Acrylic Tank Buildings

[asmashling]

Hey there.

Not new to the hobby but new to the acrylic tanks-thing.

Here in Switzerland or mainly in europe, we have 97% only glass tanks.
Germany has only 1 company, which is selling acrylic tanks - getting things from germany to switzerland is way to hard and expensive.

We now find some companies here in swizzy, that are building things from acrylic - but not fishtanks so far.
So we had some conversations with them and trying to tell them how to best build an tank out of plexi.

The tank will have the size 140cm x 70cm x 50cm which is 55 x 28 x 20(height) in inches

Question now is, how thick the material has to be for not buckling out, at the moment we are thinking that 0,59 inch (15mm) of thickness is enough.
As we also want to have a minor "fish don`t jump out"-guard, so we thought it is a good idea to glue in some bars at the inner top, 2cm (0,8 inches) thick which will also avoid the buckling too..

Would be cool as you can share some thoughts and also some pictures which i can show the "producer" how such tanks should be.

Thanks in advance

Cheers from Switzerland,

Flow

 

[S@ltydog]

Try to find cell cast...

These are generic guidelines. Anything less than 8 feet would be safe with these guidelines. I like to play it safe so I'd go one size up though.

Acrylic
Aquarium Height Sheet Thickness
1 to 12 inches 1/4 inch
12 - 18 inches 3/8 inch
18 - 24 inches 1/2 inch
24 - 30 inches 3/4 inch

Hope this helps
Good luck

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I am not help when it comes to acrylic but welcome to R2R and thanks for helping others. I saw where you were in other threads.

 

[asmashling]

Try to find cell cast...

These are generic guidelines. Anything less than 8 feet would be safe with these guidelines. I like to play it safe so I'd go one size up though.

Acrylic
Aquarium Height Sheet Thickness
1 to 12 inches 1/4 inch
12 - 18 inches 3/8 inch
18 - 24 inches 1/2 inch
24 - 30 inches 3/4 inch

Hope this helps
Good luck

Thanks for your reply. Can you explain an swiss guy what is "cell cast"?
And doesn`t i have to consider the length of one sheet when thinking about the thickness better then thinking about the height?

 

[asmashling]

I am not help when it comes to acrylic but welcome to R2R and thanks for helping others. I saw where you were in other threads.

Thank you for the nice welcome! Everyone needs to help each other

 

[S@ltydog]

There are mainly 2 types of acrylic. Extruded and cell cast. Extruded is formed with a die and cell cast is generally pressed between 2 panes of glass. The chemical composition is also different. Cell cast provides superior physical and visual properties over extruded.

Like i said above though, as long as the tank is less than 8 feet long the the thickness i listed above is the generic rule of thumb. I personally always go one step up...