DIY acrylic tank

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jdwells

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I'm toying with the idea of building my own acrylic tank. The dimensions I'm considering are 72L x 24W x 18H. So has anyone here done this before? Know where to get acrylic locally? I'm thinking 12mm or 1/2" thick should work. Cell cast. What about these dimensions for a reef tank? Thanks for any input! This is in very early planning stages.


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Ask Rit at Atlanta Aquarium. He purchased Acrylic locally and built his frag tanks himself.
 
If you do not have any luck finding local acrylic give this site a try, I've seen some killer prices on acrylic from these guys you just have to catch them at the right time and their clearance section changes up every so often. At one point they had 96" x 48" 1" thick pieces going for under $200 a sheet I believe

http://www.curbellplastics.com/shop-clearance/">http://www.curbellplastics.com/shop-clearance/</a>

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Wow. Ok thanks I'll keep an eye on them. Shipping would be a killer on a sheet that big. lol


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ive been thinking of building one myself but wanted to try glass first since its cheaper before i stepped up to acrylic
 
If you're looking for someone local I know John Wright built his own tank. I think he made it out of glass but I can't remember.

As far as opinion goes, I would only try a diy tank if it was a unique design. Like a 30 x 30 x 12 or a multi tier tank or something cool like that. With the dimensions you're talking about I'm sure you can find a used tank for much cheaper than diy.
 
The reason I'm going with acrylic is I've done glass and I wanted to try something different.
The dimensions aren't set in stone but the focus is a large footprint but relatively shallow. Basically the dimensions I listed are the same as a 125 except I reversed the height and width.
But now that you mention it, I might do something like a 30x30 first.
Like I said, very early planning stages. lol


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Oh yeah I saw something about them on YouTube. Shipping from Canada would be nuts though.


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If youre going to build it and arnt restricted size wise, Id go at least 24x24. 30-36 wide even better. I simply love having a 36" wide tank.

Also, have you ever had an acyrlic tank before? If not Id recommend you start with a small one to see how you like it. After having a 15g, and a 58g acrylic tank for 5 and 12 years respectively I can honestly say unless its a tank over 1000g I would NEVER use acrylic for a display tank again.
 
EnderG60;921276 wrote: If youre going to build it and arnt restricted size wise, Id go at least 24x24. 30-36 wide even better. I simply love having a 36" wide tank.

Also, have you ever had an acyrlic tank before? If not Id recommend you start with a small one to see how you like it. After having a 15g, and a 58g acrylic tank for 5 and 12 years respectively I can honestly say unless its a tank over 1000g I would NEVER use acrylic for a display tank again.
Click to expand...

Why do you say that??
 
I have a acrylic tank and technology allows easy scratch removal with a mighty magnet scratch removal kit. It removes small and large scratches while water an inhabitants are in your tank.

I owned a glass tank prior to this one and I scratched the tank and lived with until I tore it down.
 
Reefkeeper;921347 wrote: I have a acrylic tank and technology allows easy scratch removal with a mighty magnet scratch removal kit. It removes small and large scratches while water an inhabitants are in your tank.

I owned a glass tank prior to this one and I scratched the tank and lived with until I tore it down.
Click to expand...


Yep this is my answer to scratches. And all the other benefits to acrylic far outweigh glass. So I'm definitely doing acrylic. So the questions are:
Where t get the acrylic?
What dimensions? My room is sort of restrictive and I defining want it wider than tall. (I.e. 24W x 18T) I'm thinking about a cube now too though. What would your ideal dimensions be and why? The "why" is very important. lol


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92 cube, glass... Very common and available daily it seems.
 
It is either reef savy or innovative marine that came out with a shallow reef series of tanks. Check them out for ideas. Their tanks are 18" deep. I am sure that there is a reason. I currently have a 12" deep tank and it is hard to keep my substrate from blowing around.

Edit: Btw, calsak is a local distributor of acrylic and they will sell to the public. It is not the cheapest though and would only sell me the 1/4" in whole sheets.
 
Innovative came out with the aio shallow reef tank.nice but very pricey.

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Yeah and those are kind of what I want to replicate. Cheaper though. lol
I love shallow tanks for the look. Plus they're cheaper and easier to light.


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I want to do a 36lx20wx20h.i always like width in a tank rather than height.

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