Questions about DIY acrylic tank

[AWildMarowak]

Hey everyone, I’m intending on putting together my own acrylic tank. I’ve based the dimensions around my 55 gallon that I currently have setup so I can just use the stand I already have. The dimensions are 48.5” L x 13” W x 24” tall which came out to around 65 gallons on the capacity calculator.

I was planning on using 1/4” thick clear cell cast and reached out to a local plastic supplier and was quoted $581 for all the pieces. Now, by doing some browsing online I figure I’d save at least one hundred dollars by building it myself just off the price of the tank plus I’d save money by not having to ship an aquarium to Alaska. Still though, $581 seems high to an inexperienced acrylic user, I’m wondering if you guys with experience here can recommend ways to cut the cost and if 1/4” is overkill on thickness or not enough.

I figured I could reduce cost by keeping an open top and using some smaller cuts to brace it and act as trim to hold a cover.

I am not opposed to spending the money to have a good, sturdy, quality product but I’d like to save as much as I can.

Thanks in advance.

 

[esoxlucius]

Daft question maybe but if you want to save money why not go plain old glass on a tank that size. Save yourself a fortune.

 

[Backfromthedead]

I think 1/4" should be minimum for a tank that tall. Definitely no thinner.

esoxlucius idk these days i havent seen much difference in glass vs. Acrylic prices. Nothing major anyway. Sometimes seems like glass almost costs more cause of crazy shipping costs. Maybe im just talking to the wrong suppliers.

 

[AWildMarowak]

I mainly just wanted to start at a small capacity for my first build just in case and those dimensions would fit the stand I currently use. I recently picked up a 75gallon acrylic tank as an upgrade for my lizard (it’s in pretty bad shape and can’t hold water or else I’d use it for my fish friend) and am blown away by how light it was and I’ve always thought acrylic looked much nicer than glass.

I will probably just purchase a premade tank since it seems like at this capacity there won’t be much of a cost difference between custom and premade.

 

[AWildMarowak]

Everything in Alaska is expensive :/