For big aquariums there is "all glass", acrylic, wood, concrete and fiberglass construction. The latter "fiberglass" seems to be the least popular...
all glass - tried and proven but glass clarity and color distorts the inhabitants of the tank... I remember in my first salt water tank I always thought my clownfish looked best when looking at it from the water top rather than through the glass.
acrylic - the king for clarity, color and high price!
wood - current knowledge suggests these fail *alot* after a couple years. constructing these "right" is as pricey as an all-glass.
concrete - HUGE, permanent, Tank is so large a large leak can be catastrophic...
fiberglass - comercially available but not something I want in a home (they are expensive and ugly). DIY seems non-existant except as patches to wood tanks...
I had a few thoughts about another way to construct a semi-permanent aquarium using epoxy concrete. Basically its 5 panels 1" thick that bolt together. Silicon makes it water tight.
epoxy cement - has potential IMO but will have to find out more about the characteristics of this compound.
Just FYI epoxy cement is being used in some high precision manufacturing equipment as a partial replacement for the iron with some of the following benefits... lighter weight, more design freedom, less thermal expansion (almost non-existant) and very strong!!! Exactly how its made I don't know...
Anyway this is my first post so Hello! Curious about tank construction and materials used...
all glass - tried and proven but glass clarity and color distorts the inhabitants of the tank... I remember in my first salt water tank I always thought my clownfish looked best when looking at it from the water top rather than through the glass.
acrylic - the king for clarity, color and high price!
wood - current knowledge suggests these fail *alot* after a couple years. constructing these "right" is as pricey as an all-glass.
concrete - HUGE, permanent, Tank is so large a large leak can be catastrophic...
fiberglass - comercially available but not something I want in a home (they are expensive and ugly). DIY seems non-existant except as patches to wood tanks...
I had a few thoughts about another way to construct a semi-permanent aquarium using epoxy concrete. Basically its 5 panels 1" thick that bolt together. Silicon makes it water tight.
epoxy cement - has potential IMO but will have to find out more about the characteristics of this compound.
Just FYI epoxy cement is being used in some high precision manufacturing equipment as a partial replacement for the iron with some of the following benefits... lighter weight, more design freedom, less thermal expansion (almost non-existant) and very strong!!! Exactly how its made I don't know...
Anyway this is my first post so Hello! Curious about tank construction and materials used...
