Need some advice pls.

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aldiaz33 said:
Brace yourself for some sticker shock.

The price increase is pretty steep when you get beyond 1" (25.4MM) thick panels. There is also a steep price jump when you go past standard 8'x4' sheets, as that is a more common size of acrylic panels.

A 10'x5' sheet of 2" (50.8MM) thick Cell Cast will likely cost well over $4,000 US per panel. It looks like you would need two panels for your project since the back and bottom of your frame is steel.

This place has a 8'x4' sheet of 2" @ $3,000 US: http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/Plexiglass_Acrylic_Sheet_Clear/PLEXIGLASS-ACRYCLR2-000CCM48X96
(I wasn't able to find the size panel that you need on their site, but a 10'x4' @ only 1.5" thick costs $5,000).

A sheet 10'x5' @ 2" thick is going to weigh around 600lbs, so being able to pickup from a local distributor (if one exists) is going to save you a lot on shipping costs.

There's a member on here (Wednesday13) that is in the process of building a steel framed tank...I'll see if I can get him to chime in.

You may be able to shop around and find better prices, but I would be surprised if you could find the size sheets that you need for under $3,000 each.
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When i take a look at the us prices, and i bett there much cheaper then over here.......

Lets put it this way, for one scheet 3 by 1,5 M and 2x 1.25 by 1.50 all 30 mm and 4 layers foil tempered glas, opti-white.... It will cost me arround €4k i

It will be a hard decission go for acrylic clarity and less weight, or go for tempered glas breakable and because of the weight hard to handle.

Decissions, decissions


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It is my understanding that silicone does not adhere to acrylic well enough to seal an aquarium. I would suggest speaking with people that have actual experience using the two products together before experimenting on your own.

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Michael1977 said:
no one from MFK got experiance with this kind of build ??
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I do lol....there's also a tank exactly like this one in stainless that was built around 6 years ago im trying to find pics of for u. Do not use regular silicone like people are saying as only certain products will stick to both acrylic and stainless. For my steel framed tank I used "gold label aquarium and pond sealer" I think u should be able to find it where ur located as its originally from England/Australia. Another product that will work for ur window seal is 3m 5200 silicone and is a bit cheaper than the gold label. Very nice frame uve made there! I know that wasent cheap!!! lol
 
Thank you all for the advice, About the stainless steel price made a good deal.

Ok i've made up my mind and i'm going for pmma sheets.

But for the thickness i need some advice. I've contacted Reynolds usa and they told me that in my situation 25mil thickness of the sheet was enough, personaly i think its to thin.

What do you guys think.
Better safe the sorry and go for 30mm or more.


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It will probably hold, but the amount of deflection would be more than I would want to see. As I mentioned before, my tank is only 1.3M (4') tall and it's made out of 31.75Mil (1.25") acrylic. When I hold a straight edge to the tank there is a 12.7Mil (.5") gap at the top and bottom; this is more deflection than I'm comfortable with. (It also makes the tank more susceptible to scratching since using a flat scraper to remove algae, all the pressure is at the corners since the acrylic is bowed. A flat surface is less likely to become scratched.) Using even thinner material I would think the tank would almost look like a water balloon. I have seen this on a 30" tall tank that was made of 12.7mil (.5") acrylic and it was scary how much it bowed. It looked like the front of the tank had a big pot belly.

I'm really surprised that the guys at Reynolds are suggesting 25mil (1") thick. I know that the larger (reputable) aquarium builders here in the states will use 79mil (2") on tanks that are 1.5M (5') tall. I looked at a 16'x3'x5' tank built by ATM a few years ago and it was made of 79mil (2") thick acrylic. They are one company that does not underbuild tanks, even for clients that are looking to cut corners. If I were you, the thinnest I would go is 38mil (1.5").

It doesn't look like you've posted to the thread that I had sent you a link to. I would encourage you to post there since some of those guys build tanks for a living; I'm just going off of my own personal observations whereas they will likely have formulas that will provide you with safety factors at each given level of thickness (I would think that Reynolds should be able to provide this too).

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1056956&page=146
 
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