let the machine do the work. I could do the whole exterior front panel of the 400g in a little over 90 mins.

And you have to compare Acrylic vs Glass vs Low Iron -- Low Iron sucks! We have a 132g starfire cube planted tank. A brand new flipper scraper blade left marks within a month. And those scratches are never going away.

This is the 750. I don't regret at all switching from Glass to Acrylic for this tank. I have no fear of ever finding water on the floor in the house.

Dave B

Thanks for taking the time to write this up Dave, I had two acrylic tanks in the early 2000s and they were great. Considering a new 225 seems everyone treats acrylic like a boogeyman now. Meanwhile the low iron waterbox tanks we have now scratched as easily as any acrylic I had in the past.

Any preferred scrapper for 3/4 and 1" acrylic? Ive had decent luck with plastic blade mag floats.