Glass vs Acrylic?
- Thread starter jmichaelh7
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I have owned acrylic, more tan one and for over ten years and I would say that every point made by @Miami Reef is spot on accurate.
albano
2500 Club Member
You didn’t like them, but you bought more that 1?
Personally could never imagine having an acrylic reef. Had a 3/4" acrylic 180 for a freshwater planted tank, and algae was a pain. A credit card or plastic flipper blade was not nearly as fast or effective as a razor blade. And that's with FW algaes, which aren't nearly the pain as coralline. If you go acrylic, I would highly recommend cleaning the inside frequently before that stuff builds up. I get slammed with work and some times can't do more than feed the tank for 2 weeks. Acrylic just doesn't fit my schedule. I did add uv in the last year and that has made cleaning glass easier and less frequent, so maybe that would help. I found it reduced glass cleaning from every 2-3 days to every 5-6.
well, sure, you don't like acrylic but you bought more than one.
glass never scratch and dust won't go inside the glass scretch, only if it's made in acrylic, because dust is smart enoufg to detect the material
Lbrdsoxfan
5000 Club Member
Glass only. BTDT with acrylic in my FOWLR days.
Miami Reef
10K Club Member
He never said he didn’t like acrylic tanks. He just agreed that there can be aging in acrylic that isn’t as pronounced in glass.
albano
2500 Club Member
Have you ever had an acrylic tank?
landlubber
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yes i had a 40 gallon aio breeder for just shy of 4 months. it had rounded corners that didn't appreciate the magnetic cleaner. the glass 120 that replaced it has been better in every way as expressed in my post.
unless i'm mistaken your message reads like you don't believe me ;Jawdrop
albano
2500 Club Member
Just checking, I do believe you,
but, frankly IMO, a 40g acrylic with rounded corners is not really comparable to the larger acrylic tanks.
I still have 3 120-130g acrylic tanks from the early 90s that I use as holding tanks, and they can look like new! These tanks often had heavy coralline on them which was removed by a RAZOR blade! (That’s right, it can be done!). If that same coralline is left on a glass tank, it can ‘etch’ the glass and that is permanent damage!
Sorry, but I can’t recall ever seeing any tanks that were damaged by UV/sunlight.
I don’t sell or manufacture acrylic tanks…. my recommendations are only to benefit other reefers.
If anyone is happy with their glass tank, then I’m happy for them… As said before, I wouldn’t accept a glass tank for free!
(Unless I knew someone that wanted a free tank)
landlubber
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fair enough... we all have our preferences.
I'm not entirely sure where the uv/sunlight comment came from, maybe you're mistaking me with another comment. OP asked why a person would choose one over the other so instead of providing anecdotes maybe the conversation should shift to pros and cons of each that can assist in making the right choice for them.
-glass can scratch, no denying that. however, it is far easier to scar acrylic when in the same situation. I'm sure there are algae cleaning implements that can help avoid it but at the end of the day it's a softer material.
-Optically I didn't notice a difference between low-iron glass and acrylic.
-dry weight is where acrylic has one of its main advantages. if i had to move a tank I'd be happy to hear it was acrylic.
-bracing... a person can buy a 120 standard in glass with no center brace or even a euro-brace. the larger acrylic I've seen (100+ gallons) all seem to have considerable bracing which can be an issue for some.
I don't want things to get into defending purchases as we've all spent money here and the goal is to provide factual reasoning as to why something is preferred.
Oh and by all means please feel free to add things I've missed. happy reefing!
