Sk8r
10/16/2010, 10:58 AM
Just a note for those contemplating buying a tank.
Plexi is far cheaper, lighter (especially important in larger sized tanks). It is dead-simple to drill for bulkheads and connections.
Downside: plexi will slowly, over time, bulge and maybe split seams, if not adequately braced. Beware any tank or sump with a raw plexi edge. Braced tanks cost more, and there's a reason.
Plexi scratches so easily that a grain of sand caught in a cleaning magnet can scratch it. Algae will then grow in that scratch and become a PITA. Cleaning plexi is harder. You have to be very careful. When you get an algae film or a coralline buildup on your 'glass' it's quite hard to clean off without scratching it. And you WILL have algae.
Beware of odd-shaped tanks---the weirder the angle of a seam, the more likely it is to come apart when full of warm, very heavy water. I had a neat skinny but tall (6') one that had only one seam. It became pear-shaped and split when used as a fish tank. Coffee table tanks, etc, are also suspect.
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Glass doesn't bend, is far harder to scratch---you can use a single-edge razor blade to clean it in a snap, and you're not going to scratch it accidentally.
Downside: Glass is pricey.
THIN glass, bargain tanks, particularly, but even better tanks, can break, especially if hit by a rockslide. I put a bottom piece of plastic lighting grid (eggcrate) over my bottom to hold my rocks in place and prevent any sharp single point resting directly on the glass.
Downside: glass is heavy: my 54 gallon tank weighs 80 lbs empty. Glass is harder to drill, and there is an outside chance of breaking it during drilling, esp if this is your first try.
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Again, both are good in their own way---but pick your downside. And whether glass or plexi, BRACING is a good thing.
I am the owner of an unbraced, raw-plexi-edge sump, and I have found a way to stop it bowing, just as an FYI: I got some U-shaped aluminum channeling to put along the top rim, with a notch in one side for the baffles. It was a less expensive sump: I went with cheap, then got a problem. But the aluminum edging, painted with white refrigerator epoxy, does seem to do the trick. File that one away in your personal data bank should you ever have the problem.
Plexi is far cheaper, lighter (especially important in larger sized tanks). It is dead-simple to drill for bulkheads and connections.
Downside: plexi will slowly, over time, bulge and maybe split seams, if not adequately braced. Beware any tank or sump with a raw plexi edge. Braced tanks cost more, and there's a reason.
Plexi scratches so easily that a grain of sand caught in a cleaning magnet can scratch it. Algae will then grow in that scratch and become a PITA. Cleaning plexi is harder. You have to be very careful. When you get an algae film or a coralline buildup on your 'glass' it's quite hard to clean off without scratching it. And you WILL have algae.
Beware of odd-shaped tanks---the weirder the angle of a seam, the more likely it is to come apart when full of warm, very heavy water. I had a neat skinny but tall (6') one that had only one seam. It became pear-shaped and split when used as a fish tank. Coffee table tanks, etc, are also suspect.
-------------
Glass doesn't bend, is far harder to scratch---you can use a single-edge razor blade to clean it in a snap, and you're not going to scratch it accidentally.
Downside: Glass is pricey.
THIN glass, bargain tanks, particularly, but even better tanks, can break, especially if hit by a rockslide. I put a bottom piece of plastic lighting grid (eggcrate) over my bottom to hold my rocks in place and prevent any sharp single point resting directly on the glass.
Downside: glass is heavy: my 54 gallon tank weighs 80 lbs empty. Glass is harder to drill, and there is an outside chance of breaking it during drilling, esp if this is your first try.
------------
Again, both are good in their own way---but pick your downside. And whether glass or plexi, BRACING is a good thing.
I am the owner of an unbraced, raw-plexi-edge sump, and I have found a way to stop it bowing, just as an FYI: I got some U-shaped aluminum channeling to put along the top rim, with a notch in one side for the baffles. It was a less expensive sump: I went with cheap, then got a problem. But the aluminum edging, painted with white refrigerator epoxy, does seem to do the trick. File that one away in your personal data bank should you ever have the problem.