Acrylic Thickness

[HOBrien]

Those of you who have an acrylic cube tank would you let me know what the thickness of the acrylic is.

[hebygb]

4 tanks

15 x 15 x 15 = 3/4" thick rimless ZeroEdge
36 x 18 x 24 = 3/8" thick, single piece eurobrace
24 x 24 x 12 = 1/4" thick 3/8 bottom and 3/8" single piece eurobrace
17 x 17 x 12.5 = 1" thick sides, 3/8" bottom, rimless.

[HOBrien]

4 tanks

15 x 15 x 15 = 3/4" thick rimless ZeroEdge
36 x 18 x 24 = 3/8" thick, single piece eurobrace
24 x 24 x 12 = 1/4" thick 3/8 bottom and 3/8" single piece eurobrace
17 x 17 x 12.5 = 1" thick sides, 3/8" bottom, rimless.

Do you think that 3/8" will be thick enough for a 42"x36"x24" Tank? I will be doing a 4 braces for wure which will be two at the top from front to back and the same on the bottom.

Any other thoughts. I am also thinking about building in a nice wood piece that would go snug around the bottom and possibly do one for the top as well.

[hebygb]

No I do not think 3/8 is thick enough for those dimensions/volume. At that height the braces will do little to prevent a bow in the center viewing areas of each of your side panels (especially given the length and width). I know it sounds costly (and it is), but for those dimensions I wouldnt go thinner than 1", and I would still use a eurobrace (which could be 3/8" thick).

My advice is experiential based on those four tanks and their acryllic sumps... James (Acrylics) would be what I would consider the expert. I'd love to see his opine.

[Acrylics]

With a 3" eurobrace and a centerbrace, you could "get away" with 3/8", but not really advisable. This is the "industry standard" and I hate that, it's one of the reasons some reefers hate acrylic tanks - most mass-produced tanks are underbuilt thus bowing a lot and scratching becomes more problematic.
1/2" would do well with 3" eurobrace and a centerbrace, fine but a PITA to work on
3/4" would do well with 4" eurobrace
1" would do well with 3" eurobrace

All JMO based on ~1/16" deflection tolerance at 12 weeks, which is what I'd recommend for a small tank like this.

I would not recommend any wood "frames" to help. If you'd like to make these trim pieces for aesthetics - cool, but not for structural support :)

HTH,
James

[HOBrien]

With a 3" eurobrace and a centerbrace, you could "get away" with 3/8", but not really advisable. This is the "industry standard" and I hate that, it's one of the reasons some reefers hate acrylic tanks - most mass-produced tanks are underbuilt thus bowing a lot and scratching becomes more problematic.
1/2" would do well with 3" eurobrace and a centerbrace, fine but a PITA to work on
3/4" would do well with 4" eurobrace
1" would do well with 3" eurobrace

All JMO based on ~1/16" deflection tolerance at 12 weeks, which is what I'd recommend for a small tank like this.

I would not recommend any wood "frames" to help. If you'd like to make these trim pieces for aesthetics - cool, but not for structural support :)

HTH,
James

Thanks for the helpful information. If Acrylic is so much stronger than glass why does it bow so easy?

My current tank is a glass tank which is made out of .5" materiel and is 80"x24"x24". It has two cross braces at top from the same thickness of materiel. The bottom piece is actually two seperate pieces which measure 40"x24" each. If I brought this info up I would be told over and over that it would fail and the thing is that the tank itself is 15yrs old and have only needed to do reseal the inside of the tank just to make myself feel better even though it wasnt leaking.

Also with what you said about acrylic thickness above would it be stronger if I went ahaead and did a eurobrace along the bottom seems with the crossbrace?

Also if I only went to say 18 to 20" high instead of 24 would that help?

[Acrylics]

Thanks for the helpful information. If Acrylic is so much stronger than glass why does it bow so easy? ?Stronger is a very vague term in engineering. Acrylic is softer than glass, so can handle much more in the way of impact, but the softness of acrylic lends itself to deflection. Acrylic can bow *a lot* more than glass without fear of failure. That bowing looks bad though and is not as easy to clean.

Also with what you said about acrylic thickness above would it be stronger if I went ahaead and did a eurobrace along the bottom seems with the crossbrace??Not at all, it would actually stress the acrylic, thus making it weaker.

Also if I only went to say 18 to 20" high instead of 24 would that help?You bet, in so doing, you can drop the acrylic thickness by one level. Ie., Instead of 1" - 3/4" would be called for, instead of 3/4" - 1/2" would be called for.
I rarely ever recommend going thinner than 1/2" for any tank so I won't start here :)

HTH,
James

[Mel-E-Mel]

Good info here. So with a 48"x24"x20" tank, will a 1/2" thick with a 3" eurobrace be sufficient or should i go with 3/4" thick witha 3" eurobrace?

Sorry to hijack your thread HOBRIEN.

[troylee]

with a center brace 1/2" is fine..no center just a 3" perimeter i would suggest 3/4"...

[Acrylics]

with a center brace 1/2" is fine..no center just a 3" perimeter i would suggest 3/4"...
+1

[HOBrien]

Ok thanks for all the help on this guys.

[HOBrien]

Also would going to just 36"x36"x20" be better for the thickness I had mentioned?

[HOBrien]

Can one of yall draq up a sketch of what yall are exactly talking about for me as I am no good with using these drawing programs.

[HOBrien]

What size bulkheads would yall suggest? I was thinking either 3/4" or 1".

[HOBrien]

Anyone????