Glass vs Acrylics

[wizardslovak]

So i decided to make SUMP out of my spare tank
Whats should i use ? glass or acrylics for walls?
Where do you buying acrylics sheets and glass sheets?
thx for help

 

[Pharaoh]

You can use either for building sumps. All comes down to personal preference.

Glass can be found at local glass suppliers.
Acrylic can be found at the local plastics supplier.

 

[Ozkar]

It also depends on what benefits of one over the other that you may need for your given situation.

Acrylic advantages over glass is that it is about half the weight of glass, but double the thermal insulation; way more shatter resistant too.

Disadvantage of acrylic is that it scratches way more easily, and you can't bond a sump together with silicone adhesive like you can with glass.

 

[wizardslovak]

well i am about to do my first sump from 10 gall tank and i was thinking to use acrylics for walls
but as you said acrylics wont stick good with silicone
is there any other "glue" i can use to bond acrylics to glass??
btw i tried to cut glass and i couldnt cut straight line

 

[Ozkar]

Are you using a straight edge to help you keep a straight line? Also, don't press too hard with the glass cutter, you just need enough pressure to score the glass.

To snap the glass after scoring, put a pencil under the glass along the scored line, then gently push down on the far ends of the glass (the glass should break over the pencil).

 

[Pharaoh]

You should really just go with either acrylic or glass. You will run into problems trying to seal them together.

 

[rdbrown]

The cheapest way to build a sump is to get a used glass tank and silicone the baffles in yourself made of either glass, acrylic or ABS plastic. The ABS plastic is the cheapest of the three.