glass vs acrylic

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G

gil

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 15, 2006
24
0
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berkeley, california
i have kept fish for years, but have never set up a tank in the bay area (which is where i live now).

i am concerned that seismic activity might have an adverse effect on a GLASS tank. indeed, several fish stores have tried to steer me towards ACRYLIC.

thing is, i really don't like the look of acrylic, and i'm afraid that my digging south american cichlids are going to scratch it.

does anyone have any guidance here? it's a 150 gallon tank.

thanks,
gil
 
Hmmm... In your situation, I'd probably go with the acrylic. I think that it would hold up better with seismic activity, but it will scratch easier. Your cichlids probably won't scratch it so much with digging (unless they overturn any rocks/wood that you have in the tank and it hits the acrylic), you'll just have to be careful doing maintenence and algae scraping!
 
I would go with Marine fish in case your state slides into the ocean. At least your fish will live! :ROFL:

Seriously, algae is tough to remove from the acrylic because you can't use abrasives. But I agree about the dimensional stability part, acrylic is much more stable.
 
I have a SeaClear 160 (acrylic) and I love it. had it for about 3 years and 2 years it had Jaguar Cichlids that constantly dug and spit rocks and pushed softball sized rocks into it with no damage, the outside was scratched by a friends kid (3 year old)when he thru a large airstone, my heart skipped a beat or 12 and my friend grabbed his kid thinking the tank was going to break. Just made the fish freak out. If it would have been glass I know it would have broken.
 
i'll go acrylic... glass is fine but if you're afraid might as well go for something secured. i also live in calfornia. better be safe than sorry. with regards to scratches you won't see them if their is water but when it's dry you will. think of it this way... you won't have your tank empty unless you're selling it or draining the whole tank out, so scratches won't bother you. and besides... acrylic scratches can easy be removed with the right stuff that your LFS carries. it wouldn't even cost you a forture. maybe around 10-20 bucks for the bottle and a rag, that's it. :)
 
so how do you get algae off of acrylic? (i feel pretty stupid asking, but i've never had an acrylic tank).
 
so can you buff scratches out of the INSIDE? or only the outside?
 
gil said:
i have kept fish for years, but have never set up a tank in the bay area (which is where i live now).

i am concerned that seismic activity might have an adverse effect on a GLASS tank. indeed, several fish stores have tried to steer me towards ACRYLIC.

thing is, i really don't like the look of acrylic, and i'm afraid that my digging south american cichlids are going to scratch it.

does anyone have any guidance here? it's a 150 gallon tank.

thanks,
gil
Click to expand...

your cichlids arent going ot scratch the walls of your tank and even if they did you wont even notice it
 
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