would you buy another Acrylic Aquarium ?

[Meslo]

If you have owned an Acrylic Aquarium would you buy another or would you go glass ?

How easy do they scratch ?

any other things that make them harder to care for than a glass tank ?


Thanks

[hobogato]

i have owned two and would not buy another one. both of them scratched very easily. other than scratching, i didnt see a difference between acrylic and glass.

[sampsonndelila]

I have one now, and I noticed a few differences. The best pro I can come up with is initial weight. The big aquarium I have it much easier to handle then a comparably sized glass. The second pro is that it seems to magnify the fish making them appear bigger.
If you’re anything like me you sometimes go 3 days too long between scrapings. The plastic scrapers just do not seem to do as good of a job scraping as the metal blades used on glass. My aquarium is horribly scratched in the worst places. The kid grabbed the float the other day and I guess it had a piece of sand or 20 on the Velcro pad. And she cleaned the center of the front of my aquarium, in circles.
In short, no, I will never have an Acrylic aquarium again.

[Europhyllia]

I used to have an Eclipse (it's plastic- is it acrylic)?
I manage to scratch a glass aquarium just fine. Acrylic would be horribly scratched for me in no time.

[RayAllen]

Have owned one in the past. Would never own again. IMO acrylic should stay in the stand sumps, reactors etc.... Where it doesnt matter if it gets sratched.

If you have a aggressive enough fish believe it or not they can even scratch the acylic. A snails shell can scratch the acrylic. Something to think about...

If you are anything like some of us. A bad scratch in the right spot can ruin a aquarium

[Meslo]

thanks for the responces

I think I will pass and wait for a good used glass one to show up

[hobogato]

funny you mention that ray, another hazzard to acrylic tanks is urchins - they leave little round marks from their tooth

[Europhyllia]

funny you mention that ray, another hazzard to acrylic tanks is urchins - they leave little round marks from their tooth

pft! who'd want a reef tank WITHOUT urchins?!? Craziness...

[hobogato]

yep, learned that the hard way with a prop tank i had a long time ago. couldnt figure out what made those interesting circular patterned gouges in the tank and then did some research. their radula is quite powerful.

[z28pwr]

I own both and For tanks greater than 400 gallons I would go with acrylic all the way, since acrylic is much stronger and has some flex to it. Acrylic also insulates much better than glass and is considerably clearar than even starphire on large tanks and not to mention the weight savings. Acrylic scratches very easily and coraline seems to love plastic which can make it hard to clean.



For tanks under 300 gallons definately go with glass since weight won't be that big of an issue and glass is much more resistant to scratching clarity will be good with starphire in tanks that size.