Condition of old acrylic tanks?

[Areseebee]

I'm trying to decide between glass and acrylic for an upcoming project. I like a lot of the pros that come with acrylic but one argument against it that has stuck in my head a little is that people who routinely are around acrylic tanks claim every single older acrylic tank they see looks like crap. Often public aquariums are cited as an exception but that's probably not the most meaningful model for what I should expect my tank to look like over time since I'm sure they are always doing work on their displays often with resources and techniques that may not be easily available to the home reef keeper.

So I'm curious if there are lots of examples among the people here of long-term home acrylic aquaria that are still crystal clear after many years?

 

[Wilders reef]

They start to yellow no mater what you do eventually

 

[Areseebee]

Something that gets said a lot in the glass vs acrylic threads is that with new acrylics this is no longer true. I have no idea if that's right or not though.

 

[Wilders reef]

they still do but it takes a little longer

 

[RedoubtReef]

I've had my acrylic since 2009 and it still looks great. Yellowing isn't an issue for acrylic tanks. It was polycarbonate that had that issue if i remember correctly. The nice thing about acrylic is that you can polish out scratches. I did this recently during my rebuild and it came out great. Also, once water is in a tank, any fine scratches disappear.
If you scratch glass, it's there forever.

 

[Troylee]

Acrylic tanks don’t yellow that’s non sense..

 

[Wilders reef]

I haven't had once in like 8 years so I don't know about now days but mine also scratched super easy

 

[Areseebee]

I haven't had once in like 8 years so I don't know about now days but mine also scratched super easy

Similarly, I'm curious about how easy they scratch compared to Starfire glass. It's unclear to me if they are significantly different at that point.

 

[Troylee]

Similarly, I'm curious about how easy they scratch compared to Starfire glass. It's unclear to me if they are significantly different at that point.

They scratch yes, they craze yes.. yellow? No! Scratch easier than starfire glass? Not really! The same grain of sand caught in your magnet cleaner is gonna damage both regardless if you’re not careful! The better part of acrylic is that said scratch can be removed while the tank is full using a micro mesh kit where a glass tank is scratched for life!

 

[albano]

Amongst my many acrylic tanks, I have a 120g Tenecor tank, from the mid 90s… that is still in great shape!
I don’t want a large (over 100g) glass tank ever again… not even for free!

 

[exnisstech]

Similarly, I'm curious about how easy they scratch compared to Starfire glass. It's unclear to me if they are significantly different at that point.

Following. I'm considering acrylic for my next build but haven't made up my mind yet. I'm going with a 96x30x25 and am considering acrylic for weight saving. I've also read they are supposed to be clearer than glass

 

[Areseebee]

Following. I'm considering acrylic for my next build but haven't made up my mind yet. I'm going with a 96x30x25 and am considering acrylic for weight saving. I've also read they are supposed to be clearer than glass

This is exactly what I'm looking for as well. Glass scares me but I having trouble evaluating The seriousness of acrylic drawbacks.

 

[Troylee]

This is exactly what I'm looking for as well. Glass scares me but I having trouble evaluating The seriousness of acrylic drawbacks.

Nothing different in care for glass vs acrylic besides the tools you use to clean it! Plastic scraper blades and magic eraser on acrylic and metal blades on glass or plastic if you want. If you get a scratch in acrylic tank you would have gotten the same scratch in a glass one! Be careful not to pick up any sand on mag cleaners and you’re golden.