Is acrylic ACTUALLY safer than glass? (+ advice on structural stuff)

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I'm putting a tank on the second floor of my condo/home and I'm seriously paranoid about a glass tank failing at the seams and causing mega destruction. The tank will be 60-100g and will be placed somewhat near a load bearing wall, but again not on a slab (pics below). So I'm somewhat worried about the floor shifting around and stressing the seams of the tank -- hence why I want an acrylic tank.

Fortunately the place where the tank will go is over an external crawl space (condo is on a terrace) so unless the entire thing burst and sent a wave of water, any leak damage could be addressed from under the unit -- not that it would be cheap -- but at least likely wouldn't destroy the bottom level of my place.

To top things off I'm in sort of a pinch and need the tank in 2-2.5 weeks. I'd love to get a NUVO or Reefer tank and be done with it but I don't know if I trust them (though the new IM tanks look pretty stout). Unfortunately there really aren't acrylic tanks that are mass-produced like that.

I feel I'm being kind of paranoid but I'd really appreciate other people's perspectives on this. It's really just the fact that the tank won't be directly near a load bearing wall that freaks me out (and the potential damage factor).

Thoughts?

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Load bearing wall is between sink / stairs. Exterior wall is at the end of the shower / office. Tank would go on the wall directly to the right, where the surfboard is leaning up.

 

[HB AL]

No, in 35+ years I've had no glass tanks fail and both acrylic fail at the seams.

 

[Dalalen]

Same. I have an All Glass Aquarium (prior to Aqueon) tank that is almost 20 years old. Still good even after sitting in a garage for 6 plus years.

Acrylic is very nice for clarity. I had a Acrylic top for my sump and it was so clear that I sat it on the counter it disappeared. It also started an argument between me and the wife because I swore up and down that she threw it away. I lost btw!

 

[Squidward]

I'm an acrylic fan mainly due to clarity and weight.

 

[Brian_68]

I hear of more acrylic tanks leaking on here than glass, perhaps it is the Red Sea fiasco. My glass tank is 20 plus years old and so far so good. I had an acrylic as well previously but it scratches way to easily.

 

[Crustaceon]

It depends on how the tank is manufactured. There are many ways to put an acrylic tank together and some are stronger than others. A thin-walled acrylic tank will bow and impart additional strain on the seams. The thicker the acrylic tank, the less prone they are to doing this. Not surprisingly, the thicker you go with an acrylic tank, the more expensive they get and an acrylic tank that’ll be as safe as a quality glass tank will often cost more. Glass tends to be safer in general simply due to the fact that most builders use the same proven glass thickness and silicone to put them together. That and the fact that glass is cheap, so builders can use thicker glass, keep their profit margins intact and have a tank with very little if any flex in the panels, which adds to the tank’s longevity. That being said, if I bought another 100g acrylic tank, It would be made with at least 3/4” panels.

 

[JoshH]

I hear of more acrylic tanks leaking on here than glass, perhaps it is the Red Sea fiasco.

Are you referring to Red Sea tanks as being acrylic?

@i_declare_bankruptcy I think you're going to be fine with glass or Acrylic tank in the size range you're looking at. I will add though youre going to be hard pressed to find one in 3 weeks... the larger Innovative Marine tanks are certainly my top pic in that size range ...

 

[IzzysPop]

I hear of more acrylic tanks leaking on here than glass, perhaps it is the Red Sea fiasco. My glass tank is 20 plus years old and so far so good. I had an acrylic as well previously but it scratches way to easily.

Agreed. New to the hobby but my Acrylic was scratched all the heck after only a few months. Seems if I looked at it wrong, it would get scratched up. I’ll Never go back to acrylic.

 

[Dalalen]

Is it not worth trying to polish the scratches out on an Acrylic? I've never had an Acrylic tank, only a sump. But, that's what I do if my display had a scratch and if it was Acrylic.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I'm not scared of the scratching on the tank. I'm like OCD about that stuff. I'm looking at a 72x24x17 tank right now that is built by Advanced Acrylics (builder I was gonna use) with like 1" thick acrylic and a nice steel stand. It's a beefcake. Has scratches but I will happily polish them myself.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to start a separate thread about the structural stuff so this thread doesn't get polluted.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Do the math... pound for pound, no heavier than a refrigerator. : )

 

[ca1ore]

I hear of more acrylic tanks leaking on here than glass, perhaps it is the Red Sea fiasco.

Never have owned a Red Sea tank ..... they’re glass though, so I fail to follow your logic.

 

[ca1ore]

I tend to think that if you buy a tank from a reputable builder and install it on a stable base, whether glass or acrylic, it will last for decades. I ran my world class glass 180 for almost 20 years before selling it. Last time it popped up it was 25 years young. Buddy of mine bought acrylic at the same time .... 20 years out of that also.

 

[92Miata]

I tend to think that if you buy a tank from a reputable builder and install it on a stable base, whether glass or acrylic, it will last for decades. I ran my world class glass 180 for almost 20 years before selling it. Last time it popped up it was 25 years young. Buddy of mine bought acrylic at the same time .... 20 years out of that also.

in my experience, tank failures come down to two things -

1.Tanks that aren't properly built.
2.Tanks on stands that aren't built properly and either shift, or have high points. I see a lot of stands where the approach is 'throw more wood at it' rather than using a structurally sound design.

A seam failure (especially in acrylic) generally means the seam wasn't done correctly.

 

[Crustaceon]

Agreed. New to the hobby but my Acrylic was scratched all the heck after only a few months. Seems if I looked at it wrong, it would get scratched up. I’ll Never go back to acrylic.

That’s the nature of acrylic. The positive thing though is it’s pretty easy to fix most scratches in acrylic. It’s a little tedious but after having refinished several acrylic tanks including my old 100g (when it was full too), I can say it’s not too bad. I have a glass 55g now that got scratched pretty badly by a flipper magnet even though I inspect and clean it before every use. There’s something about this tank that just lends to it scratching easily I guess. The sucky part is, there’s no way to fix it aside from tearing the tank down and having a small chance of being able to sand it out with cerium oxide, or replacing the panel....or replacing the tank. I’m going back to acrylic for my next build. It’s pretty lame having to look at something and not being able to fix it.